{"id":13878,"date":"2023-03-23T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-23T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/?p=13878"},"modified":"2025-05-07T15:07:46","modified_gmt":"2025-05-07T14:07:46","slug":"bank-feeds-save-time-accounting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/bank-feeds-save-time-accounting\/","title":{"rendered":"How to save time on your accounting with bank feeds"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"entry-header has-dark-background-color entry-header--has-illustration entry-header--has-illustration--generic\">\n\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-header__row row align-center\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col col-lg-7 col-xlg-6 entry-header__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"component component-single-header\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"entry-header__misc text--subtitle text--uppercase text--small\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/category\/money-matters\/\" class=\"entry-header__link\">Money Matters<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"entry-title-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"entry-title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tHow to save time on your accounting with bank feeds\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"entry-header__description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"single-post-details container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"col\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"posted-on \"><time class=\"entry-date published\" datetime=\"2023-03-23T10:00:00+00:00\">23 March, 2023<\/time><\/span><span class=\"reading-time\"> min read<\/span>\n\t\t<button\n\t\t\ttype=\"button\"\n\t\t\tclass=\"social-share-button button button--icon button--secondary js-social-share-button\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-title=\"How to save time on your accounting with bank feeds\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-url=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/bank-feeds-save-time-accounting\/\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-text=\"Please read this interesting article\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__share-label\">Share<\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__copy-label\" hidden>Copy Link<\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__copy-tooltip\" aria-hidden=\"true\" hidden>Copied<\/span>\n\t\t<\/button>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/header>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-post-author\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"co-authors\">\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-author-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"entry-author\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/author\/gracekudom\/\">\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"40\" height=\"40\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2023\/03\/Grace-Kudom-350x350.jpg\" class=\"entry-author__image\" alt=\"Grace Kudom\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2023\/03\/Grace-Kudom-350x350.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2023\/03\/Grace-Kudom.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 40px) 100vw, 40px\" \/>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"entry-author__name\">Grace Kudom<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Bank feeds are great for keeping a hold of your business\u2019s cash flow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">You may be running the financials yourself or outsourcing this task to an accountant, so using bank feeds can save you time as well as give you visibility of your business incomings and outgoings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">In a nutshell, bank feeds are designed to help you manage your money \u2013 and they\u2019re free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">A win-win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Here\u2019s what we cover in this article:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"#what\">What are bank feeds?<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"#how\">How do bank feeds help to manage cash flow?<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"#are\">Are bank feeds easy to set up?<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"#to\">Final tips to consider<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\"><div class=\"single-cta\">\n\t<a\n\t\tclass=\"button button--primary gate-a1fc2b60-1af9-49cb-89bd-02dd52c9de29\"\n\t\trole=\"button\"\n\t\tdata-button-location=\"content_area\"\n\t\thref=\"#gate-a1fc2b60-1af9-49cb-89bd-02dd52c9de29\"\n\t>Download your free copy of Manage your cash flow<\/a>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"what\">What are bank feeds?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">A bank feed is a secure connection between a business owner\u2019s bank account and\u202faccounting product, which enables you to match your transactions for full visibility. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Bank feeds allow transactions to be imported from your bank account so they can be linked to a payment or receipt already entered into the product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Why is this important? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">In a <a href=\"https:\/\/openbanking.foleon.com\/live-publications\/the-open-banking-impact-report-june-2022\/\">June 2022 report<\/a> into small businesses by The Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE), an overwhelming majority (77%) of respondents said they now have more immediate and accurate insights into their financial position at any given time as a result of using cloud accounting services. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">As an extra benefit, of those using <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/sage-business-cloud\/accounting\/\">cloud accounting services<\/a>, 59% said they had delivered internal savings and 64% external cost savings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how\">How do bank feeds help to manage cash flow?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">When you\u2019re managing accounting and day-to-day financials, as well as other responsibilities that come with running a business, it can be frustrating and time consuming to do this manually, especially if you\u2019re encountering duplicate information. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Without the beneficial reconciliation function of bank feeds, you\u2019d have to retrieve a list of transactions from your bank records, as well as a list of income and outgoings from business records, run through the bank deposits, withdrawals and expenses on the books in an attempt to match the transactions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">That\u2019s a lot of work, and an important task with no room for inaccuracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Using bank feeds can:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Save time by eliminating the need to manually enter each transaction to reconcile bank statements. \u200b<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Increase accuracy through the automatic reconciling process reducing the risk for error.\u200b<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Help you gain peace of mind, as they\u2019re easy to use, with only a few steps required to start<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Improve workflows by having everything in one place<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Provide full visibility of the incomings and outgoing of your business<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Free up time that can be spent on other important tasks<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Give confidence knowing that your data is being shared in a secure connection.