Bank Feed Worked Examples

Most bank lines take one click: Approve what Arcus found, or create the one record the line needs. The six lines below are the ones that take thought. Each is written the same way: the screen, the door, the fields, what the books show after, and what to check. The names and figures are examples. Every example starts on Finance > Close & Reconcile > Bank Transactions: pick the account, find the line on the For Review tab, and open its Actions tray. For what each button posts, see Bank Transactions. For the order of the whole job, see Reconciling, Start to Finish.

​

1. One Wire That Paid Several Bills

A supplier was paid $12,500 by one wire. In Arcus the supplier has two open bills: one for $4,000 and one for $8,500. When the bills are entered but not paid yet:

1. The screen: the $12,500 money-out line, Actions.
2. The door: Record vendor payment.
3. The fields:
   • Vendor: the supplier. If Arcus picked someone else, click Change (see example 3).
   • Open bills, oldest first: type $4,000 on the first bill and $8,500 on the second. Leave every other bill at 0.00.
   • The line under the bills must read Applied $12,500 of $12,500 and Equal to the bank line.
   • Payment method: Wire. Memo (optional): the supplier’s invoice numbers.
   • Click Record payment. The button shows the amount: $12,500.
4. What the books show after: one bill payment over both bills. Both bills read paid, and the bank line is matched to the payment.
5. What to check: the two bills show no balance due. If the wire was more than the bills, the line reads how much is left to apply. When the rest was an advance for an invoice not entered yet, tick the box that reads “Keep the remaining” amount “as a prepayment to this vendor”. The rest is then recorded as a prepayment you can apply to the supplier’s next bill.

When the two payments are already recorded (for example, someone entered them from the bills):

1. The screen: the same line, Actions.
2. The door: Match several records.
3. The fields: tick the two payments. When Arcus finds records that add up to the line, it offers them with Use these. The footer must read Selected $12,500 of $12,500 and Equal to the bank line. Click Match 2 records.
4. What the books show after: nothing new is posted. The bank line is matched to both payments.
5. What to check: never create a third payment for the line. The records you pick must add up to the line to the cent.

​

2. A Deposit Paid Before the Goods Arrive

A supplier asked for $20,000 up front on a purchase order. Nothing is received or billed yet.

1. The screen: the $20,000 money-out line, Actions.
2. The door: Record vendor prepayment.
3. The fields:
   • Vendor: the supplier (Change if Arcus guessed wrong).
   • Purchase order: choose one of three:
     • No purchase order: an advance to the supplier, applied to any of its bills later.
     • A purchase order of the supplier: a deposit on that order, offered when its bill is entered. Then pick the order.
     • Another vendor’s purchase order (landed cost): freight, duty or tariff paid ahead on someone else’s order, such as a freight forwarder paid ahead on a supplier’s order.
   • Payment method and Note (optional), such as “Deposit on” the order number.
   • Click Record prepayment. The button shows the amount: $20,000.
4. What the books show after: one entry: debit the vendor prepayments asset, credit this bank. The deposit is listed on the order’s Prepayments card and on the supplier’s Prepayments tab. The bank line is matched.
5. When the bill arrives: enter the bill from the purchase order. On the new bill, tick Apply a prepayment right after saving this bill, or open the saved bill and click Apply prepayment to this bill on its Vendor Prepayments card. The bill’s balance and the deposit go down together.
6. What to check: a deposit larger than the order is allowed. The part above the order stays on the supplier’s account as an advance for its next bill. A landed-cost deposit is offered only on the payee’s own landed-cost bills for that order, never on the goods supplier’s bill.

​

3. A Wire Whose Payee Arcus Guessed Wrong

The bank prints the payee the way the receiving bank knows it, often a legal name. Your vendor record may carry a trading or brand name instead, so Arcus can suggest the wrong vendor.

