To Record
Take the bank lines that came in from your bank feed or a file and put them in your books, one short pass at a time.
On this page
What To Record does
Your bank knows what moved. Your books need to know what it was for. To Record is where you tell them.
An item of bank activity is a bank line. It comes in from a bank feed (a connection to your bank that sends new bank lines on its own) or from a file you upload. To Record takes each bank line from "came in" to "recorded." Recording a bank line gives it an account (what the money was, such as Office Supplies or Contribution Revenue) and a fund (which bucket of money it belongs to, such as your General Fund), and puts it in your books.
We fill in what we can work out from your files and from how you recorded the same bank lines before. You answer only what we can't know.
Every answer is saved the moment you give it. You can close the page, sign out, and pick it up tomorrow on another device. Nothing goes into your books until you press Record on the "Check before you record" page, after you've seen what will be recorded. The one exception is a payment or deposit that opens in its own form. That one is recorded when you save the form.
To open it, choose To Record in the sidebar, under All Transactions. The number beside it is how many bank lines are still to record.
How it works
You move through up to seven pages. A page with nothing to ask is skipped, so a visit often shows only some of them. Each page has a Back link, and your answers stay saved.
- Check what we filled in. The bank lines we already worked out.
- Choose an Account for each Vendor. Your payments, one row per vendor.
- What was each deposit for? Your deposits, one row per payer.
- Is this money already in your books? Only when a bank line may be counted twice.
- Choose a Fund for each Vendor or Supporter. Only when you have more than one fund to choose from.
- Check before you record. Everything that will go into your books, with the Record button.
- Check what went into your books. Your receipt, with a way to reverse what you recorded.
A vendor is a contact you pay. A supporter is a contact who gives to your organization.
When you open To Record, we first look for new bank lines from your connected bank accounts. Then, if your bank lines point to a file we don't have, we may offer to add it. That offer is on a page of its own, described next.
Bring in your other bank accounts first
If you bring in every bank account before you start, To Record has much less to do.
Money that moves between your own bank accounts, such as a PayPal payout into checking, shows up twice: once leaving one bank account and once arriving in the other. If only one side has come in, we can't tell it from a payment or a donation. So we hold that bank line back and don't ask you about it. When the other bank account's file is in, we find both sides and record the transfer once. You don't answer for them one at a time.
We make the offer only when your own bank lines point to a missing file. The page names the file and the dates it should cover. For example: "Your Checking account has 14 bank lines that mention PayPal and are more recent than the PayPal data we have." The heading says which file, such as "Upload your PayPal file for September to November." When no single file stands out, it reads "Bring in your other accounts."
Sometimes the page asks a question first. If several of your bank accounts are empty and we can't tell which one a transfer went to, it asks "Tell us where the PayPal transfers went." Pick the bank account and bring in its file. We remember your answer.
For a connected bank account that is behind, we try to bring in its new bank lines when you open To Record, so we don't ask you for a file.
If you'd rather not bring a file in yet, choose Not now. We won't ask again unless newer bank lines point to the file you skipped. The held bank lines stay in To Record. The first page of your visit lists them under "Imported, but not shown here yet," with a link to import each file. Your receipt lists them again. You can upload the file whenever you like.
Before you start
You need at least one bank account in NP Ledger with bank lines from a bank feed or a file. See Bank Statement Import and Bank Feeds.
Rows have a colored edge. Amber means the row still needs a look, either because we filled it in or because it's blank. Teal means it's answered. Where rows are filled in, an Accept all button accepts them without leaving the page.
The pages, one at a time
Check what we filled in
This page holds the bank lines we already worked out. There are two kinds of row.
- A transfer between your own bank accounts. Money left one bank account and arrived in another. That is neither income nor an expense, so we record it once, as a transfer. We found both sides.
- A group with an account filled in. The account comes from your files or from how you recorded the same bank lines before. Each row says why.
To change a row, use its drop-down list. Show the N bank lines on a row lists its bank lines, and a line in a group can take its own answer.
When it looks right, press Accept and continue.
Choose an Account for each Vendor
Each row is one vendor, biggest total first. Sort by total or by name. A vendor with two or more payments gets one row. So do one-off payments whose descriptions read alike. Any other payment gets its own row.
When some bank lines are waiting on other pages, the page opens by saying how many are waiting, how many are on this page, how many are deposits on the next page, and how many need a closer look.
Pick an account for the row and every payment in it follows. Show the N payments lets one payment take a different account. We save your pick, so the same vendor is filled in next time.
If a payment is not an expense, such as a refund, a transfer we missed or a loan payment, choose Not an expense…. That opens the payment's own form, where saving it records that payment. When you finish, you come back here.
