Banking
Banking covers money moving in and out of your bank and credit-card accounts: writing checks, recording deposits, transfers, reconciling to statements, and bank feeds. It's all in the Banking menu, and in the sidebar under Money Out and Tools.
The ledger model behind it is in General Ledger.
Bank accounts
Bank accounts use the Bank and Cash account type. Reports that filter to cash accounts use the type, not the name, so call your accounts whatever you like. Most company files have an operating checking account, a savings or money-market account, and one or more credit cards (the Credit Card account type, listed first among liabilities; older files may keep cards under Other Current Liabilities). You reconcile a credit card the same way as a bank account.
Checks, deposits, and transfers
Write Check (Banking → Write Check) posts DR Expense (per line) · CR Bank. Use it to pay on the spot — rent, a reimbursement, an owner draw. If you've already entered a bill, use Pay Bill instead so the bill is cleared from Accounts Payable. The check number comes from a sequence you can override on each check.
Record Deposit (Banking → Record Deposit) posts DR Bank · CR Income (or another account, per line). Use it for money that isn't a customer paying an invoice: a cash sale, bank interest, a vendor refund. Split one deposit slip across several lines if it covers different income types. For customer payments against invoices, use Receive Payment.
Transfer (Banking → Transfer) moves money between two of your own accounts — checking to savings, or checking to a credit card. Both sides are balance-sheet accounts, so it doesn't touch income or expense.
Undeposited Funds
Undeposited Funds is an asset account that holds customer payments between receiving them and taking them to the bank:
- Receive Payment posts to Undeposited Funds: DR Undeposited Funds · CR Accounts Receivable.
- Record Deposit moves the batch to the bank: DR Bank · CR Undeposited Funds.
Now the single deposit on your statement matches a single entry, instead of ten small payments. For card processors and other electronic payments that arrive one by one, post straight to the bank. For processor payouts that bundle many sales and fees, see Banking → Processor Payouts.
Reconciliation
Bank Reconciliation (Banking → Bank Reconciliation, or Reconcile in the sidebar) proves your books match the bank:
- Choose the account and enter the statement date and ending balance.
- Tick each transaction that appears on the statement. Cleared Balance and Difference update as you go.
- When Difference is zero, choose Finish Reconciliation. You can't finish until it is.
Transactions in a completed reconciliation can't be edited, which protects what you've already verified. Banking → Reconciliation History lists past reconciliations, each with its own report, and Banking → Outstanding Items lists what hasn't cleared yet — checks not cashed and deposits in transit.
When the difference won't reach zero:
| Difference | Most likely cause |
|---|---|
| Exactly one transaction's amount | Something is on the statement but not in your books, or the reverse |
| Twice a transaction's amount | A transaction entered with the wrong sign (deposit vs. payment) |
| A small amount | A bank fee or interest not yet entered |
| A large, odd amount | A transaction in the wrong period, or a starting balance that doesn't match the statement |
Bank feeds
Bank Feeds (sidebar, or Banking → Bank Feeds) downloads transactions from your bank and card accounts so you don't type them. Bank feeds come with Updates & Cloud Services: 3 bank logins on Standard, 5 on Professional, 10 on Accountant. One bank login can cover several accounts at that bank. Connections go through Plaid; your bank password never reaches Solid Accounting.
- Choose Connect bank and sign in to your bank. The bank's sign-in opens inside the app; Open in browser instead is there if you need it.
- Link each bank account to an account in your books, or create a new bank or credit card account in the same step.
- New activity downloads automatically. Sync now fetches it immediately.
- Review each downloaded transaction (below). Nothing goes into your books until you add or match it.
Reviewing downloaded transactions
Your connected accounts are listed on the left, grouped into bank accounts, credit cards and ones that still need setup. Each shows where it books to, its last sync and how many transactions are waiting. An expired bank sign-in or an account that isn't linked yet shows in orange. Pick All accounts or one account; in a small window the list becomes a dropdown.
The tabs across the top are To review, Added and Ignored. Each row to review shows the payee, the bank's own text and category, and a suggestion with its reason — a matching entry already in your books, one of your rules, or how you booked that payee before.
For each row:
- Type — what the transaction is: expense / check, bill payment, transfer, credit card payment, loan payment, owner draw, deposit / income, refund or owner contribution. The type decides which accounts are offered first and how it's posted. A bill payment is applied to the bill you choose.
- Book to — the account. Add a payee and a Memo if you want them on the entry.
- Add or Match puts it in your books. A transfer that shows up in both of your accounts is matched, not booked twice.
- The row's menu has Ignore, Save for later (keeps your choices on the row without adding it), Details…, Split… and Find a match in your books….
To work faster, use the quick selects (All, None, Sure, Needs a choice), then Book all to an account with an optional Memo for all, or click Add the sure ones to add every row that is an exact match or booked the same way before. Each batch can be undone with Undo. When you change a suggestion, Solid Accounting offers to always use that choice for similar transactions.
Rows you've added can be changed later from the Added tab (the old entry is voided and the new one posted), and ignored rows can be restored from Ignored. Categorization Rules (Banking → Categorization Rules) holds the rules you've saved.
Your own AI assistant can also work the bank feeds for you: add what Solid Accounting is sure of and ask you about the rest. See AI assistants.
If your Updates & Cloud Services lapse, bank feeds stop downloading. Everything already in your books stays, and you can still bring transactions in from a statement file with Banking → Import Transactions... (OFX, QFX, CSV, or a PDF statement). See Bank feeds.
Common gotchas
Reconciliation is off by exactly a bank fee. Enter the fee with Write Check to a Bank Service Charges account, then finish.
Two same-amount transactions on the same day matched the wrong way round. Change the match from the Added tab in Bank Feeds.
Statement balance differs from your book balance after a clean reconciliation. Normal when checks haven't cleared or deposits are in transit — they're in your books but not yet on the statement.
A bank asks you to sign in again every few weeks. Some banks expire connections on a schedule. Reconnect from Bank Feeds; it's the bank's policy.