Bank Transactions and Bulk Re-categorize

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When To Use Bank Transactions

Bank Transactions is the review inbox for the activity your bank feed downloads. Every new line waits in For Review until you match it to a record already on the books, create the record from it, or exclude it. Work the inbox daily or weekly so that month-end reconciliation only has to confirm the statement. Good uses include:

• A deposit that pays customer invoices, or a posted bank deposit ticket.
• A withdrawal that paid a vendor bill or a printed check.
• A marketplace payout that arrived in the bank.
• A bank fee, card charge or other expense that has no record in Arcus yet.
• Money moved between two of your own bank accounts.
• A second copy of a line the feed downloaded twice.

Bank Transactions does not complete a bank reconciliation. Matching clears a line against the books; closing a statement period happens in Bank Reconciliation.

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Before You Start

• Viewing the page needs permission to view accounting. Every change on it (approve, match, create, exclude, restore, undo, and saving a GL tag, note or attachment in Details) needs permission to post accounting. The buttons are shown to anyone who can open the page; without the post permission Arcus refuses the action with a permission message and changes nothing.
• Undoing a bill and payment also needs the Refund / Void Payments and Approve Vendor Bill permissions, which the default Manager role does not have. Without them Arcus returns the line to For Review, but the bill and payment it could not void stay on the books. See Undo A Created Record Or A Match below.
• At least one bank account must exist on Bank Reconciliation, linked to its GL cash account. Lines arrive once the account is connected to a bank feed.
• With no bank accounts, the page says No bank accounts configured. Click Go to Bank Reconciliation to add one. If the accounts cannot be read, the page says so instead: “The review inbox is empty because this read failed, not because you have no bank accounts. Nothing has been changed.” Click Retry.

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Open Bank Transactions

1. Open Finance > Close & Reconcile > Bank Transactions. You can also search for Bank Transactions in the command palette.
2. Pick the bank account in the account picker at the top right. Under it Arcus shows No bank feed connected, Connected, not synced yet, or the last sync date.
3. Choose a tab: For Review, Categorized or Excluded.

Other ways in: Review transactions on an account card in Bank Reconciliation opens the inbox for that account; the bank line link on a cleared check in the Check Register opens that line’s details; and the reconciliation workbench can open the Categorized tab for an account, where its Undo lives. A link that names a line opens its details on top of the inbox.

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Read The For Review Tab

The tiles at the top describe the selected account and window: A difference is not automatically an error: uncleared checks and deposits in transit produce one. The tile turns green with explained by open items when the difference equals the window’s open items. It shows bank total unavailable when no baseline or completed reconciliation covers the window; set the From date to the day after your baseline or latest completed reconciliation to see the bank side. If the review queue cannot be read, the tiles say not loaded instead of showing a zero. Above the list:

• From and to pickers set the date window, and Clear removes it. Arcus names the window in words, such as All dates, month to date, since the baseline or since the last reconciliation.
• Beside the window, the bank side reads Open, In, Out and Close, plus Anchor reset when a completed period in the window did not tie, and the pending lines, which are not in these figures. When the bank side cannot be computed it reads Bank total unavailable for this window.
• The line count reads Nothing to review when the window is empty, and (recounting) while it refreshes after your last change. Choose 25 / page or 50 / page.

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Read One Line

Each line shows the description, date, merchant, check number, a verdict chip, the signed amount, the running balance under it (bal, or owed on a credit card or other credit account), the primary button and Actions. Under the reason, a books match names the record type (Marketplace payout, Customer payment, Bill payment, Printed check, Journal entry or Deposit ticket) with a link to it, its date and amount, $X apart when the amounts differ, and N other candidates to open the match window. The running balance is marked with a check when it is proven against a completed reconciliation. Otherwise it is computed forward from the last verified point, or walked back from the balance the last sync recorded, and hovering says which. When a completed period did not tie to the bank, verification stops at the first such period: nothing dated on or after it is marked verified.

