Review Your Bank Activity

Every swipe, deposit, ACH and check that hits your bank lands in Bank activity. Your job is quick: tell DishBooks what each one was, then approve it. Do that a few times a week and your books stay current without a Sunday-night catch-up session.

Most lines take seconds. Pick the GL accountGL accountGeneral ledger account. One of the named buckets on your books, like Food Sales or Sales Tax Payable, that every dollar is sorted into. and the vendor, approve, done. For the trickier ones, like payroll checks or transfers between your own accounts, you’ll match them to something already in your books so nothing gets counted twice.

Before you start

• Your bank is connected, or you’ve imported a file from your bank. See Bank integrations.
• Your vendors are set up. See Set up vendors.
• You’ll need Bank activity set to Manage to edit lines, and Journal entriesJournal entryA record of money moving between GL accounts. Each one lists debits and credits that must be equal. set to Approve to approve them (Owners, Admins and Accountants by default).

Step 1 Open Bank activity

Go to Banking → Bank Activity. Pick the bank account or credit card from the dropdown at the top left. Next to it you’ll see when it last synced with your bank. The list starts filtered to Status: Unapproved, so you only see what still needs attention. Click the x on that filter to see everything, or pick another status.

Each line shows the date, amount, the description from your bank, the type (Bank Expense for money out, Bank Deposit for money in), plus the GL account, vendor, customer and location once they’re filled in. The Status column tells you where each line stands:

• Unapproved: new. Nobody’s approved it yet.
• Approved: recorded and approved. It’s on your books.
• Reconciled: approved and cleared in an approved bank reconciliation. All done.
• Excluded: left off your books on purpose (see below).

Like every list in DishBooks, you can sort, filter and resize the columns. Want to tackle August first? Filter by date and work through it.

Step 2 Record a transaction

For everyday lines, like a supply run, a utility bill paid by autopay or a catering deposit, fill it in right on the line. DishBooks gives you a head start: when it recognizes a charge from your bank feed, it suggests the vendor in a dashed-outline cell with a confidence %. Click the check to accept it, or the x to dismiss it. Nothing is booked until you accept.

1. Pick the GL account: what the money was for (or where it came from).

2. Pick the vendor for a withdrawal, or the customer for a deposit. Both are optional. An owner putting money into the business, for example, doesn’t need one.

3. Pick the location.

4. Approve it. Right-click the line and choose Approve. A line needs a GL account before it can be approved. Got a bunch? Tick the checkboxes on the left, fill in the GL account, vendor, customer or location under Apply to all, and click Approve to apply and approve them together (Apply alone just fills them in).

   

Approved lines show up on your financials and are ready for your bank reconciliation.

Prefer a bigger view? Click a line to open it. You’ll see the details (number, date, location, vendor and the bank’s description as the comment) and the journal entry lines behind it. The line still missing a GL account is outlined, so you know exactly what to fill in. The other side is already set to the bank account the money came from.

Tired of mapping the same charge every month? Set up a bank rule for recurring charges you never get a bill for, like your music subscription. DishBooks fills in the line for you. See Bank rules.

Step 3 Match it to something already in your books

Some bank lines are already in DishBooks, just not linked yet. A vendor check you recorded last week, a payroll entry, a transfer. Recording them again would count them twice. Instead, right-click the line and match it:

Match to Journal Entry

Perfect for payroll. You record one payroll journal entry, but your team cashes their checks on different days. Right-click each check as it clears, choose Match to Journal Entry, and pick it from the possible matches. The amounts line up; the dates may be a few days apart, and that’s fine.

DishBooks lists manual journal entries with the same amount dated within 90 days of the bank line. Don’t see the one you want? Use Search to find it. Select it and click Match.

Match to Daily Sales

For a deposit that covers your card sales. Right-click it, choose Match to Daily Sales, and select the Daily Sales lines the deposit represents, across brands and days. It lists only lines mapped to Undeposited Funds that aren’t matched yet.

Mark as Payment

For money you sent a vendor. The window shows the bank transaction and fills in the vendor for you (click the pencil to change it). Then:

• Already recorded the payment? Under Or match to an existing payment, pick it (or search for it) and click Match.
• Haven’t yet? Click Create new. It opens filled in with the bank details. Check off the bills it covers and save. See Record payments and print checks.

Mark as Transfer

For money moving between your own accounts, like operating to payroll checking. DishBooks looks for the other side of the transfer in your other accounts, within 7 days of this one. Pick it and click Match: both sides are handled at once, so you only deal with it one time.

More right-click options

• Edit: open the line to change its details or journal entry lines.
• Exclude: skip lines that shouldn’t be on your books. Handy if you connected your bank before your go-live date: tick everything before it and click Exclude in one go, and work only from day one. Excluded lines can come back with Include. You can’t exclude a line once it’s approved.
• Approve: approve one line, or a whole batch you’ve already filled in.
• Export: download the activity you’re looking at.
• Copy / Copy with Headers / Copy with Group Headers: copy a cell or rows to paste into a spreadsheet or email.

Need to make a change?

Approved a line with the wrong GL account or vendor? Right-click it and choose Unapprove. Fix it, then approve it again. On approved lines the matching options are grayed out, and View opens the line so you can check it. A Reconciled line can be unapproved too, but it stays cleared on its bank reconciliation. If the period is closed, reopen it first.

Tips and common questions

How often should I do this?

Weekly is a great rhythm for most restaurants. Busy multi-unit groups often do a quick pass every day.

I paid this vendor’s bill in DishBooks. Do I map the bank line to Food Cost?

No, that would count it twice. The bill already recorded the expense. Use Mark as Payment so the bank line pays off the bill.

Should I make a bank rule for my produce vendor?

No. Bank rules are only for charges you don’t get a bill for. If you upload a vendor’s bills, a rule would double up the cost.

Do I need a vendor on every line?

No. Vendor and customer are optional. Add them when you want to see spend by vendor.

My bank isn’t connected. Can I still use this?

Yes. Import a file from your bank and the lines show up here just the same. See Bank integrations.

What’s next

Your bank activity is recorded and approved. Now prove it all ties out to your bank statement.