Payment Import & Reconciliation

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Payment Import & Reconciliation

OctopusPro streamlines your payment reconciliation by importing bank transactions from CSV files and automatically matching them to your outstanding invoices. This intelligent matching process evaluates transaction details—such as customer name, business name, email address, physical address, booking number, invoice number, payment references, and amounts—to suggest accurate invoice matches. Each suggested match comes with a confidence score, ensuring you retain full approval control.

Key Benefits

  • Automated Suggestions: Reduces manual reconciliation effort.
  • Manual Verification: Ensures matches are accurate before final approval.
  • Duplicate Prevention: Automatically detects and excludes previously imported payments.
  • Ignored Keywords Management: Filters out irrelevant transactions automatically.

Preparing Your CSV File

To ensure accurate payment reconciliation, your CSV file should adhere to the following standard structure:

  • Transaction Date: The date the transaction occurred, formatted consistently (e.g., DD/MM/YYYY or MM/DD/YYYY) as provided by your bank.
  • Transaction Amount: Positive values representing incoming customer payments will be processed. Negative values, such as fees or outgoing payments, will be ignored.
  • Transaction Description: Detailed information like customer names, business names, invoice numbers, booking references, or any identifying details. OctopusPro uses this data to intelligently match payments to open invoices. This field also helps filter transactions containing your defined Ignored Keywords, such as “settlement” or “refund.”
  • Running Balance (Optional): Although commonly included in bank exports to show your account balance after each transaction, this field is not used by OctopusPro and will be ignored during import.

Accepted CSV Example

Date, Amount, Description, Balance
27/03/2025, 750.00, Direct Credit JOHN DOE INV-1234 Cleaning, 18500.00
27/03/2025, -25.00, Bank Service Fee Monthly Maintenance, 18475.00

Date Formats for Importing Bank Transactions

OctopusPro supports importing bank transaction CSV files containing various common international date formats. The system automatically attempts to detect and parse dates from your file. Supported date formats include:

  • YYYY-MM-DD (e.g., 2025-03-27) — ISO/International
  • DD/MM/YYYY (e.g., 27/03/2025) — Common in Europe, Australia
  • MM/DD/YYYY (e.g., 03/27/2025) — Common in North America
  • DD-MM-YYYY (e.g., 27-03-2025) — Alternative European
  • DD.MM.YYYY (e.g., 27.03.2025) — Certain European regions
  • YYYY/MM/DD (e.g., 2025/03/27) — Common in Asia

📌 Best Practice for CSV Preparation:

  • Use one of the supported date formats consistently throughout your CSV file.
  • Do not mix different date formats within a single file, as this may cause parsing errors.
  • Ensure the date column is formatted as plain text (not formulas or custom date formats) in your CSV file.

Additional Tips

  • Remove any header rows if not required by the system.
  • Use comma delimiters and save the file in UTF-8 encoding.
  • Verify that all data, especially dates and amounts, are correctly formatted as specified.

Step-by-Step Import Process

1. Accessing the Import Tool

  • Navigate to Invoices > Payment Reconciliation.
  • Click on Import Bank Transactions.

2. Uploading Your CSV

  • Select Upload CSV and choose your prepared file.
  • Start the import process.

3. Reviewing Intelligent Matching

  • OctopusPro displays suggested matches, each with a confidence score.
  • If multiple potential matches exist, manually select the correct invoice.
  • Approve matches after verification.

Ignored Keywords Feature

OctopusPro lets you exclude transactions using an Ignored Keywords list. Transactions with keywords in this list will not be imported, helping you avoid unnecessary records. This prevents duplicate entries for payments already handled via integrated payment channels or transactions that simply don’t need to be imported.

Examples of Ignored Keywords:

  • Settlement – Daily batch deposits from integrated payment gateways (e.g., Stripe, PayPal).
  • Refunds – Transactions already handled separately.

