Handling unmatched transactions

What is an unmatched transaction?

An unmatched transaction is one that AccBooks couldn’t classify with enough confidence for automatic or bulk approval. These appear at the bottom of the reconciliation queue with a red badge and require manual attention.

Common reasons a transaction goes unmatched:

• New merchant not seen before.
• Unusual amount for a known merchant.
• Ambiguous bank description (e.g. “BACS CREDIT 123456”).
• Transfer between your own accounts.
• Personal expense paid from a business account.

Finding unmatched transactions

Go to Reconciliation and use the filter Status: Unmatched. You can also filter by date range, bank account or amount to narrow down the list.

The number of unmatched transactions is shown on the dashboard’s Pending actions panel.

Manually classifying a transaction

1. Click the transaction row to open the detail panel.
2. In the Nominal code field, type the account name or code you want to use. The dropdown shows matching accounts.
3. Select the correct VAT treatment.
4. Add a description or note if helpful.
5. Click Approve.

The transaction is posted immediately and moves out of the queue.

Creating a new nominal code on the fly

If no existing account fits, you can create one without leaving the reconciliation view:

1. In the nominal code field, type the name of the new account.
2. Click Create “[your name]” at the bottom of the dropdown.
3. Select the account type (Overhead, Asset, Liability, etc.).
4. Click Create and use.

The new account is added to your chart of accounts and the transaction is classified to it.

Transfers between your own accounts

If a transaction is a transfer between two accounts you own (e.g., moving money from your current account to a savings account), you should use the Transfer action:

1. Open the transaction.
2. Click Mark as transfer.
3. Select the destination account.
4. AccBooks creates a matching entry on the other account and links the two transactions.

This prevents the transfer from appearing as income or expenditure in your P&L.

Personal expenses

If a business account is occasionally used for personal spending (common for sole traders and directors):

1. Open the transaction.
2. Click Mark as personal / drawings.
3. AccBooks posts it to the Director’s loan account (code 3100) or Drawings account (code 3200 for sole traders), keeping it out of the business expense categories.

Excluding a transaction

In rare cases, you may want to exclude a transaction from AccBooks entirely (e.g., a bank fee that’s already been captured another way). Click Exclude in the transaction detail. Excluded transactions are hidden from the queue and reports but remain visible in the Excluded filter for audit purposes.

Reviewing old unmatched transactions

If you have a backlog of unmatched transactions from several months ago, go to Reconciliation → Unmatched → Sort by: Oldest first to work through them chronologically. Posting historical transactions may affect previously closed periods — AccBooks will warn you if a period lock is in place.