Match bank payments to invoices

Why match from the statement

Your bank statement is the record of what really arrived. Matching from it, rather than typing payments in from memory or an email, means every payment in 4fleet points at a real bank line, and nothing is counted twice. Bank reconciliation is included in the Operations and Scale plans; without it the Reconciliation tab is not shown.

A routine that keeps up

Pick a fixed rhythm, for example once a week, and do the same thing each time. Export the statement from your bank as CSV, MT940 or PDF, open Accounting > Payments > Reconciliation and select Import statement. The lines appear under To match.

Each line carries a suggestion, such as an invoice number with a confidence figure, or a note that there are several possible matches or none yet. A suggestion is only a proposal. Open the line with Review, check the amount, date and description against the invoice, choose the invoice and select Approve match. That is the moment the payment is recorded and the invoice is marked paid if it is covered.

Lines that need a second look

• Possible duplicate means another imported line has the same date, amount and text. Check the bank before you confirm it is a separate payment.
• Check: read by AI means the statement format was unusual and the line was read by AI. Compare the amount and date with the bank before approving.
• A line in another currency asks you to confirm the exchange rate first, with Confirm rate and approve.
• Money out is shown but not matched here. Those are your payments to others.

One line, one invoice

Each approval links a bank line to one invoice. A client who pays three invoices in one transfer makes this harder, so ask regular clients to pay invoice by invoice and quote the number in the reference. For account clients with many jobs, monthly billing solves it: one statement invoice, one transfer.

Undoing a mistake

If you matched the wrong invoice, open Matched, select Reverse on the line and give a reason. The payment is kept on record as reversed rather than deleted, the invoice owes the money again, and the line goes back to To match. That keeps the trail your accountant relies on.