A row you leave blank stays in To Record, and nothing is recorded for it.
Record a refund or a returned donation
On that form, pick Refund received for money that came back on an expense, or Refund sent for a donation or income you are returning. Then choose which original it reverses. The form asks which expense is being refunded, or which donation or income is being returned. It fills this in when it can. It reverses the original in its own fund and account, so you don't pick either.
Give the reason (the donor or vendor changed their mind, a duplicate charge, fraud or a stolen card, or a charge that was never valid).
If the form says "We found no donation from" the donor, there is no donation under that name in your books. Pick the donation if it is recorded under another name. The list shows the most recent 200. For an older one, ask your bookkeeper or accountant to record it as a journal entry.
What was each deposit for?
Each row is one payer, or one deposit when the bank doesn't name a payer. We fill in a deposit only when we read something that tells us: your books, your earlier answers, a supporter's name, the bank's own donation wording, or an event ticket named on a PayPal payment. Otherwise the row waits for you.
Choose Donation or Other income, each with the account it belongs in. If a deposit isn't income, choose Not income…. That opens the deposit's own form, which records it when you save.
Some deposits can't be recorded on this page. Each row says why. The reason may be a payout from a payment processor such as Stripe or PayPal, a fiscal year you've closed, a zero amount, a transfer whose other side we couldn't match, or a bank account that isn't linked to an account in your books. To link one, use the Bank & Cash page. These stay in To Record.
More about payouts: A payout is the donations minus the processor's fee. We can't tell the fee until the donations it paid out come in, so the deposit waits for them.
Is this money already in your books?
This page appears only when something may be counted twice. There are two kinds of question.
- A bank line that may be a transaction you already recorded. For example, a donation you entered by hand that has now come in from the bank. Choose Yes for the bank line that matches, or No if the bank line is something new.
- Two bank lines that may be the same money. For example, a deposit that came in once from a bank feed and again from a file. Choose Yes, one deposit or No, two deposits. For a payment, the choices read "one payment" and "two payments."
When we're sure two things match, we don't ask. Record matches them.
Your answers are saved here, and nothing is matched or left out until you press Record. A match links the bank line to the transaction you already have, so it is recorded once. A copy is left out, and you keep the earlier one.
Choose a Fund for each Vendor or Supporter
You see this page only when you have more than one fund to choose from. Each row is a vendor you paid or a supporter who gave, from the answers you gave earlier. We fill in the fund when your books or the bank's own words say which one.
To fill every blank row with one fund, use Put the rest in and press Put them in. If your rows include both payments and deposits, you can choose whether it covers payments, deposits or both. Rows that already have a fund keep it.
Account and fund are separate answers. The account says what the money was. The fund says which bucket of money it belongs to.
Check before you record
This page lists everything one press will put in your books, grouped by account and fund, with each group's bank lines and total.
Bank lines with no fund yet aren't included. The page shows how many, and they stay in To Record. To change anything, press Back.
When it looks right, press Record N lines. This page's button is the one that records. If there is nothing to record and only matches to make, the button reads Finish.
A large set of bank lines is recorded in parts. On "Recording your answers," keep the page open until it finishes.
Check what went into your books
This is your receipt. Its heading, "What was recorded in your books," lists what was recorded by account and fund, with each group's bank lines and total. It also names any copy we left out.
It shows one reminder of what is still to do. That can be rows you haven't answered, bank lines held back, or bank lines that need a closer look.
Each held-back bank line comes with its reason, such as a possible duplicate, a payout, a transfer we couldn't match, or a fiscal year you've closed. For those that need a closer look, Record it or Record them one at a time opens each bank line's own form, and you come back here.
At the foot of the receipt, Reverse all of these undoes what you recorded, and See them in Transactions opens what was recorded.
Reverse what you recorded
If you recorded something wrong, choose Reverse all of these on the receipt. We ask why, then put the bank lines you recorded together back in To Record. If any can't be put back, we tell you why. You can fix what was wrong and record it again.
What to check
- The number beside To Record in the sidebar is zero, or what's left is something you're holding on purpose.
- The receipt's groups look like your organization: rent under an expense account, donations under a revenue account.
- Transfers between your own bank accounts were recorded as transfers. If one is missing, the other bank account's file may not be in yet.
- A payout from a payment processor is still in To Record until its donations come in.
Easy to miss
- Amber rows. A filled-in answer is a good guess, and it's still a guess. Look over the amber rows before you press Accept all or Record. Moving a month of money between funds after it's recorded takes real time.
- Transfers. If the same amount left one bank account and arrived in another, it's a transfer. The Check what we filled in page catches the ones where we can see both sides.
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