Managing Ignored Keywords

  • Click the Ignored Keywords link within the Payment Reconciliation page.
  • Add or remove keywords as necessary to suit your specific needs.
  • Changes apply to future imports, ensuring ongoing accuracy.

Handling Unmatched Incoming Payments

After importing bank transactions into OctopusPro, you may occasionally encounter unmatched incoming payments, which are payments the system could not automatically link to any outstanding customer invoice. Reviewing these transactions is important for accurate record-keeping.

When to Mark Incoming Payments as Ignored:

If an unmatched incoming payment doesn’t relate to any outstanding invoice—such as miscellaneous income, refunds, or unrelated deposits—you should manually mark it as Ignored. For example, if a transaction labeled “Bank Interest Payment” or “Adjustment Credit” appears unmatched and doesn’t relate to customer invoices, marking it as ignored informs the system that this payment does not need reconciliation.

How to Mark Payments as Ignored:

From the payment reconciliation interface, select the unmatched incoming payment and click “Mark as Ignored.” This action removes the payment from the pending reconciliation list, ensuring your records only reflect relevant, outstanding invoice payments.

Regularly managing unmatched incoming payments helps maintain a clear, organized view of your customer receivables and streamlines your reconciliation process.

Professional Tips for Effective Use

  • Regularly Review and Update Ignored Keywords: Frequently review your Ignored Keywords list to ensure it aligns with your latest transaction descriptions. As banking terminology or payment processing methods evolve, proactively updating your keyword list helps maintain effective transaction filtering.
  • Avoid Overly Broad Keywords: Select precise, descriptive keywords to prevent accidental exclusion of legitimate transactions. Overly generic terms may filter out valid payments, complicating reconciliation efforts.
  • Periodically Check Ignored Transactions: Even with automatic filtering, routinely review your bank statements to confirm the accuracy of ignored entries. Ensuring no valid transactions were inadvertently excluded helps maintain reliable financial data.
  • Clearly Document Reasons for Ignored Transactions: When manually marking an unmatched payment as ignored, clearly document the reason within OctopusPro (if notes are available). For example, “Ignored transaction dated 2025-03-01 for $100 – bank interest, not invoice-related.” Clear notes aid future audits and streamline record-keeping.

Proactive management of your Ignored Keywords list and careful handling of unmatched payments ensure efficient reconciliation, reduce errors, and maintain accurate, organized financial records.

Syncing Payments from Xero or QuickBooks

If your payments are already recorded in your accounting system, you can seamlessly sync these transactions with OctopusPro. This integration eliminates the need for manual CSV imports, streamlining your reconciliation workflow. OctopusPro supports direct synchronization of payments with popular accounting platforms like Xero and QuickBooks, allowing automatic matching with your existing invoices based on transaction details.

To enable syncing, navigate to:

  • Xero: Settings > Financial Settings > Xero Integration
  • QuickBooks: Settings > Financial Settings > QuickBooks Integration

Ensure you’ve completed the integration setup with your accounting software. Once activated, OctopusPro will automatically retrieve payment records, matching them intelligently to open invoices based on criteria such as customer details, transaction amounts, and invoice numbers.

Conclusion

OctopusPro’s Import Bank Transactions feature, combined with the strategic use of the Ignored Keywords functionality, manual transaction controls, and seamless synchronization with accounting platforms like Xero and QuickBooks, provides a robust, streamlined solution for bank reconciliation. By automatically filtering irrelevant or duplicate transactions—such as payment gateway settlements and refunds—and intelligently matching imported payments, OctopusPro ensures your financial records remain accurate, clear, and organized.

Regularly updating your Ignored Keywords list, carefully reviewing unmatched payments, and utilizing direct syncing with Xero or QuickBooks helps maintain precise, uncluttered financial data. Leveraging these powerful reconciliation tools allows your business to efficiently manage transactions directly related to outstanding invoices, significantly enhancing accuracy and simplifying your financial workflow.

Assistance

If you experience issues or need help formatting your bank export files, reach out to our support team.

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