Recurring Transactions table Rules

One of the methods provided for creating Rules is from the Recurring Transactions table via the menu Actions > Recurring Transactions > Recurring Transactions Table.

The main advantages are as follows:

• You work directly in the Recurring Transactions table where all the Rules are saved.
• Once you have manually created all the Rules, you can import the transactions and directly apply the Rules.
• You can see all the Rules that have been created.
• You can add, modify, and delete Rules directly.
• You don’t need to use additional dialogs to add, modify, or delete Rules.
• You can define Rules for transactions across multiple rows.
• You can add digital document annotations.
• You can color the rows so that the color is carried over to the transactions in the Recurring Transactions table.

▶ Video: Rules for completing imported transactions (table Recurring transactions)

The Columns Used by the Rules

The Recurring transactions table defines the rules for the completion of imported transactions.

• Correspondence columns that contain the data for searching matches in the imported transactions. 
  • Doc column 
  • Description column 
  • Amount column 
  • Debit or Credit Account columns ( Double entry accounting) or Account and Category columns ( Income and Expense accounting).
• Substitution columns which need to be completed with additional information
  • Link column
  • VAT codes column
  • Cost centres column (CC1, CC2, CC3)
     

The Doc column

For a rule to exist, there must be either the following texts in the Doc column:

• !Rule. 
  To show that it is a rule
• !RuleSplit
  To show that the rule should create transactions on multiple rows (Split rows) .
   

The Description column

The Description column must contain the text to be searched for in the description of the imported rows:

• The exact word or phrase
  •  If you write Best Insurance 982-948, as a condition of the rule, all transactions containing this exact phrase will be regarded as matches.
  • If you write only Insurance, as a condition of the rule, all transactions containing this exact word will be considered as matches
• All words (starting with + at the beginning)
  If you write +Best Insurance 982-948, as a condition of the rule, all transactions containing these words, in any position, will be considered as matches.
  • All words must be present in the description of the transaction.
  • The position of the words in the sentence is not relevant.
  • The '+' sign is not considered in the search.
• Upper and lower case
  No difference is made between upper and lower case when searching for input text.
  The text you enter is applied to both upper and lower case text.
• [Rule name]
  When a description starts with text in square brackets, this is used as the name of the rule. To be used for better identification of rules.

Attention: DO NOT use the entire text from the bank statement as the description, as it is unique to that specific transaction.

The Debit and Credit account columns

In the Debit and Credit columns, enter the accounts from the chart of accounts to record the transaction.

The Amount column

The Amount column can contain a specific amount to be searched for in the imported transactions. This condition is optional.

If the name of a debtor or creditor, as shown on the bank statement, is specified in the Description column and the amount is not provided, the rule will apply to any amount of the transaction.

Enter the VAT Code that should be included in the imported transaction. The program will automatically fill in all the VAT-related columns.
 

The CC1, CC2 o CC3 columns

Enter the Cost Center that should be included in the imported transaction.

The Notes column

Add additional information that should be included in the imported transaction.

The DocLink column

In this column, it is not possible to insert a specific link to a document because each transaction will have its own document. However, you can add an annotation in square brackets (e.g., "[Doc]") to distinguish the rows that need to be associated with a digital document.

Once the transactions are imported, it may be necessary to link them to accounting documents. To speed up this process, it is recommended to proceed as follows:

• In the DocLink column of the Recurring Transactions table, use text enclosed in square brackets [ ].
• Within the square brackets, enter the text that should be searched for in the name of the supporting document file.
  
  
   
• In the Transactions table, the transactions are imported with the text in square brackets in the Link column.
  
  
   
• In the Transactions table, use the Row Filter function and enter the text "!link![ ]". This will display all the rows in the Link column that contain square brackets where a link to the supporting document needs to be added.
• When editing the Link column in the Transactions table, the program will show, in the auto-completion, the files of supporting documents that have not yet been linked to a transaction and contain the text entered between the square brackets.
  For example, if you enter "[invoice]," the program will display all the unlinked files containing the text "invoice" in the cell.

