How Do I Match My Deposits?
Before you start: this article is for businesses whose FlexBooks writes deposits into their checking register. If your MindBody sales land in a Credit Card Processor account instead, there is nothing in your register to match and the steps below will not apply to you. You record the payout from your bank feed as a transfer out of that account. See Clearing Accounts 101.
Not sure which one you are? Open your Chart of Accounts and look for an account called Credit Card Processor. If it is there and it has a balance, you are on a clearing account. Ask us if you are not sure and we will tell you.
TL;DR
Match your payment processor deposits to the deposits FlexBooks created in your register, and never Post them. Set Record type to Deposits so you are only offered deposits, ignore QuickBooks’ own suggestions, and match to the deposit dated 1 to 5 days before your bank feed line. This is what stops your income being counted twice.
Matching versus Posting
FlexBooks creates a deposit in your checking register from your sales data. When your processor sends the real deposit into your bank feed, you have two choices.
Match (correct). You are telling QuickBooks these are the same transaction arriving from two sources, so it should not count both.
Post while the row is in Categorize mode (wrong). You are telling QuickBooks to record the bank line as new income on top of what FlexBooks already recorded. This doubles your income.
Every row in your bank feed is in one of those two modes. Open the row and you will see a Match and Categorize toggle at the top showing which.
What FlexBooks creates, and what it does not
FlexBooks creates in QuickBooks: deposits in your checking register, sales receipts in Undeposited Funds, invoices, credit memos, payments and refunds.
FlexBooks creates nothing in your bank feed. Everything there comes from your bank, including your processor deposits, bank fees, manual cash and check deposits, chargebacks and most expenses.
Step 1: find your processor deposits
Open Bank transactions, choose the account your processor pays into, and stay on the Pending tab. Type your processor into the search box to filter the list. TransFirst deposits carry bank descriptions like Tsys Transfirst Cr, so searching tsys finds them.
Filtering first keeps you from matching a processor deposit to something unrelated.
Step 2: take the easy ones first
Some rows carry a blue MATCH badge saying how many matches QuickBooks found. Where it found exactly one, check the amount and click Match in the Action column.
Start at the earliest date and work forward. Matching out of order is what creates chains of wrong matches.
Step 3: the rest, using Record type
Where QuickBooks offers several records, or none, open the row and use the match screen.
- Make sure the row is set to Match, not Categorize
- Set Record type to Deposits
- Compare the dates and tick the deposit dated shortly before your bank feed line
- Click Match
Setting Record type is the step that does the work. Left unset, QuickBooks lists open invoices, receive payments, sales receipts, journal entries and transfers alongside deposits, and on a busy account the deposit you want is buried. If the first screen does not show it, open Find other matches and set Record type there.
On dates. Your processor closes a batch and pays your bank a day or more later, so the FlexBooks deposit is normally dated 1 to 5 days before the bank feed line. Choose that one. Never choose a deposit dated after your bank feed line, because it belongs to a later bank line and taking it blocks that one from matching.
Example. A processor deposit lands in your bank feed on March 15th. Match it to the FlexBooks deposit from March 10th to 14th, never March 16th.
Ignore the suggestions panel
QuickBooks will often propose categorizing a processor deposit to one of your income accounts, tick your customer name off against your customer list, and describe your business back to you. It looks considered and it is a guess. If the panel says “Based on transaction details. No related historical transactions”, QuickBooks is telling you it found nothing to match. Those are the rows that double your income.
Step 4: check your work
- Open the Posted tab and search for your processor again
- Every processor deposit should read Matched in the Match/Category column, with the deposit it was matched to shown alongside
- Anything that was posted to an income account instead is a duplicate. Click Undo in the Action column and handle it properly
You can also open your checking register and look for the matched icon against each deposit.
The rules, short
Never match a processor deposit to a sales receipt or an invoice. Never Post a processor deposit. Never match to a deposit dated after the bank feed line.
Always filter to your processor first, always set Record type to Deposits, and always work from the earliest date forward.
Troubleshooting
No match offered at all. Usually the deposit was already matched to something else, or the amount is out by a cent, or a bank rule posted it. Check the Posted tab first. If you still cannot find it, email us with the date and amount and do not Post the transaction.
Several deposits for the same amount. Common on accounts with repeating prices. Go by date rather than by QuickBooks’ ordering, and take the earliest unmatched one.
You matched the wrong thing. Open the Posted tab, find it by date and amount, click Undo, and it returns to Pending.
A bank rule is posting them for you. On the Posted tab, look for processor deposits recorded as income with a rule named against them. Switch the rule off, undo what it did, then match them.
You are done when
Every processor deposit on the Posted tab reads Matched, none of them was posted as income, your register shows matched icons, and your Profit and Loss is not unexpectedly high. A week of transactions takes a few minutes once you have the routine.
Still need help?
Email us with a screenshot, the date and exact amount, and what you expected to see. When in doubt, do not match and do not Post. An untouched transaction is far easier to sort out than an unpicked one.