Matching bank payments to invoices

After you import a bank statement, the lines Sliptree could not match by itself wait on the Unmatched tab under Payments. Matching a line records it as a payment on the invoice it pays, with the date and amount from the bank.

Worth knowing: matching the line is what records the payment. You do not add the payment on the invoice as well. If you already did, link the line to that payment instead, as described below.

Confirming a suggestion

A line with the status Needs review shows Sliptree's suggestion under its status, such as the invoice it probably pays. If the suggestion is right, click Confirm on the row: the payment is recorded and the invoice is paid. A message then offers Undo, in case you confirmed the wrong line.

To confirm many lines at once, tick them and click Confirm suggestions. Only lines with exactly one suggestion are confirmed, and the rest stay in the list for you to look at.

Matching a line by hand

Click a line, or Match on its row, to open the match dialog. For a line that pays an invoice, keep Invoice payment and tick the invoice. Sliptree's suggestion is at the top, and below it are your unpaid invoices in every currency. Invoices in the line's currency whose unpaid amount equals the payment come first.

You can tick several invoices when one payment pays more than one of them. Each ticked invoice gets an amount next to Match, filled in from what is still unpaid on it, and you can change it. If the payment is smaller than the invoices, the last one is partly paid. If it is larger, the rest stays as the customer's credit, which you can use on a later invoice.

Save with the button at the bottom of the dialog, which says what it does, such as Match payment to invoice. If the invoices you ticked belong to different customers, a note in the dialog asks you to check that the payer meant to pay invoices of several customers. You can still go ahead, for example when one person pays for a group. What the payment does not cover is then recorded as other income, not as anyone's credit.

An invoice in another currency

A payment can pay an invoice in another currency, for example when a USD invoice is paid in euros. When the reference number or the invoice number in the bank line names exactly one unpaid invoice in another currency, Sliptree converts the line's amount at the exchange rate of the bank's date. The suggestion then says which currency and which day's rate it used.

If the converted amount is within 3% of what is unpaid, and at most 250 in your company currency, the line pays the invoice in full and nothing stays open on it. Otherwise the line waits in Needs review: a smaller amount partly pays the invoice, and from a larger one the rest stays as the customer's credit. Matching by amount and payer name works only for invoices in the line's own currency.

When you tick an invoice in another currency in the match dialog, it gets two amounts: Match in the line's currency and Settles in the invoice's currency. Sliptree fills them in with the same rule, and you can change both. Below them you see the exchange rate the two amounts make and what Stays unpaid on the invoice. If Sliptree has no exchange rate for that day, type both amounts in yourself.

On the invoice, the payment shows in the invoice's currency, with the amount that arrived from the bank under it. To change how much of the payment goes on the invoice, use Change match on its statement line, as described below. The payment form on the invoice cannot change it.

A payment you already recorded by hand

Sometimes a payment you already recorded on an invoice by hand is also on a bank statement you import. To keep it from being counted twice, Sliptree looks for a payment with the same amount, recorded as a bank transfer or with the method Other. When the reference number or the invoice number in the bank line names the invoice the payment is on, the two are linked automatically, whatever the payment's date. If the invoice has several such payments, Sliptree suggests them and you pick one.

When the line names no invoice, Sliptree looks at the payments of the customer the line points to, dated from 3 days before to 35 days after the bank's date. One dated up to 14 days after is linked automatically, and a later one is only suggested, because by then next month's payment of the same amount can also fit. Payments of other customers are only suggested.

A payment recorded in the invoice's own currency can be linked too, for example a USD payment on a USD invoice that the bank booked in euros. The line must name the invoice, the payment must be all on that one invoice, and the line converted at the bank date's rate must be within the margin described above. Such a suggestion says Same amount at the day's rate. After the link, the payment has the bank's amount and currency, and the invoice stays paid as before.

To link them yourself, choose Payment you recorded earlier in the match dialog. The payments Sliptree suggests come first, whatever their date or currency. After them come payments for the same amount, dated from 30 days before to 35 days after the bank's date. If Sliptree can tell which customer the line is from, it offers only that customer's payments there. Pick the payment and click Link to the payment you recorded.

The bank line then takes the place of your payment: the invoice stays paid, the payment gets the bank's date and account, and the money is not counted twice. From then on it is a payment from the bank, so unmatching the line deletes it.

Payments without an invoice

Not every payment has an invoice. A customer may pay in advance, or the money may be something else, such as interest from the bank. For these, choose Prepayment or other income in the match dialog.

If you pick a customer, the amount becomes their credit, which you can use on their next invoice. Without a customer, it is recorded as other income. When the payer is not a customer yet, type their name in the Customer field and choose to add them as a new customer.

Money out: refunds and other payments

Lines with money leaving your account are matched to credit notes. In the match dialog, Refund against a credit note lists your credit notes, and matching records the line as a refund on the credit note.

For money out that has no credit note, choose Refund or other outgoing payment. With a customer picked, the line is recorded as a refund to that customer, and without one, as an other outgoing payment.

Ignoring a line

Some lines need no matching at all, such as bank fees or transfers between your own accounts. Choose Ignore from the row's menu, and the line leaves the list, with Undo in the message that follows.

To clear many such lines at once, click Ignore all but customer payments on the Unmatched tab. The dialog offers two groups: money out that has no credit note to match, and money in without a payer account, such as interest, fees or cash. Untick a group to leave it alone. Lines that need review are not changed, and the message after ignoring offers Undo.

Transfers between your own bank accounts are ignored when the statement is imported, as described in Importing bank statements.

Ignored lines stay on their statement's page, listed with its other lines. To bring one back later, open the statement on the Bank statements tab and choose Unignore from the line's menu. The Status filter can narrow the page to ignored lines.

Changing or removing a match

A matched line is on its statement's page, which you open from the Bank statements tab. From an invoice, click the payment and then View statement line. From the line's menu, Change match lets you tick other invoices, untick some, or change the amounts. If an invoice would get less than before, Sliptree shows what happens to it before you save, and the message after saving offers Undo.

Unmatch takes the line off its invoices completely. The payment made from the line is deleted, each invoice goes back to unpaid or partly paid, and the line is unmatched again. Sliptree asks first and lists what happens to each invoice.

Matching from the invoice

A bank payment can also be matched from the invoice it pays. When there is money that might pay the invoice, such as an unmatched payment from the bank or the customer's credit, the Add payment panel on the invoice page says so above the form.

Click Match to see that money, or Apply credit when the box names only the customer's credit. Payments from the bank that look like they belong to this invoice come first, and you can search the rest by payer, description or amount. Tick one or more, and the message after saving offers Undo.

Running automatic matching again

When you add invoices after an import, a line that stayed unmatched may now have an invoice to match. Click Run matching again on the Unmatched tab, and Sliptree tries the unmatched lines again. Lines that need review, matched lines and ignored lines are left as they are.

All payments in one place

The Transactions tab lists every payment and refund, whether it came from a bank statement or you recorded it by hand. A payment from a bank statement keeps the bank's date, payment method and account, so on an invoice only its amount for that invoice can be changed.