Quick Search and Completion of Transactions

It is possible that after importing transactions with the Rules, some transactions may need to be manually completed with additional information.

To quickly find the transactions that need to be completed, you can use one of the following methods:

• Using the Notes Column
  To quickly locate the transactions that need to be completed, we recommend adding temporary search texts that can be used to filter the transactions. For example:
  • In the Notes column of the Recurring Transactions table, or in any other column of the Rule row (except for those predefined for the Rule), enter a hashtag, such as #city.
  • In the Row Filter function of the Transactions table, enter the same hashtag. This will display the rows that you need to complete.
• Coloring Rule Rows
  You can color the Rule rows in the Recurring Transactions table. The row color will be transferred to the Transactions table and used to highlight the transactions to which the rule is applied.
  To identify only the colored rows, you can use the Row Filter function by entering the text "!_co!"

Split -row transactions

Normally, when you import transactions from a bank statement with the Rule, a single counterpart account is recorded. If the total amount of the counterpart needs to be split across multiple counterpart accounts, you can create a multi-row Rule.

For example:

• You regularly receive a payment of 550 that must be recorded on three different accounts and therefore on three rows:
  • (550) rent collection (no contra-account, as this involves recording the global amount split over three rows)
  • (500) flat rent (contra account rent)
  • (50) extra expenses (contra-account for extra expenses) .

To create a multi-row Rule:

• The first row corresponds to the total amount collected.
  • In the Doc column, enter the text !Rule.
  • In the Description column, enter the text to search for in the imported transactions.
  • In the counterpart column, enter square brackets [].
• In the following rows:
  • In the Doc column, enter the text !RuleSplit.
  • In the Description column, enter the text to search for in the imported transactions.
  • In the counterpart column, enter the counterpart accounts.
  • In all other columns, input the values that should be included in the additional rows. In this example, we have added the tenant’s Cost Center.

In the example of a multi-row rent transaction, it is assumed that the collected amount is always 550. If the collected amount is different from 550, the transaction will need to be completed manually. 

Modifying Rules in the Recurring Transactions Table

All completion Rules saved in the Recurring Transactions table, even if they were created from the Apply Rules dialog, can be modified, deleted, or new ones can be created in anticipation of a future import without a Rule.

Copying rules in bulk from one file to another

From the Recurring transactions table it is possible to copy rule rows in bulk and paste them into another Banana file.

Create a New Year with Rules

When you create a new year using the command Actions > Create New Year, the existing Rules in the Recurring Transactions table are automatically carried over to the new year's file.

Set a Different Description from the Imported One

All imported transactions display the description from the bank statement in the Description column of the Transactions table. Typically, these descriptions are very detailed.

It is not possible to automatically change this description at the time of import.

If you wish to change the imported description, you can use the Notes column in the Recurring Transactions table.  
Note: if the Notes column is already used for your own annotations, it cannot be used to modify the description.

If the Notes column is not being used, proceed as follows:

• Display the Recurring Transactions table.
• Make the Notes column visible by going to the menu Data > Columns set up > check the Notes column.
• In the Notes column, enter the description text that you want to appear in the Transactions table (Description column).
  Repeat this step for each desired transaction.
  
  
   
• Import the transactions
• After importing into the Transactions table, make the Notes column visible (menu Data > Columns setup > check the Notes column)
  The Notes column will display the notes defined in the Recurring Transactions table.
  
  
   
  • For each transaction, copy the content from the Notes column and paste it into the Description column.
    
    

In the Recurring Transactions table, it is not possible to directly add custom columns. 

To use a custom column in the Recurring Transactions table, you need to add the custom column to the Transactions table.

Once the column is added to the Transactions table, it will also be visible in the Recurring Transactions table and can be used to set a different description from the imported one.

Therefore, the insertion procedure is the same as described in the section Set a Different Description from the Imported One - Notes Column.