Transactions

Add a bank account

Each statement is imported into one of the business's bank accounts, so add those first.

1. Open Bank Accounts and press +.
2. Give it a Label you'll recognise, such as "Everyday account", and fill in Account Name, BSB, Account Number, Bank Name and Pay ID if you have one.
3. Tick Default transaction account for the account customers pay into. Its details are the bank details printed on quotes and invoices.
4. Press Create Bank Account.

Add a credit card the same way, so its statements can be imported too.

Import a bank statement

centralOS doesn't connect to the bank directly. Statements are downloaded from internet banking and imported.

1. In your internet banking, export the transactions for the dates you want as an OFX, QFX or QIF file. Most banks offer at least one of these, sometimes labelled Microsoft Money (OFX) or Quicken (QFX or QIF).
2. Open Transactions and press Import.
3. Choose the Bank Account and the Statement file.
4. Check the list and press Import statement.

Dropping a statement file onto the Transactions page imports it straight into the Default transaction account.

Transactions already imported are skipped, so importing overlapping dates is safe. View skipped rows shows what was left out.

When the import finishes, press Reconcile on the message that appears to have centralAgent allocate the new transactions.

To make the next import quicker, press + Add shortcut > Web link in the import panel and save a link to the transactions page of your internet banking. It stays there for every import, one click away when the next statement is due.

Read the list

Each row is one bank transaction with its date, description and amount. The Reconciled column shows how far along it is:

• Unreconciled: nothing is allocated yet.
• A percentage, such as 40% Reconciled: only part of the amount is allocated.
• A category, such as Bank Fees, or Reconciled when it's split: it's done.

All Bank Accounts at the top shows one account at a time.

Allocate from the list

Most transactions take two clicks:

1. Click Unreconciled in the transaction's Reconciled column.
2. Pick the category, such as Bank Fees or Sales Income.

It saves straight away. To change it, click the category and pick another.

To match the transaction to a sale or purchase instead, type # in the same box and search. Sales or purchases owing that exact amount come first. Pick a sale and it's done. Pick a purchase, then pick its category, such as Materials and Supplies.

Allocate in detail

Click a transaction to open it when it needs more than one category, a different tax code, or a receipt.

1. Choose what it was: an Expense or Income category, or Other for money that's neither, such as transfers and ATO payments.
2. Check the tax code. Most business purchases and sales include GST, shown as inc. GST. Some things have no GST, such as bank fees and wages.
3. Press Save Allocations.

At the bottom, Total Allocated and Unallocated show how much is left to allocate, and Over-allocated shows when the parts add up to more than the transaction.

Split a transaction

One payment can cover several things, such as a hardware store bill that's part materials and part tools, or one deposit that pays two invoices.

1. Open the transaction.
2. Press Add manual allocation for each part, and set its category, tax code and amount.
3. When Unallocated is $0.00, press Save Allocations.

Match a payment to a sale

When a customer pays by bank transfer:

1. Open the deposit.
2. Press Attach sale and find the sale.
3. Click the sale to bring in each of its lines, or click its Total, Deposit or Unpaid amount to bring in just that amount. Use Deposit for a deposit, and Unpaid for the balance after a deposit or part payment.
4. Press Save Allocations.

The sale then shows the payment, and is paid once payments cover its total. A deposit that pays several invoices gets one Attach sale for each. Money in, not matched on the Money page counts deposits still waiting to be matched.

Match a payment to a purchase

When the business pays a supplier's bill:

1. Open the payment.
2. Press Attach purchase and find the purchase, the same way as a sale.
3. Check the category, then press Save Allocations.

To claim the GST on a purchase over $82.50, the ATO expects a tax invoice. An expense over $82.50 with GST and no purchase attached shows a warning in the list, No purchase linked. Attach the bill as a purchase, or drop the receipt on it.

Receipts and bills

Drag a receipt or bill, as a PDF or photo, onto Add receipt in a transaction. centralOS reads it, creates the purchase with the file attached and adds it to the transaction's allocations.

Stripe payouts

Card and direct debit payments through Stripe arrive in the bank as one payout, less Stripe's fees.

1. Open the Stripe deposit.
2. Press Attach Stripe payment and pick the payments it covers. The Stripe fees for those payments are added too, under Merchant Fees.
3. Press Save Allocations.

The payments then show Settled to bank on their sales.

Transfers, loans and the ATO

The categories under Other are for money that isn't income or an expense, and have no GST.

• Transfers: money moved between the business's own accounts, such as paying off the business credit card. Allocate both sides, the money out of one account and the money into the other.
• Director Loan: money a director puts into the business or takes out of it.
• ATO: GST payments and refunds. Choose Activity statement and pick the period instead, so the BAS shows it as paid. GST and BAS has the steps.

An accountant or BAS agent can say how to treat anything unusual.

Cash and missing transactions

For a cash sale, or a payment that isn't on a statement:

1. On Transactions, press + (New transaction).
2. Choose the Bank Account, Credit for money in or Debit for money out, the date it Occurred and a Description.
3. Allocate it like any other transaction, then save.

Let centralAgent reconcile

On Transactions, press Agent reconciliation. A centralAgent chat opens with the request ready to send. It matches Stripe payouts and invoice payments first, then allocates the rest the way similar transactions were allocated before, up to 50 at a time. It asks about anything it can't place, and you can drop receipts straight onto that chat.

centralAgent can also change allocations you ask about, such as "move all the Ampol transactions to Vehicle and Fuel".

Groups

Groups split the list, such as "Business credit card" or "To ask the accountant".

• To make one, press ... at the top of Transactions, choose New group, name it and press Create.
• To move a transaction, use its Group column. To move several, select each one in the list, then choose Group from the selection menu.

Categories

To change the categories, press ... at the top of Transactions and choose Categories. The same list is in Settings > Banking > Edit categories.

• New category at the bottom of the Income, Expense or Other column adds one. Press Enter to save it.
• Click a name to rename it.
• Archiving hides a category from the pickers but keeps it on past transactions. Deleting moves its transactions to another category first.

Delete a transaction

Right-click a transaction and choose Delete, or select several and choose Delete selected from the selection menu. It deletes the transaction for good, along with its allocations and any sale payments it made.

Things to know

• Without GST registered in Settings > Business Details, there's no GST to choose and transactions use BAS Excluded.
• Once a transaction is in a BAS snapshot, its GST is locked, and it can't be deleted.
• On the phone, Transactions shows each transaction and its allocations. Importing and allocating are done on a computer.
• Money covers the Money page. GST and BAS covers preparing a BAS from these allocations.