Work a bank or card statement

Use this guide when you have a month of bank or credit-card activity to enter in QuickBooks Desktop. You will work in your AI chat and use the local console to inspect the transactions.

​

Before you start

• Set up the company and connect your AI client.
• Download a CSV, OFX, QFX, or .qbo statement from the bank.
• Know which bank or credit-card account in QuickBooks the statement belongs to.
• Check the company and statement dates before importing.

A downloaded statement works without a live bank connection. If you use the optional live connection, start with the transactions it has already collected and continue at working the queue.

​

Setting up an account

Do this once for each bank or card account. Tell your assistant the company, the feed name, and the matching QuickBooks account:

Set up the Amex Platinum feed for Ridgeline. Its transactions belong to the Amex Platinum credit-card account in QuickBooks. Show me the mapping.

Check the mapping before continuing. It determines the bank or card account used by the posting plan. If the feed already exists, ask your assistant to show its mapping rather than create another one.

​

Importing a statement

Ask for a preview first:

Preview this statement for Ridgeline’s Amex Platinum feed. Show me the date, description, and amount columns, the date range, and any rows that would be skipped. Do not import it yet.

​

Working the queue

Open Bank feed in the local console, or ask your assistant to show the imported lines. Each line shows its Payee, Category and Class in their own columns. A suggested value is greyed and tagged suggested until somebody sets it. Give the assistant the decision in plain language:

Code the Ridgeline Supply charges to Repairs & Maintenance. Show me any lines where the payee or account is uncertain.

Setting a category changes the proposed work in Zeno. It does not change QuickBooks. If a line should be excluded, give the reason so the record explains why it was left out. Follow your firm’s policy for personal charges rather than assuming they should always be excluded.

​

What is already in the file

Before posting, ask your assistant to compare the lines against the company:

Check these Amex lines for transactions already in QuickBooks. Show me the proposed matches so I can check them before you accept any.

Compare the amount, date, account, and payee. Accept a match only when the line represents the same transaction. Zeno records the link and leaves that line out of new postings; accepting a match does not create another entry. The comparison uses Zeno’s local copy of the books. If a recently entered transaction is missing, refresh that copy before concluding that a new posting is needed.

​

Posting what is left

Ask for a plan of the coded lines:

Plan the remaining coded Amex lines for Ridgeline for March. Show me the total, proposed accounts, warnings, and any lines that cannot post.

Review the company, date range, amounts, payees, and coding. Resolve warnings and blocked entries, or leave those lines out. Then approve the work you want applied. Prepare and review a batch walks through the approval table and posting result.

​

Check the result

Open the run in the console and compare its posted total and entry count with what you approved. Check any failed or skipped lines and confirm the entries in the QuickBooks register. Feed lines that posted move to Posted. Lines returned by a rejected plan or a failed posting become Ready to plan again, where you can correct and re-plan them. Check the recorded result before retrying. A completed queue is not a completed reconciliation. Reconcile the account in QuickBooks and investigate any remaining difference.

​

A live bank connection

A live connection uses the Desktop connectors add-on, held on a Zeno account. It brings transactions into the same queue as statement imports. The workstation needs a network connection for this part of the workflow. See add-on pricing and trial details. Linking the computer does not move its company files into the hosted workspace or change its Desktop licence. The local licence still determines what the workstation can post. Open Bank feed in the local console:

​

From the chat

Link the computer from the console first. You can then ask your assistant to connect a bank, choose accounts, or sync the feed. Specify a start date when you need a particular period of bank history.

Choose or change the history start date

The connection’s syncFromDate requests bank history and filters out transactions before that date. Without a date, the request defaults to the last 90 days. The bank may provide up to two years, but decides the available history when the login is connected.Ask the assistant to change the feed start date if needed. Moving it earlier re-reads available history without restaging existing lines, but cannot reach past the history the bank originally supplied.

If a feed is unexpectedly empty, ask your assistant to check the bank connection’s status. An expired login can return no new transactions without a sync error. Reconnect it before treating an empty feed as a quiet month. Disconnecting stops future collection. Transactions already staged remain in the queue with their history.

​

The bank balance beside the books

Ask your assistant to compare the bank’s reported balance with QuickBooks. Check the bank snapshot’s date, the currency, and any lines still uncoded or waiting in a plan. Outstanding checks and activity outside the feed’s date range can also explain a difference. Use this comparison to investigate the gap. Finish reconciliation in QuickBooks.

​

When the add-on lapses

You cannot add new accounts. Existing connections keep syncing for 30 days, then their bank logins are removed. Zeno sends email before each step. Statement imports and the existing local work history remain available.

​

Where the queue lives

The queue is saved in the run journal. Rebuilding the local copy of QuickBooks does not discard your imported or partly coded statement. With a shared journal, a colleague can review work imported from another workstation.

​

Tool reference

Tools your assistant uses for this workflow

Job	Tools
Inspect the feed and its mapping	qb_feed_accounts, qb_feed_lines
Preview and import	qb_preview_statement, qb_import_statement
Code or exclude lines	qb_code_feed_lines, qb_exclude_feed_line
Propose and accept matches	qb_match_feed, qb_accept_feed_match
Prepare and post a plan	qb_plan_feed, qb_apply_batch
Set up a live connection	qb_connect_bank, qb_select_bank_accounts (after linking the computer in the console)
Manage a live connection	qb_sync_bank_feed, qb_set_feed_start, qb_bank_connections, qb_disconnect_bank
Compare balances or trace a posting	qb_bank_balance, qb_explain_transaction

A feed line’s content hash becomes its posting’s sourceRef, preserving the link back to the imported evidence. See the Desktop tool reference for the full surface.