Match a bank statement to your members

If most of your members pay by bank transfer, this is the quickest way to record them. You download a statement from your bank, give it to Clubroll, and Clubroll proposes which member each payment came from. Nothing is recorded until you press a button, and Clubroll never connects to your bank.

Steps

1. On the Dues page, press Match a bank statement.
2. Under Upload a statement, choose the CSV file you downloaded from your bank (or paste its lines) and press Read the statement.
3. Clubroll works out the file's separator, text encoding, the line with the column names (a summary above the lines is skipped) and the date order. If it recognises the columns, you go straight on. If not, Which column is which? lists each column with an example and a choice; press Read the lines. Clubroll remembers your bank's layout, so next month there is nothing to set.
4. Check the matches shows the payments in four groups: clear matches, matches to check, no match, and lines seen before.
5. Press Record the 12 clear matches (the number is whatever you have) or tick lines yourself and press Record the ticked lines. Leave the ticked lines out drops lines you do not want recorded.

How a match is made

For each line of money in, Clubroll looks for, in this order: the member reference your club prints on reminders and receipts (such as FCS-0042, in any case or spacing); the payer's name; and, when only one member owes it, the amount.

A line is a clear match only if it carries a reference or a full name, fits exactly one member, and is for exactly what they owe. Clear matches are ticked for you. A part payment, an overpayment, two possible members and a guess from the amount alone are never clear: they are shown with the reason for you to decide.

Safe to repeat

A line you uploaded before is not recorded twice. Money going out is left alone; record a refund by hand. If you press a button twice by accident, the payments are recorded once.

What it cannot read

CSV files only. Banks' OFX, QIF and MT940 formats and Excel files are turned back with what to do: ask the bank for CSV. The file itself is deleted as soon as anything is recorded, or after three days; only the parsed lines stay, and they go with a member's erasure.

Tip

Match the whole file once a month, and keep the member reference on every transfer. See how members pay you.