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Setting Up a Bank Account

A bank account in ActiveManage has two halves: an account on the company's chart that the money posts to, and a bank connection that brings the bank's own record in and proves the two agree. Set both up before the first statement is imported or the first receipt is banked.

Where to find it

Admin Panel → Finance:

  • Ledger & Finance — the Chart of accounts tab: the bank's ledger account
  • Bank Feeds & Reconciliation — the Connections tab: the bank connection and its settings

Architect Panel → ERP - Finance:

  • Bank Reconciliation — opens the same console on its Reconcile tab
  • Feed Connections — the connections as a datastore

Step 1: the ledger account

  1. Open Ledger & Finance, choose the company and the Chart of accounts tab.
  2. Use an existing bank account (the UK template has 1000 Bank current account, 1010 Bank deposit account and 1020 Petty cash), or press New account….
  3. Make it an asset with Control account for set to Bank control, and Cash-flow category set to Cash and cash equivalents. Bank control is what the month-end close, the dashboard's Cash figure and the revaluation recognise as a bank account.

Step 2: the bank connection

  1. Open Bank Feeds & Reconciliation, choose Connections and press New bank / feed connection (or Add a bank account on a new install).
  2. Give it a Name such as Barclays Current Account, and choose the Company.
  3. Choose the Provider: Bank statement files (CSV / OFX / CAMT.053) to import statements, or a live feed provider if one is switched on.
  4. Choose the Bank account in the ledger from step 1.
  5. Enter the Currency the bank keeps the account in and the Bank account number / IBAN. A statement for any other account is refused.
  6. Press Create connection.

Step 3: optional drop folder

Statements can be uploaded by hand on the Import statement tab, or read from a folder on the server. On the connection's Settings:

  • Statement drop folder: where statement files wait. Read by Sync now and by the scheduled sync.
  • Archive folder: where a file is moved once read, so it is never read twice.
  • Files to read: a pattern such as *.csv, *.ofx or *.xml.
  • CSV layout: the saved layout CSV files from this folder are read with, picked by name.

Folders name places on the server, so only an architect can set or change them, and they must be inside the server's ERP drop-folder root, which the hosting administrator creates. The Connections list then says what each bank reads, for example reads *.csv; CSV layout Barclays business CSV export, or no drop folder - upload on Import.

Lines that arrive are coded and posted on the Queue tab; see Accounting & Bank Feeds.

Foreign-currency bank accounts

A bank line is always in its bank's currency. Posting a line in another currency to an account whose connection names a currency is refused. A euro receipt into a sterling account is banked as the sterling received, and the euro invoice is settled by allocation. A transfer between accounts in different currencies goes through a transfer clearing account: one journal for the money that left, one for the money that arrived, with the exchange difference cleared to realised exchange.

What goes wrong

  • "Choose the bank account in the ledger - nothing can post without one": every bank connection needs its ledger account.
  • "Account … is not a postable account for that company": choose an account on this company's chart, not a heading.
  • A bank account missing from the close check: its ledger account is not set to Bank control.

Worked example

A company opens a euro account. The controller adds 1030 Bank euro account with Bank control, then a connection called HSBC EUR with the Bank statement files provider, currency EUR, the new account and its IBAN. The architect sets the drop folder and the CSV layout the bank's export uses. With the Accounting and Bank Feed Sync task switched on, each new statement is read within the hour, and the first reconciliation starts from the statement's opening balance.

Recommendations

  • One connection per bank account, each with its own ledger account.
  • Always enter the IBAN; it stops the wrong statement being imported.
  • Agree the drop folder with the hosting administrator before asking an architect to set it.
  • Set Bank control on every bank account, or the close checks cannot see it.