1. The screen: the money-out line, Actions, then Record vendor payment (or Record vendor prepayment).
2. The door: the Vendor field. Click Change beside the suggested vendor.
3. The fields: search for the vendor. The search reads a vendor’s name and company name, so try both the brand and the legal name on the bank line. When two vendor records share a name, such as a domestic and an overseas office of the same supplier, pick the one whose open bills add up to the wire.
4. What the books show after: the payment is recorded to the vendor you picked. When the bank line names someone else, the prepayment window says so: the deposit is recorded to the vendor you picked.
5. What to check: changing the vendor clears the amounts you typed on the bills. Re-enter them and confirm Equal to the bank line before you record.

​

4. A Bill That Is Already Entered

Purchasing entered a supplier’s bill for $850. The bank line is the payment of that bill.

1. The screen: the $850 money-out line, Actions.
2. The door: Record vendor payment. Not Create expense, and not Create bill + payment.
3. The fields: Vendor, then type $850 on the bill under Open bills, oldest first until the line reads Equal to the bank line. Pick the Payment method and click Record payment.
4. What the books show after: the bill is paid and the bank line is matched to the payment.
5. What to check:
   • Create expense would post the money to an expense account a second time: the bill already holds the expense, so the books would count it twice and the bill would stay open.
   • The Record an expense window checks your books for a payment or entry that already holds the money, but it does not look at unpaid bills, so it does not warn you here.
   • Create bill + payment does warn when a bill of that vendor is open for exactly the line’s amount. Close it and use Record vendor payment.
   • If the line was already recorded the wrong way, click Undo on the Categorized tab. The entry is reversed and the line returns to For Review. Then record the payment as above.

​

5. A Supplier Invoice Below the Received Price

A purchase order was received at the order’s prices: 1,000 units at $6.50, a received value of $6,500. The supplier’s invoice is $6,000 for the same 1,000 units.

1. The screen: Finance > Payables > AP Bills, then Enter Bill.
2. The door: pick the Vendor, then tick the order under Open Purchase Orders / Unbilled Receipts. Its received quantities come in at the order’s unit costs.
3. The fields:
   • Vendor Invoice #: the number printed on the invoice.
   • Change each line’s unit cost to the invoice’s price. When the invoice gives one total for identical units, spread it evenly: $6,000 divided by 1,000 units is $6.00 a unit.
   • The Total in the Totals box must equal the invoice: $6,000.
   • Click Save Bill.
4. What the books show after: the bill credits accounts payable for $6,000 and clears the order’s received-not-billed balance. With the default setting, Arcus posts the $500 difference automatically: it comes off received-not-billed and lowers inventory for the units still on hand and cost of sales for the units already sold.
5. What to check:
   • If your company enforces three-way match, a unit-cost difference above the price variance threshold (5% unless an administrator changed it) adds a warning to the bill and a yellow banner on AP Bills. Here the difference is about 7.7%. The warning does not stop the bill.
   • Do not force the bill up to the received value. When the invoice and the receipt disagree on quantity, settle the count with purchasing before you enter the bill.
   • Then pay it from the bank line with Record vendor payment (example 4).

​

6. One Line That Two Payments Paid, Booked Again From the Feed

A bank line of $3,000 paid two bills whose payments were already recorded ($1,200 and $1,800). Someone then used Create bill + payment on the line, so a third bill and payment now hold the same money.

1. The screen: the Categorized tab. Find the $3,000 line.
2. The door: Undo. The window says what it will do: “Voids the vendor bill and its payment, reversing the general ledger.” Confirm it.
3. Then: the line is back on For Review. Open Actions, Match several records, tick the two existing payments until the footer reads Equal to the bank line, and click Match 2 records.
4. What the books show after: the extra bill and its payment are voided, never deleted. The bank line is matched to the two payments that were already there. The second step posts nothing.
5. What to check: the two original bills still read paid, and the vendor shows no new open bill. A line matched to records that already existed shows Unmatch on the Categorized tab, not Undo: Unmatch removes the link and leaves those records as they are.

​

Before You Close the Month

When every line has its record, close the month against the statement with Start reconciliation. Type the statement’s ending balance. When the feed can work out the balance for that date, Use this copies it in as a cross-check: the statement wins if the two differ. Finish at a difference of $0.00. Complete anyway is a last resort: it records the difference on the month, and the difference never clears by itself. See Close a Month.

​

Related Articles