Managing the Import of Bank Account Statements
Continia Banking has implemented an advanced process for importing data into the Bank Account Reconciliation or the Payment Reconciliation Journal. This approach enhances the reconciliation workflow by substituting the standard import actions with a more efficient, tailored solution.
On the Banking Import Setup page, you can decide which entries can automatically match, set limits for payment proposal variances, and specify the minimum details required for accurate matching. For more information on the settings of the Banking Import Setup page, refer to the Configuring import settings article.
The import procedure
The import procedure begins by either showing a browse dialog or downloading the file directly from the bank, depending on the bank account setup. Once the account statement is imported, Continia Online converts the files and saves them in the file archive. Then, it imports the converted files into the Bank Account Reconciliation and Payment Reconciliation Journal. During this conversion, the system stores data in various tables based on the type and location of the information in the bank statement.
- Bank transaction header - contains data related to the entire statement file, such as the creation date, unique file ID, balance, and totals.
- Bank transaction line - includes details about each transaction, including date, description, currency information, and amounts.
- Bank transaction detail - stores additional unstructured information related to transaction lines, accessible from the reconciliation pages.
- Bank transaction interest - contains information about interests associated with transaction lines.
- Bank transaction charge - records information about charges related to transaction lines.
To use search text
In case a bank account statement is imported to the bank transaction tables but cannot be imported into the Bank Account Reconciliation or Payment Reconciliation Journal it may be due to a mismatch in account information. To resolve this, you can add a search term on the Bank Account Card to help identify the correct bank account. For example, enter the IBAN or BBAN of the bank account and try the import again. For more information, refer to the Search Rules article.
To show more columns on the bank transaction card
Within the Bank Transaction Card Page, there is an option to invoke an action and access more information about the statement or the individual transaction lines. For more information, refer to the Bank Account Reconciliation Page article.
To manage imported data
Users can mark a bank statement as already imported using the Set Imported To Company action, preventing it from being imported again. This can be reversed with the Remove Imported To Company action, allowing the data to be re-imported if necessary.
To review imported data
From both the Bank Account Reconciliation and Payment Reconciliation Journal pages, users can access several actions to manage and review source data:
- Show Bank Transaction - opens the Bank Transaction Card Page, that provides an overview of source data for a specific reconciliation, including headers and lines.
- Delete and Set as Imported - deletes the current reconciliation and marks the data as imported to prevent re-import. This action can be reversed on the Bank Transactions page.
To change the import settings
In bank account statements, the placement of transaction descriptions varies depending on the bank, requiring users to configure the data source. Users can set up the field to be used as the statement description from the Bank Transaction Line table. In Bank Account Reconciliation, this data is moved to the Description field, and in the Payment Reconciliation Journal, it is moved to the Transaction Text field.
Users can create or select a bank statement description template, similar to the process for Search Field Templates or Posting Description Templates. During installation, the system sets up predefined templates by default. If no template is assigned in the Banking Import Setup, the system will use the Posting Description from the Bank Transaction Line table by default. This setup is multi-level and can be configured on the Banking Import Setup Page and the Bank Account Card page. If not specified on the Bank Account, the default from the Import Setup is used.