Using bank feeds

Learning outcomes
In this lesson, you’ll learn how to:

1. Recognize the benefits for clients of using bank feeds

2. Describe what the For Review and Reviewed lists show in the
Banking Center
3. Describe how to match transactions

Topics

 How QuickBooks Online works with bank data

 Matching bank data
 Take our ProAdvisor challenge
 Managing banking through the mobile app

The story so far

Craig prefers working directly with his clients and building his
business rather than doing data entry on transactions in the office.
He knows there must be a better way and he’s excited to see how
banking in QuickBooks Online can ensure that all of the transactions
from his bank and credit card accounts match his records in
QuickBooks Online.
It’s important Craig gets this right. He needs to make sure all
transactions are classified correctly and included in the books. Let’s
take a look at the basics.

How can QuickBooks Online help?

One of QuickBooks Online's best features is the ability to seamlessly
import bank data and match it with existing transactions or add it to
new transactions. In fact, QuickBooks Online provides you indications
and tools to make accurate transaction entry easy.
Let’s go!

How QuickBooks Online works with bank data

The bank feed functionality is one of QuickBooks Online's most
dynamic features. It feeds transaction details from online banking and
credit card accounts directly into the Banking Center. This saves your
clients time, but they still retain control over what goes into their
QuickBooks Online.
Transactions are held in a For Review area, where your clients can:

 Match and accept transaction details with what is already recorded

in QuickBooks
 Add and accept transaction details to enter a transaction into
QuickBooks that has not previously been recorded

QuickBooks Online uses artificial intelligence to learn from bank feed

activity. The more you categorize and match transactions, the more
accurate QuickBooks' suggestions become.
These items will appear on the Recognized tab in the Banking Center.
For example, repeated transactions with similar bank details will be
recognized by bank feed, and a category will be suggested. You are
approve recognized transactions, but QuickBooks takes care of a lot of
the hard work for you.
Watch the video to see how this works. Then let’s start on Craig’s bank
statement to see how we can help.

Lesson check
Lesson check
How can Craig benefit from connecting his bank and credit card accounts to
QuickBooks Online? (Select all correct options.)


 All of his bank and credit card transactions will be synced into
QuickBooks Online without him having to enter them

 He can check, categorize, and approve each bank transaction to

make sure he has full control

 All of his bank and credit card transactions will be added to his
QuickBooks Online automatically without him needing to do
anything
 

 This reduces the amount of data Craig needs to enter, saving him
time

That’s right! All of these are benefits of connecting QuickBooks Online

to online bank and credit card accounts.

Matching bank data

Craig already set up bank feeds for his checking, savings, and
Mastercard accounts. He just needs to review the transactions.
When you match and accept a bank feed item to an existing
transaction, QuickBooks Online marks the transaction as cleared.
When you do a bank reconciliation, this means that most transactions
are already marked as cleared.
It’s a big help when you come to run reconciliations.
You may find it helpful if you have your client’s bank statement on
hand so you can compare it to the data that you imported.
Watch the video to see how it’s done. The individual steps are below
for you to follow.

1. On the left navigation, select Banking to see Craig’s banking data

2. You’ll see three tabs: For Review, Reviewed, and Excluded
3. You can see the transactions Craig has already reviewed in
the Reviewed tab
4. Now let’s head over to the For Review tab, which shows the bank
feed items that have not yet been accepted into QuickBooks
Online and that we need to review, edit if necessary, and match
and add (or accept and add) when we’re happy
5. Now let’s match a transaction. As you can see, Craig already has
transactions in his bank feed. There’s a check deposit
of $228.75 for Hicks Hardware. The date, description, and amount
come in from the bank feed.
6. That’s a match, so go ahead and select Match
7. You can do the same for the transaction with Travis Waldron
for $103.55. This time, it’s for an income received item
from Travis Waldron.
8. Select the Reviewed tab to see that it’s been matched. If you then
select the Travis Waldron payment, you can see details of the
 match by selecting Online banking matches. You can see the link
and Unmatch it if you need to.
9. Select the X to return to the bank feed. Sometimes, QuickBooks
Online finds duplicate records for an entry. When you have a
transaction with two potential matches, you need to confirm
which transaction is correct.
10. Let’s take a look at this one for Squeaky Kleen Car, where two
records have been found
11. Select View to see which records QuickBooks Online
suggests as possible matches
12. The check debit has the same date, so this is the correct
match for the bank feed entry
13. Select Match. QuickBooks Online is all about making life
easy. You can use the Recognized tab see all the transactions
QuickBooks thinks it has found a good match for, then match
them all in one go.
14. Select the Recognized tab
15. Use the Select all button then select the Batch actions drop-
down button
16. Choose Accept selected to link all the downloaded transactions.
Select the Reviewed tab to see these have been accepted.

Take our ProAdvisor challenge

Now that you’ve seen how easy it is to match transactions in Craig’s
bank feed, it's time to try it yourself.
Craig’s got some more transactions for review. He needs to tidy these
up before he can reconcile his account.
Select the headings to find out more.

The challenge
Match Craig’s banking transactions for:
Pye’s Cakes
Dylan Sollfrank

Open Craig’s QuickBooks Online

How did you do?

Look at the Reviewed items in the bank feed to see how you did.

 Select the Banking option from the Left Navigation Bar to view the
bank feed
 Select the Reviewed tab to see your matched transactions

Hints and tips

1. Go to the Banking Center and select For Review

2. Look down the list and find the transaction for Pye’s Cakes
3. Select Match
4. Then find the transactions for Dylan Sollfrank and select Match

ProAdvisor tip
Craig’s Landscaping is the sample company on QuickBooks Online test
drive. It’s designed for you to explore and try out new things without
worrying that you will break something or make a mistake.
Once you close this QuickBooks Online Test drive company it is
completely refreshed, so please remember to allow sufficient time to
complete each activity. Don’t worry if you have to close the test drive
before you are finished—you can always begin again.

Managing banking through the mobile app

Clients can perform most of their banking via the QuickBooks mobile
app. This is a great tool when they’re on the move or short on time
because clients can record expense and receipt images on the go.
ProAdvisor tip
We recommend using the mobile app yourself. Even if you don’t, you
should know how it works so you can educate clients and be able to
answer any questions they have. Download the mobile app from the
App Store or Google Play to try it out for yourself.

Lesson check
Where can you see a list of banking transactions that have been accepted into
QuickBooks Online?


 For Review

 Reviewed

 Excluded

 Recognized

That’s right. Once you match or add Bank Feed transactions to

transactions, they are accepted into QuickBooks Online and appear in
the Reviewed tab.