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Approve What Arcus Found

Click the line’s primary button. Its label says what it will do: When more than one record could be the line, or Arcus is not certain, approving opens the line instead: “N records could be this line, so Arcus will not pick one for you. Open the row and choose.” A pending line says “That line is still pending at the bank, so it cannot be approved yet.” The primary button never offers a verb that can only be refused: a deposit ticket whose total differs from the bank amount says Resolve difference, several equal tickets say Choose a ticket (N), and a receipt that sits on a ticket or in a staging account says Match the ticket or Build a deposit ticket. A customer receipt that was deposited to another bank on a deposit ticket cannot be matched here at all; its button says where it was deposited. When a better answer wins the row (a payout, a receipt or a rule) but a deposit ticket is also close, the row carries a note in the server’s words, “(ticket) is also (amount) away; if it is the ticket, resolve it from Deposits”, with Show in Deposits, which opens the match window on its Deposits tab. After an approval Arcus says what happened on both sides, for example Matched to the record, “Cleared on the bank line and in the ledger.”, or a warning such as “The bank line is cleared, but that entry has no line on this bank account, so the ledger side was left exactly as it is.” An exclusion says “Excluded. Find it on the Excluded tab.” A booked category says Expense booked to the account, with Undo.

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Approve Every Exact Match At Once

When the page has exact matches, a green banner counts them: “Each of these has a single candidate on the books at the same amount. Approving matches them to those records; nothing else on the page is touched.” Click Approve all N. To approve part of the page, select lines and click Approve N exact matches in the selection bar; it reads Approve exact matches and is disabled when no selected line qualifies. An exact match to a deposit ticket is approved in bulk like any other exact match. A line whose record is on another bank account is left out; approve it on its own with Move to this bank and match. When several exact lines point at the same record, the banner adds “N other exact lines point at a record another line also points at, so they are left for you: open them and choose”, and none of those lines is approved in bulk. The approval is all or nothing. On success Arcus says Matched N to the books. If any line is refused, nothing is matched, a red banner says “Nothing was matched: N lines could not be approved”, and each refused line carries its reason, for example “Another line you selected points at the same record, and one record can only be matched to one bank line.” with Open the other line. Clear those lines from the selection and try again. While one action is being saved, the inbox ignores a second click, so a fast double click cannot act on the next line that moves into place.

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Point A Line To The Right Record

Click Actions on a line to open its tray (Escape closes it). A money-out line offers Match a bill / check, Create bill + payment, Create expense, Record transfer, Exclude and Details. A money-in line offers Match a payout, Match a customer payment, Record customer payment, Record income, Record transfer, Exclude and Details. When the other half of a transfer is already on the books, Record transfer reads Link to recorded transfer.

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Match A Bill Or Check

Match a bill / check opens Match to AP with the bill payments and printed checks near the line’s amount and date. Widen the date window (± 7 days (default) up to ± 1 year) or the amount tolerance (± $0.05 (default)**, **±$1, ± $10**, **±$100 or ± $1,000), or search by reference, name or number. Done closes the window. Each candidate is rated Strong, Likely or Weak; that is a ranking, not a rule. A bill paid by check is one candidate, and matching clears both. A candidate whose check number differs from the bank line is flagged with the number the bank line shows. Under Recorded on another bank account, Arcus lists payments recorded against a different bank: “Do not add an expense on this line: the bill is already paid, and recording it again would take the cash out twice.” Use Move to this bank and match.

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Match A Customer Payment

Match Customer Payment has two tabs, plus a third when the row has deposit tickets to offer:

• Recorded Payments lists posted receipts, each with its books date (the day it was recorded). Move to this bank and match moves a receipt recorded on another bank. Matching a receipt with no invoice applications follows the same deposit staging rules as a receipt with them, uses the cash entry’s own date, and refuses to move cash that belongs to another bank: “Its own entry put the cash in (account); it cannot be matched to a line on (bank).” A receipt deposited to another bank on a deposit ticket cannot be matched here; the button says where it was deposited. A receipt that is on a ticket on this bank says “On (ticket): match the ticket” with Show ticket, and one still in a staging account says “Still in (account)” with Build a deposit ticket from this receipt, which closes the window and opens the new deposit window on this bank with the receipt’s check ticked.
• Deposits (N) (the window is then titled Match Deposit Ticket) lists the tickets this line could be, each with its number, date, how many days before the bank line it is dated, its checks and cash, and “exact” or “bank shows (amount) more/less”. With one exact ticket the window says “This deposit ticket matches the line to the cent. Matching marks the whole ticket cleared at the bank and clears every check on it; it posts nothing.” and Match (ticket) matches it. With several exact tickets it says “N deposit tickets on this bank match this line to the cent. Choose the one the bank credited; Arcus will not pick one for you.” and you pick one with the radio button. Close tickets are not exact: Resolve difference opens the resolution window.
• Open Invoices suggests how the deposit splits across a customer’s open invoices, oldest first (Suggested split, yours to change). Pick the customer and click Choose invoices and record. With no suggestion Arcus says “No open invoice matched this deposit by amount or customer name.” and still offers Record customer payment.

Record customer payment opens Receive Payment with the bank amount, date and account shown. Pick the customer and invoices, change the amounts if you need to, and save. The receipt and the bank match are recorded together. Nothing is recorded until you save there.

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Match A Marketplace Payout

Match to Marketplace Payout lists posted payouts. If matching needs a correction in a closed period, Arcus says the period is closed and “Nothing was matched.” Choose Match and leave the journal entry where it is to match without moving the entry, or Leave it unmatched and reopen the period in Period Close first.

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Create A Record From A Line

Each create dialog shows the line, checks whether the money is already on the books, and fills in what it can. If suggestions cannot load it says “Auto-suggestions are unavailable right now. Fill the fields in manually.”

• Record an expense or Record income: pick the account (any postable account is allowed: a loan repayment belongs against a liability, a vendor refund against the original expense), add an optional memo, and click Record expense or Record income. Picking the bank’s own GL account is refused, because both sides of the entry would land on it. Arcus confirms with Expense recorded or Income recorded and offers Undo.
• Record bill + payment: pick the vendor, the expense account and the payment method (ACH / bank transfer, Wire or Card / debit / other), add a bill reference, and click Record bill + payment.
• Record a transfer: pick where the money went to or came from. Accounts with a feed are listed first as Connected, the other leg will arrive here; the rest say No feed, this line is the only record. With no other account the dialog says No other bank account. When the other side was already recorded from your other account, the dialog becomes Link this line to the transfer, which posts nothing new. Record a new transfer instead is there for a real second transfer, and warns “This posts a second transfer entry for the same money.”

If the line’s date is outside your posting window, in a closed period, or in a locked tax year, the bill is refused and nothing is created. The message says so in this screen’s terms, for example “The bank line’s date, (date), is (n) days back, beyond this company’s (n)-day backdate window, so nothing was created from it.” and ends with what to do: reopen the period from Period Close or unlock the tax year from Accounts Payable settings, or create the record from its own screen and then match this line to it. A date ahead of today says “nothing posts to the ledger on a future date, so nothing was created from it. Wait for that date, or create the record from its own screen, then match this line to it.” Turn on Always do this to save a categorization rule for future lines from the same merchant. The rule suggests; it does not post by itself.

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When The Money Is Already On The Books

If Arcus finds the money already recorded, the dialog shows Already on the books with the record: “Recording it here would put the same dollars on the books twice.” Use Match this line to it instead, or Record it anyway and answer “Why is this a second, separate payment?” (the reason is saved with the record). If Arcus cannot check, it says “Arcus could not check whether this money is already on the books. Recording it now risks a duplicate; try again in a moment.”

