Manually Entering Transactions
Manual Entry is accessed under the Transactions sub-menu.
This provides a simple way to quickly enter transactions from printed statements when no import file exists. This gets around the limitation that some financial institutions only provide electronic statements for limited periods (sometimes only the last 60 to 90 days).
Transactions are entered within defined date ranges matching your statement pages. You first allocate (and reserve) a date range with opening and closing balances - then enter the transactions. When all transactions are entered you can Reconcile (or “Lock”) the batch to prevent further changes. Reconciled batches can be cleared just like Imported batches.
Manually defined ranges cannot overlap and cannot conflict with the dates of currently imported transactions. This ensures that duplicates are not created. You cannot import a file where some transaction dates may conflict with the date ranges of manually entered transactions. This is additional to the duplicate prevention measures that apply between imported transactions.
Defining a new range for transactions
Clicking on Manual Entry from the Transactions menu will open the following screen.
The example above shows what happens when your entered date range conflicts with existing imported data. The imported transactions lie in the date range from 20/1/2006 to 3/6/2006. Attempting to enter a manual entries in the date range 1/6/2006 to 30/6/2006 will result in the error shown above.
The normal way to enter the dates and balances is from a printed statement. The balances are used to check that the sum of all transactions entered adds up - in reality only the difference between the Closing and Opening balance is used.
Modified Transaction register
Upon successfully entering a date range for new transactions you will be taken to a modified version of the Transaction register.
The bottom section is similar to the normal Transaction register, except for the appearance of the date columns. Dates are shown in green to indicate that they have been entered manually. The date column may also include a second line with one of the words Change, Incomplete or Lock. The significance of these will be explained later.
The top section allows you to enter, modify or delete transactions.
The following shows what the Transaction register will look like with some data previously entered. For illustration purposes we have selected to view the manual range 1/6/2007 to 30/6/2007. We then selected “Change” from the 3rd transaction entered - which retrieves the currently entered details into the top section for possible change.
Some relevant features are:
1. Note the button next to the description “NAB Bank Account (01/06/2007 to 30/06/2007)”. This allows you to reset your transaction range and balances.
2. The Inbalance amount represents the difference between the transactions currently entered and your nominated Opening and Closing balances. When all transactions are entered this should be zero - meaning that all transactions have been entered correctly. You will not be able to “Lock” the transactions in a batch until the Inbalance is zero.
3. Whenever the Inbalance is numerically zero, the Inbalance section will be replaced by a “Reconcile All” button.
When you elect to use the “Reconcile All” button, the batch will be locked against further entry and will return to the register. Locked transactions show in the Register with a green date but with no second line date description.
When transactions are “locked” you can no longer change their date, amount or description. You cannot “unlock” the batch. You can still change the name, account, job or bizCode and split the transaction.
There is no necessity to lock a batch, however it is good practice to lock your batches when you are 100% certain they are correct. We suggest that you take a backup before locking batches.
4. You must enter a date, amount and a name. The description and cheque number are optional. Once you enter the Name the category, job and business code will be automatically applied, if previously used. You can enter reminders and split transactions just like you normally would for imported transaction
5. To return to the Transaction Register i.e. exit the batch you are currently editing, simply select the back arrow. You can partially enter a batch and return to it at any time.
Selecting an existing transaction range
The above image shows the case where we have selected a particular date range for modification. Existing manual entry ranges are selected in the Transaction register in one of the following ways:
1. From the Display pull-down menu.
The Manual Entry sub-menu displays all current manual entry ranges. This is seen in the following image.
2. By clicking on the second line of any manually entered date.
These will have the notation of “Incomplete” or “Lock”. Both will open the associated batch for change or “locking”. The term “Incomplete” means that the batch is still inbalanced - most likely because not all transactions have been entered. The links can be seen in the above image.
Clicking on one of these links will open the associated batch for change or “locking”. The second line description will then show “Change” i.e. allow you to change any individual transaction.
Since batches which have been locked can no longer be edited, this direct link for editing is not provided. Locked batches can always be accessed using the display pull-down menu.
Deleting manually entered batches
Individual ranges can be completely deleted if required. This is equivalent to the “Clear Statement” functionality for imported statements. Simply select the required manually entered batch and the “Undo All” button.
