Automation and paring of bank transactions in the accounting system

Automated processing of bank transactions and cash on delivery slips is essential for modern accounting today. It adds speed and precision and frees you from manual tasks. Let’s see how it works!

How do we get bank transactions into the accounts?

Thanks to the SPD2 directive of the European Union and Open Banking, we use services such as Doklado and Dativery to import banking transactions directly from internet banking in real time or at hourly intervals. We have a passive API approach, which means everything happens automatically – no manual downloading of bank account statements!

Automated transaction pairing

After importing the bank movements, the system automatically starts the API service call in ABRA Flexi to pair the transactions. By default, we use these criteria:

• Variable symbol
• Sum

If necessary, we can add other criteria (e.g. IBAN, specific symbol or payment description).

What if the transaction is not paired?

If a transaction fails to auto-pair, there are two ways to solve it:

1. Process improvement – we look for the cause and adjust the settings so that the situation does not happen again in the future.
2. Semi-automatic posting – the robot filters unpaired transactions according to specific criteria and allows you to account for them in bulk with one click.
   
   

Biggest challenge: Card payments

Card payments are more complicated because they do not bear a variable symbol that can be directly paired with the receipt. There are two possible solutions:

• Elimination of card payments (if possible)
• Introduction of special variable symbols for card transactions
  
  

Processing of cash on delivery slips

The whole process is fully automated!

1. The carrier automatically sends cash on delivery slips to a dedicated e-mail address.
2. The robot processes the email and reads the necessary data.
3. It generates bank transactions based on the lists in the delivery slips.
4. For each incoming payment, it creates an outgoing payment of the same amount (zeroing the COD account).
5. The system will automatically run the pairing and post the net amounts.

Separate analytical accounts are maintained for each carrier and currency, which allows us to have detailed control over movements.

How do we know that everything is correctly accounted for?

We simply check whether the clearing analytical account is zeroed. If so, everything is all right!

The most common errors and their solutions:

• Missing delivery slip – we will request it from the carrier.
• Incorrect COD number – we will modify the process so that order number = shipment number = variable symbol.
  
  

Benefits of automation

Why is it worthwhile to have automated processing of banking transactions?

No manual sending of statements or COD slips – everything is imported automatically.

The entrepreneur can see the current status online – missing documents can be completed immediately.

Automatic alerts – the client receives notifications about missing documents.

What are our plans for the future?

We are currently working on extending automation to all foreign banks thanks to the PSD2 directive. This allows us to process transactions from all over the EU!

Automation of bank transactions and COD slips saves time, minimizes errors and brings convenience to entrepreneurs and accounting firms. With modern tools, we have accurate financial data at all times – without any unnecessary administration!