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Undo A Created Record Or A Match

Use Undo in the confirmation, on the Categorized tab, or in Details. Undo reverses a journal entry only when this bank line created it. When the line only linked to an existing entry, Undo removes the link and leaves the entry in the books. Undoing a customer receipt voids it and its on-account credit. After an undo the line returns to For Review. A receipt that was applied to invoices cannot be undone here: on the Categorized tab its Undo is disabled, and hovering it says “This receipt was applied to invoices. Void it from the Payments module so its cash application unwinds cleanly.” Undoing a bill and payment voids both, and that needs two permissions beyond posting accounting: Refund / Void Payments and Approve Vendor Bill. The default Manager role has neither. Without them Arcus still returns the line to For Review, but the bill and payment it could not void stay on the books, so someone who holds those permissions must void them before the line is recorded again. The same Approve Vendor Bill permission decides whether a failed Record bill + payment can void the bill it created. If the payment is voided but the bill cannot be, Arcus says exactly that: “The payment was voided and the bank line was put back, but bill (number) stays open because (the reason: its tax year is locked for accounts payable, the period it posts in is closed, a cost entry it carries is posted in a closed period, or its posting date is outside the posting window). Void it from its own page when you can.”

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Exclude A Line

Exclude is for a second copy of a line the feed downloaded twice, or bank noise that is not a business transaction. It is not a way to hide a line the books already have.

1. Click Exclude in the tray, select lines and click Exclude in the selection bar, or click Exclude all duplicates on the possible-duplicates banner.
2. In Exclude transaction, pick Duplicate of a migrated transaction, Bank noise / not a business transaction or Other. A note (up to 200 characters) is stored as the reason when you fill it.
3. Click Exclude. Arcus says Transaction excluded. or N transactions excluded.

Excluded lines leave For Review, never post to the GL, stay out of reconciliation math, and never re-import. Restore them from the Excluded tab. If the line is the only copy of a real bank event, Arcus refuses: This line cannot be excluded, “This is the only copy of this bank line, so excluding it would take the money out of this account’s balance.” Choose Keep it open, or Match it instead when Arcus found the record. A bulk exclusion that includes such a line excludes nothing and lists the lines that are the only copy of their bank line.

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Keyboard Shortcuts

With focus in the list: J and K (or the arrow keys) move between lines, Enter opens a line’s actions, A approves an exact match, and X opens Exclude. A on any other line says “A approves exact matches only. Open the row to pick a record or a verb.”

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When The Bank Changes A Line You Already Matched

If the bank later changes the amount of a matched or reconciled line, or stops showing the line, Arcus keeps the figure your books were built on and shows a banner: The bank changed N lines your books already hold. Each line reads “Arcus keeps $X. The bank now shows$Y.” or “The bank no longer shows this line.” When the bank changes only the description, Arcus keeps the description your books hold and shows no banner, because the money still agrees. Click Open line and check it against your statement. If the bank is right, correct the line and its entry before you reconcile that period. If Arcus cannot run this check, the banner says “Arcus could not check whether the bank changed a line you already matched”.

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The Categorized Tab

• Matched (no session) lists lines matched or created from the feed without a reconciliation session, each with a Matched, no reconciliation session chip and a link to its record. Click Unmatch or Undo and confirm in Unmatch this line? or Undo this match?. The dialog says exactly what will happen to the record. Arcus then says “Match undone. The line is back in For Review.” or “Undone. The record was reversed and the line is back in For Review.”
• Reconciliation sessions are listed by statement date with the matched count, ending balance, any difference, and a status of In Progress, Completed or Cancelled. Expand one to see its matched items (Manual, Check match or Auto). Undo is available while the session is in progress. Cancelled sessions are collapsed under N cancelled sessions.
• With nothing matched yet the tab says Nothing categorized yet.

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The Excluded Tab

• The lines people excluded, with their reason and date. Click Restore to return one to For Review; Arcus says Transaction restored to For Review.
• Lines Arcus excluded, counted in groups such as Re-downloaded by a new connection to this bank, and lines replaced when this bank login was renewed. Click a group to list it, and Back to the ones people excluded to return. A replaced line shows Replaced instead of Restore: the line on the current connection carries it, with its match, category and note, and nothing was deleted.
• Empty states: Nobody has excluded a transaction here, Nothing was replaced on this account, Nothing in this group.

