Create bank rules

Summary

How to create bank rules in Accounting Start.

Resolution

Use bank rules with bank accounts connected to a bank feed or when you import your bank statement
Create bank rules before or after receiving transactions via a bank feed or statement import
Manage bank rules at any time from a centralised location on the banking page

You can create up to 300 bank rules per bank account on the Incoming Bank Transactions page. We advise adding as much detail as possible when creating bank rules.

Create bank rules >

Before receiving transactions

Select Banking, and then select:
Manage bank rules. Or go to:
Actions > Manage bank rules on a specific banking tile. Both take you to the bank rules page.
If necessary, select an account in the Bank accounts field. Select Create rule.
Enter a name for the rule and select whether it applies to Payments (money paid out) or Receipts (money coming in).
Select Activate this rule when saving to make the rule active. If you decided not to use this rule later, deselect this option to deactivate it.
Set the conditions that the bank transaction must have to match the rule.
Set the transaction details to tell Accounting how to create a transaction.

After receiving transactions

On the Incoming Transactions page:

Select Rules, and then New rule. Or you can:
Select Create a rule on a transaction. The transaction details will automatically display in the fields on the New rule window.
Give the rule a Name and specify whether it's used for Payments (money paid out) or Receipts (money coming in).
Review and if needed, edit the rule, and then select Save.

Explanation of fields >

More information about the fields on the Create Rule window.

Field	Description
Conditions
Field	Choose the information that you want to use to recognise the transaction. This could be the Reference and Date or Reference and Amount for example.
Value	Set the conditions to use and the value you want to match such as the amount of transaction.
Equals	The imported transaction will have to exactly match the values. Use this for transaction such as direct debits where the amount or reference never changes.
Contains	The imported transaction will only have to contain part of the value you set. This is useful for reference field. For example, the reference on a transaction might contain the supplier's name. It may also contain a unique number for the transaction. By using Contains, you can always match the transaction to the correct supplier.
Does not contain	You might want to use this where you want to deal with exceptions to a more general rule.
Transaction details
Transaction type	For: Bank Transfer. To avoid duplicates, you only need to set up this up in one of the bank accounts that's part of the transfer. In the other bank account, select Match against the incoming. Or outgoing transfer to or from the other account Money In and Money Out. The Ledger Account and VAT rate are mandatory Payments on Account. You must choose a customer or supplier
Supplier	The supplier that you paid or who paid you.
Method	The payment method of the transaction such as Credit/Debit Card or Cheque.
Reference	Optionally, enter a reference to use when creating this type of transaction.
Description	Optionally, enter a description to use when creating this type of transaction.
Ledger Account	The nominal account you want to debit or credit with the amount of this transaction.
VAT Rate	The VAT rate that applies when creating this type of transaction.

Prioritise your bank rules >

You can only apply one bank rule to each bank transaction.

If you have more than one bank rule, several rules may apply to the same bank transaction. To make sure we apply the correct bank rule, we recommend that you give each rule a priority. This makes sure we apply them in the right order.

Set the highest priority to your most specific rules. Such as rules where one of the conditions is set to specific amount.

Open the rule to edit it.
From the Priority dropdown list, select one of the following:
First. To make this the first rule in the list, giving it top priority.
Below. If this isn't a top priority rule. Select which bank rule it should follow in the order.
Select Save.

We apply the bank rules in this order the next time you import transactions in from your bank. If you have pending transactions, select Apply rules to pending transactions.

Apply bank rules to incoming transactions >

Your bank rules are automatically applied to your incoming transactions. We then suggest bank rules on the Incoming Bank Transactions page. Select:

Create All. If you're confident that the suggested transactions are correct
Review these transactions. To check that the rules were correctly applied before you create transactions

The Rule Applied message shows on each transaction where a rule was successfully applied.

We will let you know if any details are missing in the rule to create a transaction.

The Imported from bank statement message shows each transaction you imported from a bank statement.

The Imported from AutoEntry message shows each transaction that you've imported from AutoEntry.

Example bank rule >

Every month, Wonderland Cakes pays £199 for their utility bill to County Utilities Company via direct debit.

Since the amount and supplier are always the same, the business owner wants to set up a bank rule.

This way, the transaction will be automatically created when it comes in from their business account at National Bank.

When creating the bank rule, the business owner sets the conditions to:

Field	Values	Description
Reference	Equals	Utilities
Amount	Equals	199.00

Since it's a payment, the business owner sets the transactions details to:

Transaction type	Money Out
Supplier	Utilities
Method	Credit / Debit Card
Reference	Country Utilities Company
Description	Utilities direct debit
Ledger Account	Electricity (7200)
VAT Rate	Lower Rate 5%

Solution Properties

Solution ID: 222001000100041
Last Modified Date: Tue Sep 29 09:31:19 UTC 2026
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