Im having some confusing issues with Payroll and trying to match up in the bank feed. Previously they were all matching, but now when I hit match, 2 x payroll tranasctions come up that I deleted or reversed ages ago, which the balance is at 0.00. I dont understand why the same transaction keeps coming up as a match. I suspect that they are now going through Payroll clearing account - but how to do I find the payroll clearing account and its transactions and can it just be changed back again to the same account I was originally using. Im tearing my hair out. Any ideas from anyone? Thanks in advance! Heidi
Ok so I have tried the method outlined in the post you sent me, I tried to download the bank file and a message popped up the top. I've attached the file with it on there so you can see what I mean. How can I rectify this? M
The error Account cannot be linked Electronic Payments account if payment is Electronic Payment is usually caused by the wrong account linked to electronic payments. Go to Accounting>>Manage linked accounts>>Bank account for electronic payments needs to be the electronic clearing account in both the Accounts & Banking tab and the Payroll tab.
In the Prepare electronic payments window, make sure you're only ticking the pay transactions that relate to the bank feed transaction. When you click on Download bank file, one electronic payment transaction is recorded which includes all ticked transaction in one lump sum. So if you tick 5 pay transactions totalling $10,000, there will be one electronic payment transaction for $10,000. If the employee pays appear as separate withdrawals in bank transactions you wouldn't be able to match the individual bank feeds with the one electronic payment.
If the pays are individual withdrawals in Bank transactions, tick one pay transaction in Prepare electronic payments, enter the date of the bank feed and click on Download bank file. This will record one electronic payment transaction to match with the individual bank feed transaction.
Clicking on Download bank file doesn't transfer the payment to the employee's bank account, you need to go into internet banking, upload the bank file and authorise for the payment to be transferred. However, it does record the electronic payment transaction that moves the amount from the electronic clearing account to the bank account. So you're correct that it's just file data being moved.
Let me know how you go.
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It all seems to be coming togethger quite well, although ive noticed a few past tranasctions on the bank feed have auto matched to 'electronic clearing account' rather than the bank file ones ibe organised. Also, there are a couple of electronic payroll tranasctions still in the set up electronic payments which have obviously automatched to payroll, will this make a difference?
Another quick question too, Ive set up another bank feed which is waiting on bank approval and is taking ages. I need to allocate some transactions as 'transfers' to and from main account and this other account - is there another allocation I can use in the meantime so that I can reconcile for the last BAS, or will I have to just wait for the bank feed to be approved by the bank?
To match a transfer between accounts when both accounts have bank feeds:
record the Transfer money transaction
go to Bank transactions
expand the bank feed for that transfer
click the Transfer money tab
select and save
refresh the Bank transactions window and both sides will be matched
While you're waiting for the second bank feed to be approved you'll be able to reconcile the main bank account.
All transactions need to be processed out of the Prepare electronic payments window. When you process a pay run with Electronic as the Payment method the journal posted will look similar to this:
When you record the electronic payment transaction in Prepare electronic payments the journal posted moves the net amount from the electronic clearing account to the bank account:
If you don't record the Prepare electronic payments transaction then nothing has been posted to the bank account so there's no transaction to match in Bank transactions.
If you Allocate the bank feed transaction to the wages expense account, the software automatically records a Spend money transaction. This means that both the payroll transaction and the Spend money transaction are posted to the wages expense account which incorrectly inflates that expense.
You shouldn't have any bank feeds being allocated to the electronic clearing account or wages expense account in Bank transactions. The electronic clearing account is only used when paying a supplier/employee electronically. You'll need to make sure your linked accounts (Accounting>>Manage linked accounts) and bank rules are correctly set up.
For the pay transactions still in Prepare electronic payments, you'll need to check what transaction was matched to the bank feed. If it's a Spend money transaction you will need to delete it.
If you can send me screenshots of the transactions posted to the electronic clearing account I'll be happy to help further.
Thank you once again for your guidance! Ive attached a screenshot of all the pays which are still appearing in the prepare electronic payments window but aren't matching up with any unallocated tranasctions from last year. Can I simply delete these if there are no matches? Or should they be left?
The problem about trying to rematch these and unmatch what has been allocated already which is 'payroll and wages' is that they have already been reconciled and so im unable to rematch, so can these electronic ones in prepare electronic payments window just be deleted?
Still having issues with payroll, recent payment came through and was trying to match as 0.00 again? is there some sort of a glitch? Ive changed everyones pay mthod in payroll settings to cash.
All of the pay transactions in the Prepare electronic payments window need to be processed out of that window by clicking on Download bank file.
If the bank feed transactions were allocated to the wages expense account, that account will have an incorrect balance as both the pay transaction and the Spend money transaction have been posted to the expense account.
For example, in the pay transaction journal the gross amount is posted to the Payroll - Wages expense account:
When you allocate the bank feed transaction the software automatically records a Spend money transaction posting the net amount to the Payroll - wages expense account:
If you search that account in Find transactions you'll see the gross amount posted in the pay transaction and the net amount posted in the Spend money transaction. This will inflate the expense in your financial reports.
You will need to:
process the pay transactions in Prepare electronic payments by clicking on Download bank file. If the wage amounts appear as separate bank feed transactions click on one pay transaction then click on Download bank file, don't select all pay transactions at once.
undo the bank reconciliations
unmatch the bank feed transactions
delete the Spend money transactions
match the bank transactions with the electronic payment transactions
re-do the bank reconciliations
The pay transactions showing as $0.00 look like update events created manually by recording $0 pays or by clicking on Send update event in the STP reporting centre. If they are update events, go to Reconcile accounts and tick those transactions to manually reconcile them. As they are for $0.00 they won't affect the balance and manually reconciling them will remove them from the Bank transactions window and the Reconcile accounts window.
I'm still very confused. Ill post below the screenshots I have of both the bank feed and of the reconciliation windows. Ive followed the steps of downloading bank files, then 'unreconciling' in reconcile accounts, (where now the bank file transactions are appearing) - however, in the bank feed, there are a few payroll transactions which ive unmatched, and then they wont match to anything, so I've just allocated to Payroll salary and wages. I don't understand how some of them have gone to electronic clearing account when I've downloaded all the bank files for these transactions. Where do I find the spend money transactions to delete them. Can you show me a step by step using some screenshots Tracey, I apologise for creating extra work for you.
This magic wand icon means that the bank transaction has been automatically allocated based on bank rules you've set up. Go to Banking>>Bank rules and check for bank rules with Payroll - wages & salary selected. Only payroll transactions should be allocated to that account.
When the Match or Allocate column looks like the following screenshot it means that the bank transaction has been matched to an electronic payment transaction:
If you click on the expand arrow then Match transaction you can see the electronic payment it has been matched to:
The above is correct because the pay transaction credits the electronic clearing account and the electronic payment transaction debits that account, so effectively the bank feed transaction is allocated to the electronic clearing account.
Another example of that is I record a Spend money transaction and allocate the amount to Bank fees:
When I match that Spend money transaction to a bank transaction the Match or allocate column shows Bank fees as that is the allocation account in the Spend money transaction:
To find the Spend money transactions go to Banking>>Find transactions>>Debits and credits tab>>select your Payroll - wages & salaries account in the Account field. Payroll transactions will have Payroll as the Source journal. Spend money transactions will have Cash payments. Click on the purple reference no to open the transaction.
I noticed in your screenshots that all of your electronic payment transactions are dated the 16/02/2023, so when you're trying to match these in Bank transactions make sure you change the Show filter to All transactions so that date will appear.
Let me know how you go.
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