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Intuit
QuickBooks 2014 - Bank Feeds
Online banking has a whole new look and simplicity in QuickBooks 2014.2 of 7
Intuit
QuickBooks 2014 - Bank Feeds Set-up Step 1
The first step of the Bank Feeds Set-up Wizard is to select your Bank's Name.
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Intuit
QuickBooks 2014 - Bank Feeds Center
You can access your bank information from the new Bank Feeds Center (from the Banking Menu). Bank feeds is not only a new way to a streamlined connection to 'more banks', but an entirely new way of handling your bank information.
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Intuit
QuickBooks 2014 - Bank Feeds - Downloading Your Transactions
Click the Download Transaction button to get your most current data, QuickBooks will ask you to confirm your PIN or Password, just as you did when you set-up your account.
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Intuit
QuickBooks 2014 - Bank Feeds - Download Results
QuickBooks quickly downloads your most current bank data, displaying your updated balance and transactions.
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QuickBooks 2014 - Bank Feeds - Handling Your Transactions
Click the ‘Transaction List’ button to display the downloaded information; QuickBooks asks you how you want to handle each transaction. If you have previously downloaded data, or established ‘rules’ some of your transactions maybe already ‘matched’ or ‘approved’ for posting to your account.
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QuickBooks 2014 - Bank Feeds - New Rules
QuickBooks uses new ‘fully customizable’ rules to help you match your bank data and simplify posting to your bank account register. In the example shown, a rule is being changed so that every 7-ELEVEN (regardless of store number) will always post to the appropriate vendor in QuickBooks.
First we had QuickBooks ‘WebConnect’ Online Banking, this option requires users to access their bank through a Web browser and then download a file from their account. The file must then be manually imported into QuickBooks using the “Import WebConnect File” option from the online banking menu. This can frequently be a mess, because many banks limit the quantity of data available, or only provide a date range of data, rather than an option to obtain your account data since your last download.
In order to streamline the process, and provide a more automated form of online banking, QuickBooks began offering a Second option: ‘DirectConnect’ Online Banking. This option permits users to connect to their bank account without having to use a Web browser, or manually download a file. QuickBooks connects with the click of a button, and usually the data is downloaded and displayed for you without any additional effort on your part. Almost always the ‘DirectConnect’ data is an update since your previous download. There was only one problem with this technology, a lot of banks would not provide this form of service because Intuit charged them for the technology.
Now with QuickBooks 2014, Intuit is offering a Third form of Online Banking: ‘Bank Feeds’. Bank Feeds is not only a new way to connect to ‘more banks’ in a streamlined fashion, but an entirely new way of handling your bank information once it has been downloaded. The old options of “side-by-side mode” which came out a few years ago, or “register mode” that was used for online banking in QuickBooks 2008 and earlier are replaced by a sleek new modern look and feel that makes the migration of downloaded data from your bank into your QuickBooks accounts “a charm.”
Let’s briefly look at setting up ‘Bank Feeds’ for an account. Open the check register for your bank account, at the top of the account click the ‘Set Up Bank Feed’ button. QuickBooks displays an advisory window asking if you want to run the Bank Feeds Setup Wizard. If you answer yes, QuickBooks starts the wizard, in Step 1 you select your bank’s name (Slide 1), in step 2 you enter your bank ID and password, and in step 3 you link each of your bank accounts to your QuickBooks (bank) accounts. It is just that simple, QuickBooks displays a ‘Success’ window confirming which accounts are now connected via ‘Bank Feeds’.
After the set-up is complete you can download your bank information from either your bank account register, or the Bank Feeds Center accessible from the Banking Menu. Don’t be concerned if the Bank Feeds Center displays that there is a difference between your bank account balance and your QuickBooks balance, this can be the result of outstanding checks or deposits.
Your Bank Feeds Accounts appear in the left panel of the Bank Feeds Center, select an account and your account information is displayed (Slide 2). Click the Download Transaction button to get your most current data, QuickBooks will ask you to confirm your PIN or Password, just as you did when you set-up your account (Slide 3). QuickBooks quickly downloads your most current bank data, displaying your updated balance and transactions (Slide 4).
Click the ‘Transaction List’ button to display your downloaded transactions; QuickBooks asks you how you want to handle each transaction (Slide 5). If you have previously downloaded data, or established ‘rules’, some of your transactions maybe already ‘matched’ or ‘approved’ for posting to your account. QuickBooks uses new ‘fully customizable’ rules to help you match your bank data and simplify posting to your bank account register (Slide 6). In the example shown, a rule is being changed so that every 7-ELEVEN (regardless of store number) will always post to the appropriate vendor in QuickBooks. This new bank feature learns over time, and gives you the option to modify rules to make your online banking experience ‘a charm’.
In my own testing of this feature, I was able to set-up three bank accounts easily and quickly. Only one of those accounts had previously used the ‘faster’ DirectConnect online banking option, the other two had used the much more cumbersome WebConnect. With the new “Bank Feeds” in QuickBooks 2014 I was up and running in just a few minutes for all three of my accounts. QuickBooks matched transactions I had already written to my register, and posting some ACH download transactions to my bank registers was a breeze. As far as I am concerned, this ‘third time’ at online banking for QuickBooks ‘is the charm’.
I wrote this article based upon pre-release versions of QuickBooks 2014, so it is possible that some of the specifics I described might be slightly different, or updated by the time QuickBooks 2014 is available to the public. Intuitive Accountant will continue to review more of the new features, functions and enhancements in the various versions of QuickBooks-2014 over the next few weeks.