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Bank Transaction Details

Click Details in the tray (or the info button on a pending line) to open Bank Transaction. It shows the date, description, amount, check number and status, and lets you:

• Set the GL Account tag. Suggest GL asks the categorization engine (“Suggestion applied to GL account picker”, or “No confident suggestion found”), and Apply to Similar opens a new categorization rule filled in from the merchant and account. “Tagging a GL account here teaches Arcus’s suggestions and rules for similar transactions. It does not post a journal entry or change your books.”
• Record expense on an unmatched money-out line, which posts the entry.
• Add a Note, and Attach receipt (PDF or image, up to 4 MB), view it, or delete it. Arcus confirms with Attachment uploaded or Attachment removed, or says Upload failed.
• Click Save; Arcus says Transaction updated.

A Matched panel names the bill payment, printed check or reconciliation the line belongs to. A link to a line that no longer exists shows Bank transaction not found.

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Line Statuses

A matched line can still be undone while its session is in progress or it has no session. A line in a closed period cannot take a correction or a reversal until the period is reopened.

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What Happens In The Books

• Matching links the bank line to the record and clears the record’s cash on this bank account. It posts no new sale, bill or payment. Move to this bank and match posts a dated correction moving the cash from the other bank account; matching a printed check can post its clearing entry; approving a deposit ticket marks the whole ticket cleared and posts nothing.
• A bulk approval does not move a payout’s entry between bank accounts; that correction waits until you match the payout yourself.
• Record expense or Record income posts one journal entry on the bank date between the account you pick and this bank’s GL account.
• Record bill + payment creates the vendor bill the same way AP Bills does, so its checks apply, then records the payment and matches the line. If the payment cannot be recorded, Arcus voids the bill again.
• Record transfer posts one entry between the two bank GL accounts and matches the other account’s line when it finds it. No revenue or expense is booked. Link posts nothing.
• Exclude, Restore, and saving a GL tag, note or attachment post nothing.
• Undo reverses or voids only what this line created, as described above.
• Every change is recorded in the activity log, and other people viewing the page see it refresh.

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Bulk Re-categorize

Bulk Re-categorize runs the categorization engine across uncategorized bank lines and sets the GL account tag on the ones it can place. It has no entry in the navigation. Open it by adding /accounting/bulk-recategorize to your Arcus address. It needs permission to post accounting.

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Choose The Scope

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Review The Preview

1. Click Run Preview. Arcus shows Scanning transactions while it works.
2. Read “N transactions would be re-categorized” and the tiles: Scope, Preview Count and Avg Confidence.
3. Review each row: Description, Would become (the GL account), Conf. and Decided by (the rule or default that chose it).

Confidence is a review clue, not an approval. A high confidence row can still be wrong when a merchant name is reused for different activity. With nothing to place, the page says Nothing to apply for this scope.

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Commit The Changes

1. Click Commit to N transactions, or Reset to start again.
2. Arcus says “Committed. N transactions re-categorized.”
3. A large book is checked newest first in batches. When a run stops early, Arcus says so, for example “Stopped at the time limit after checking” a number of lines, and how many have not been checked. Click Continue (or Check older transactions when a batch had nothing to commit) to pick up at the next line instead of starting over. Start over and Run Another begin a new run.

Committing sets the GL account tag on the bank lines and records how each was decided. It posts no journal entry and does not match a line to a record. To post a money-out line, record it as an expense from the inbox or Details. Previews do not count toward the Suggested Rules ranking.

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Common Scenarios

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Common Blocks

• Approve is missing on a line: the line needs your choice (Arcus found nothing to match, a deposit ticket with a difference, or a receipt deposited on another bank). Open Actions.
• A change is refused with a permission message: you can view but not post accounting. Ask an administrator for the post permission.
• Nothing to review: the window is empty or every line has been handled. Clear the dates or sync the bank feed.
• Exclude is refused: the line is the only copy of a bank event. Match it or leave it open.
• Restore is missing: the line was replaced when the bank login was renewed; the current line carries it.
• Undo is refused: the entry is in a closed period, or the receipt was applied to invoices. Reopen the period, or void the receipt where it was recorded.
• Undo put the line back but the bill and payment are still on the books: you lack Refund / Void Payments or Approve Vendor Bill, which the default Manager role does not have. Ask someone who holds both to void the bill and payment before the line is recorded again.

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