Home » Ordering Bank Feed Rules

Ordering Bank Feed Rules

A few weeks ago, we examined what QuickBooks Online (QBO) calls Bank Feed rules.

These rules instruct QBO how to deal with transactions from your bank. A transaction comes in from the bank for Home Depot. QBO can suggest the expense account Repairs. This saves you time since you don’t have to specify what expense account should be used with the transaction each time another Home Depot expense comes in from the Bank Feeds process.

Above is the list of bank feeds transactions set to be accepted into the sample QBO company’s file. Let’s setup a hypothetical situation where we might have multiple bank rules that would affect the two marked transactions.

First, let’s say that small, $25 or less, transactions are almost always Supplies. That is the expense account where we would want them posted.

But, Hicks Hardware transactions are always Job Materials.

Let’s setup some bank rules.

The above rule tells QBO that all expenses under $25 coming in through the Bank Feeds process can be posted to the expense account Supplies.

The screenshot above creates a rule that tells QBO every transaction coming in from Hicks Hardware should be categorized as Job Materials.

Look back at the first screenshot showing the transactions waiting to be categorized in QBO for Craig’s Landscape design business. The Hicks Hardware transaction is under $25. Will QBO categorize it as Supplies or Job Materials?

Bank Rules are numbered. The first one we created is number one. Therefore, QBO will apply it first. Since the Hicks transaction is under $25, it will post to the Supplies expense account.

The order of Bank rules can be shuffled however.

By ‘grabbing’ the symbol in the left-most column of the bank rules list, it is possible to drag the rule to a new location. In this case, it could be pulled into the rule #2 position.

If so, the first rule QBO would examine for the Hicks Hardware transaction would be the Hicks Hardware rule which would cause QBO to post the transaction in the account Job Materials.

On the other hand, the second rule will apply to the Mahoney Mugs transaction. This will cause it to be posted to Supplies.