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">In the video below, sole trader Luke Owen talks about how using bank feeds helped his business:<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"video-container-wrap -mode-full\"><div class=\"video-container\"><video\n\t\t\t\tclass=\"sage-video video-js vjs-default-skin \"\n\t\t\t\twidth=\"640\"\n\t\t\t\theight=\"360\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-setup='{ \"controls\": true, \"aspectRatio\" : \"16:9\", \"poster\": \"https:\/\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/Sn3P9sgfp1A\/maxresdefault.jpg\", \"techOrder\": [\"youtube\"], \"enablejsapi\": 1, \"origin\": \"https:\/\/www.sage.com\", \"sources\": [{ \"type\": \"video\/youtube\", \"src\": \"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Sn3P9sgfp1A\"}], \"youtube\": { \"ytControls\": 0, \"cc_load_policy\": 3, \"modestbranding\": 1, \"hl\": \"en_GB\", \"playsinline\": 1 } }'\n\t\t\t\tcrossorigin=\"\"><\/video><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"are\">Are bank feeds easy to set up?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Yes, they are. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Firstly, find out if your bank account is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/sage-business-cloud\/accounting\/features\/connect-my-bank\/\">supported in your accounting software<\/a>. In most solutions, you\u2019ll need to search for your bank, follow the instructions to set up and verify the bank account using login credentials. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">If you don\u2019t have this, it can be requested from your bank. Note that some feeds will need to be authorised by your bank and this can take three to 10 days to set up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Bank feeds will usually update on a daily basis. Once your feed has been created, you\u2019ll be able to import your transactions and browse through your debits and credits to match and reconcile your account. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">If you\u2019re unable to match a transaction, you can easily create a new transaction manually to complete the process bank. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Or, use bank rules to automatically help you create transactions once they\u2019re imported. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Each rule has a combination of conditions \u2013 such as reference, amount, etc \u2013 which it will use to recognise the transaction in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">If a bank feed isn\u2019t available to you, you may have the option to upload your transactions via file import.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"to\">Final tips to consider<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Through the ups and downs of running a business, it\u2019ll always be important to keep on top of cash flow \u2013 here are a few final recommendations:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\" type=\"1\">\n<li>Go  for accounting software that provides an automated import of transactions to save time and reduce the time it takes to do your business admin.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>You may be managing the financials yourself or this may be outsourced to your accountant \u2013 choose software that easily allows access between both parties for tasks to get done.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Accounting solutions that capture, automatically categorise, and publish financial documents such as receipts, invoices and bank statements to your accounting software will save time.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n \n<div class=\"single-cta gated-content\">\n\t<div class=\"single-cta__positioner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__wrapper has-dark-background-color\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"single-cta__title h3\">Manage your cash flow<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Need help managing your cash flow? Read this guide for advice on how to ask for payments and 10 tips to stay on top of your business finances.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"#gate-987a2873-a4b1-42fd-b36e-e306482146ff\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"single-cta__button button button--primary\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t>Download your free guide<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1064\" height=\"810\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2019\/01\/GettyImages-169267075_super-1-1064x810.jpg\" class=\"single-cta__image\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2019\/01\/GettyImages-169267075_super-1-1064x810.jpg 1064w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 48em) 33vw, 100vw\" \/>\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"single-cta\">\n\t<div class=\"single-cta__positioner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__wrapper has-dark-background-color\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"single-cta__title h3\">Subscribe to the Sage Advice newsletter<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Join 1.5 million subscribers and get the best business admin strategies and tactics, as well as actionable advice to help your company thrive, in your inbox every month.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"#gate-53abbdcc-410c-4c8c-bf97-ca5c6982eebd\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"single-cta__button button button--primary\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t>Subscribe now<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"999\" height=\"666\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2021\/04\/z.5E3A0481_All-Uses.jpg\" class=\"single-cta__image\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2021\/04\/z.5E3A0481_All-Uses.jpg 999w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 48em) 33vw, 100vw\" \/>\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Discover how using bank feeds can help you to save time and increase accuracy when it comes to managing your business finances.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1651,"featured_media":8359,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sage_video":true,"post_featured_image_hide":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[163],"tags":[107,110],"business_type":[5],"lilypad":[],"context":[],"industry":[],"persona":[232],"imagine_tag":[359,337,230],"coauthors":[481],"class_list":["post-13878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-money-matters","tag-business-finances","tag-cash-flow","business_type-small-business"],"sage_meta":{"region":"en-ie","author_name":"Grace Kudom","featured_image":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-606911211.jpg","imagine_tags":{"359":"Bank reconciliation","337":"Banking","230":"Small business"}},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Sage Advice Ireland","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/1651"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/8359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13878"},{"taxonomy":"business_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/business_type?post=13878"},{"taxonomy":"lilypad","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/lilypad?post=13878"},{"taxonomy":"context","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/context?post=13878"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=13878"},{"taxonomy":"persona","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/persona?post=13878"},{"taxonomy":"imagine_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/imagine_tag?post=13878"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=13878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}