This is a step-by-step guide to using the Bank Reconciliation features in SmartPropertyManager.com.

For a quick overview, watch a short demo video which shows how to set up an open banking connection. Then read on for more detailed instructions.

How to access the feature

You should see an option under the Finances menu called Bank Accounts. Click on this to view and manage the list of recorded bank accounts for your business.

There are a number of ways to reconcile transactional data:

• Set up a live connection from your SmartPropertyManager.com account to your bank account.
• Reconcile by uploading a bank feed which you’ve obtained from your bank account.
• Manually reconcile

Setting up a live connection to your bank

The easiest way to reconcile transactions is to create a live connection from your SmartPropertyManager.com account directly to your bank account. This can be done as follows:

• Go to the Bank Accounts page as described above.
• If you haven’t already done so, create an Account record using the Record Account link on the left hand side of the page. The resulting Account record will appear within the Cash & Bank Account section.
• From within the list of Accounts, click on the  action for the Account record.
• This will launch a dialog for managing the live bank connection.
• Set the date from which you want to import data from the feed.
• Click on the Connect button.
• Follow the steps to select your bank and then to authenticate and approve access to your chosen bank account.
• Once authorisation is complete, you will be returned to the Bank Accounts page.
• You will now see a link called Reconcile from Live Connection appear under the Reconcile button in the actions for the Account record.
• Clicking on this link will pull the latest transactions directly from your bank and then take you to the reconciliation page.

See the section Reconciling live or uploaded bank feeds below for how to use the reconciliation page.

Reconciling by uploading a bank feed

To reconcile using a file, follow these steps:

(1) Go to your online bank web site and download a file covering the period for which you wish to reconcile transactions.

• SmartPropertyManager.com will recognize the following file formats:
  • OFX
  • QIF
  • CSV – as long as it is comma separated and not semi-colon separated.
• It is likely your bank will support one or more of these formats. Of the formats above, OFX and QIF are the preferred ones as they will be processed automatically. There is no standard layout for CSV files so it is more likely to hit problems when uploading.
• If your bank supports none of the above formats, but does support Excel, then you can download it, open it in Excel and save it in comma-separated CSV format and then upload it to the web site. Please make sure to maintain any header row along with the data. Any extraneous rows before the header row or after the data rows should be removed.
• Do not attempt to download too wide a date range as the system will reject any files that are greater than a certain size. The system is designed to handle approximately 1 month’s worth of data at a time.
• It is possible to use the reconciliation feature to simply perform bulk import of income or expenditure records. The CSV file will need to have the following columns (which will need to be present as a header row):
  • Date: The date of the transaction. Should use the format DD/MM/YYYY (e.g. “22/11/2020”)
  • Description: The name of the tenant for income transactions, or the name of the supplier for expenditure transactions.
  • Amount: The value of the transaction as a numeric string. No currency symbols or comma separators. A positive value should be used for income records. A negative value should be used for expenditure records.
  • (A template CSV can be found here).

(2) Upload the file into SmartPropertyManager.com

• Go to the Bank Accounts page as described above
• Choose to reconcile by uploading a file. If you have account tracking enabled, then you should choose to reconcile against the appropriate registered bank account.
• You will then be taken to the Bank Reconciliation page
• At the top of the page you will see a section where you are asked to upload a file.
• Click the Choose button and select the file to upload
• When uploading a CSV file, SmartPropertyManager.com will attempt to work out the relevant columns of data (typically the date, the amount(s) and the description fields). If it cannot automatically map the columns, then it will present a dialog which will allow you to choose which columns to map.
• The system will then upload the file and will populate the main table with the results.

See the next section Reconciling live or uploaded bank feeds for how to use the reconciliation page.

Reconciling live or uploaded bank feeds

Once a feed has been established, reconciling from a live bank connection or from an uploaded file is very similar.

• The reconciliation page will display the imported data in the Transaction Details section showing:
  • On the left-hand side: transactions uploaded from the bank feed.
  • On the right-hand side: transactions already recorded in the system.
  • Between the two: A button and menu so you can select the correct action for each row.
• The system will attempt to match uploaded bank transactions with the transactions already recorded in the system, based upon date, amount and description. If a match is found then it will be displayed on the same row as the imported column, otherwise the row will contain only the imported transaction on the left-hand side. If there are pre-existing transactions which do not match any imported rows then they will displayed on separate rows with nothing on the left-hand side.
• You can review each row and choose the correct action which is one of the following:
  • Set Reconciled: If the system has found a match to the imported row and you agree it is correct, then you click this button to mark it as reconciled. You can also use this option to mark as reconciled a pre-existing transaction which does not have a matching imported transaction.
  • Choose Existing: Use this option to select another pre-existing transaction to match against the imported row. You will be presented with a dialog where you can choose from other similar pre-existing transactions or perform a broader search to see whether you can find a matching pre-existing transaction outside of the default date range or in another bank account (if account tracking is enabled).
  • Record New: Use this option to record a new transaction in the system for the imported row. The new transaction is initialised with details from the imported row and presented to you for review or editing before being saved.
  • Ignore: Ignore the imported row.
• As you perform each action, the row will, by default, be removed from the table. You can choose to show reconciled or ignored transactions using the options at the top of the table.

Reconciling Manually

If you choose to reconcile manually then it is a very similar process to the previously available Reconciliation Worksheet, with the added bonus that the page allows you to specify the opening and closing balances and tracks the difference between what you have reconciled vs the expected closing balance.

Important

• Known limitations
  • The system does not currently remember ignored rows across logins.
  • Live bank feeds are currently refreshed two times per day.
  • Avoid reconciling the same dates using different sources or feeds. Mixing sources for the same dates can make transactions appear unreconciled or duplicated.
• Bank Reconciliation is available as an early access feature so you may well hit some glitches. Please make use of the Early Access Feature button at the top of the new pages to report any problems or any suggestions. Alternatively, drop us an email at contact@smartpropertymanager.com.
• We would appreciate the feedback as it will help us quickly improve the feature and make it easier to use. It’s also a great opportunity for early testers to influence the capabilities of these features.