Approve explanations for bank feed transactions
This article explains how to approve imported bank transaction explanations that FreeAgent has automatically attempted to explain.
Transactions that are imported and explained by FreeAgent’s Guess or Banquo features will be marked 'For Approval' in their own dedicated tab. You can differentiate a guessed transaction from other bank transactions because the text of the transaction will be coloured orange and it will have an orange ‘eye’ icon next to it.
Although these transactions behave like explained transactions, FreeAgent flags them for approval to allow you to easily identify and check that the explanations are correct.
If the initial explanation isn’t correct, but more than one category has been identified as a possible explanation for the transaction, FreeAgent will present these alternatives when you select a different category.
We strongly recommend that you approve each explanation to ensure that it’s correct and improve the chances that FreeAgent will be able to guess future imported transactions. Although recommended, you don’t have to approve explanations in order to complete other actions, such as submitting VAT returns.
Find out how to manage guess.
Identifying transactions marked for approval
Navigate to the 'Banking' tab at the top of the screen and select 'Bank Accounts' from the drop-down menu.
Choose the relevant bank account from the list.
Select the ‘For Approval’ tab.
Sorting bank transactions alphabetically
You can sort bank transactions alphabetically in the ‘For Approval’ and ‘Unexplained’ tabs.
To do this, select the ‘Description’ header within the ‘For Approval’ or ‘Unexplained’ tab. Please note that it’s not possible to sort transactions alphabetically in the ‘All Transactions’ or ‘Manually Added’ tabs.
The alphabetical sorting will only apply to the most recent 1,000 bank transactions in the chosen tab. Sorting bank transactions in the ‘For Approval’ tab will not sort the transactions in the ‘Unexplained’ tab unless you also select the ‘Description’ header within that tab.
Please note that sorting bank transactions by selecting the ‘Date’ header in any of the tabs will override the alphabetical sorting in the ‘For Approval’ and ‘Unexplained’ tabs.
How to approve transactions
If the guessed explanation is correct
To approve the guessed explanation of a transaction that’s marked for approval, select the transaction and select ‘Approve & Save Changes’.
The transaction will then show as fully explained, and FreeAgent will learn from this when guessing new transactions in future.
Approving multiple transactions in bulk
To approve multiple guessed explanations of transactions, tick the checkbox next to each transaction you want to approve. To quickly select all the transactions on a page, tick the checkbox for one transaction and then tick the box that appears to the left of ‘Date’, just below the time period drop-down menu. This will select all the other transactions listed on the page. Once you’ve selected the relevant transactions, select 'Approve [X] explanations' in the right-hand panel.
If the guessed explanation is incorrect
If the guessed explanation is incorrect, select the ‘Category’ drop-down menu and choose a different category to allocate the transaction to.
If more than one category has been identified as a possible explanation for the transaction, FreeAgent will suggest these alternatives at the top of the drop-down menu when you select a different category.
Once you’ve selected the relevant category, select ‘Approve & Save Changes’.