Connecting Your Bank Account or Credit Card for Accounting Journal Entries

In this article:

• Getting Started: Connecting Your Accounts
• Managing Your Connected Accounts: Editing, Pausing, and Disconnecting

Background

Patriot Accounting allows you to connect your bank and credit card accounts for automatic transaction imports. This streamlines your accounting by eliminating manual data entry, enabling you to quickly post transactions as journal entries in your general ledger. Patriot uses Plaid Inc., a secure third-party financial service, to facilitate this connection.

You can also manually import your bank or credit card transactions from a downloaded file from your bank software.  For more details, see Manually Importing Your Bank Transactions.

Getting Started: Connecting Your Accounts

1. Go to Settings > Accounting > General Setup > Connect Bank Accounts.
2. Understand Connection Limits
   • Accounting Basic: Up to four financial institutions.
   • Accounting Premium: Up to 10 financial institutions.
   • Unlimited accounts within those institutions.
   • Imports can go back up to two years (depending on what your bank allows).
3. Connect a New Bank:
   • Click “Connect New Bank.”
   • Search for your bank or select it from the list.
   • Note: If your bank is not listed, it cannot be connected.
   • Enter your bank login credentials (used only once, securely).
   • Complete any bank-required verification steps.
4. Select Accounts for Import
   • After successful login, choose the bank and/or credit card accounts you want to import.
5. Assign Chart of Accounts
   • For each selected account, choose the corresponding account from your Patriot Accounting Chart of Accounts.
   • Add an optional Account Nickname.
   • 💡 Important Credit Card Note: For liability accounts, make sure your accounting basis is set to Modified Cash or Accrual in your Transaction Settings.
     • Liability accounts with the Sub Account Type of Credit Card, Current Liabilities, and Long Term Liabilities will appear in the Patriot Software Account list for you to pick from. 
     • If needed, you can create a new liability account.
6. Set the Import Start Date
   • Choose the date to begin importing transactions (up to two years past depending on your bank).
   • Large imports will trigger an email notification upon completion.
7. Transactions
   • After you connect your bank, transactions will import from your chosen start date.
   • Approve or dismiss transactions when reviewing to reconcile. For details, see Managing Your Imported Bank Transactions.
   • Notifications appear on your Accounting Home page when new transactions are available to be reconciled.
   • The bank account will automatically disconnect after 45 days of inactivity.

Managing Your Connected Accounts: Editing, Pausing, and Disconnecting

1. Editing Connected Accounts
   • Go to Settings > Accounting > General Setup > Connect Bank Accounts > Manage Connected Accounts to change which accounts are imported.
   • To change the associated chart of accounts, go to Settings > Accounting > General Setup > Connect Bank Accounts > Edit.
2. Pausing Imports
   • Go to Settings > Accounting > General Setup > Connect Bank Accounts.
   • Click Pause to stop automatic imports.
   • Click “Resume” to begin again.
3. Disconnecting Accounts
   • Go to Settings > Accounting > General Setup > Connect Bank Accounts > Manage Connected Accounts.
   • Click “Disconnect.”
   • Confirm by clicking “Yes.”

There are time-saving features available for managing your imported transactions. Please read these help articles to maximize your accounting features:

• Managing Your Imported Bank Transactions
• Setting up Imported Transaction Rules
• Split Imported Bank Transactions

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