Create Bank Rules

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Manage bank rules

What are bank rules?

Upload bank statements

Tip: Bank rules1 help you save time. reduce the chance of human error, and get more accurate reports. Use them with bank accounts connected to a bank feed or when you import a statement.

Create a rule

  1. Open the Bank Rules window.
    1. In the Home window, click Banking on the navigation pane.
    2. In the Tasks pane, click the Match Bank Transactions icon.
    3. Select Bank Rules.

      4. Note: If the Match Transactions window is already open, you can open the Bank Rules menu and select Create Bank Rule to open the Bank Rules window.

      You can also select Create Bank Rule in the Action column of a transaction in the same window.

  2. Enter a name for the rule.
  3. Select an account and indicate if the rule applies to payments (money out) or receipts (money in).
  4. Define the conditions for a matching transaction.

    Example: You pay National Vehicle Rental a monthly payment of $450 to lease a delivery van. The conditions may appear as follows:

    Amount | Equals | 450

    Bank Reference | Contains | Vehicle

  5. Select an option from the Transaction Type menu.
  6. Enter the transaction details to indicate how Sage 50 should create a transaction.
  7. Click Create.

Tips for different transaction types and payment methods

Sales invoices, payments in, and receipts

If you have turned on Use Next Available Number in form settings for sales invoices, bank rules uses the next available form number. Otherwise, you are prompted to enter a number for the transaction.

If the customer has paid with a cheque, bank rules tries to extract the cheque number from the statement. Otherwise, you can enter the number when processing the transaction. If the customer paid through pre-authorized debit (PAD), Sage 50 automatically uses the next available PAD number.

For the receipt, if you have turned on Use Next Available Number in form settings, bank rules uses the next available form number. Otherwise, you are prompted to enter a number for the receipt.

Purchases and payments out

If you use a custom term for purchase invoices related to a specific vendor, the transaction date is appended to the custom term to create a unique transaction number. Otherwise, you can enter a transaction number when processing.

If you use cheques when paying invoices, bank rules tries to extract the cheque number from the statement. Otherwise, you can enter the number when processing the transaction.

If you pay your vendors through direct deposit, Sage 50 automatically uses the next available direct deposit number.

Prioritize rules

When transactions are being downloaded or imported, only one bank rule is applied to each transaction. If you have only one bank rule, you don't need to worry about prioritization. However, if you have more than one, you need to put them in order of priority so Sage 50 applies them in the right order.

Tip: Your most specific bank rules should always be set to the highest priority. For example, if you have a rule where one of the conditions is set to specific amount, it should come first in the order. Bank rules with non-specific, general conditions can be lower priority.

  1. Open the Manage Bank Rules window.
    1. In the Home window, click Banking on the navigation pane.
    2. In the Tasks pane, click the Match Bank Transactions icon.
    3. Select Bank Rules.

      4. Note: If the Match Transactions window is already open, you can open the Bank Rules menu and select Manage Rules to open the Manage Bank Rules window.

  2. Rearrange the order of the rules using drag and drop or the number boxes. Number 1 means the rule has first priority.
  3. Click Save.