Emma’s tips – Bank Rules

Thanks for the introduction Justin!

I’ve been using Xero for over 4 years now and I’ve learnt some great tips and tricks along the way that I’m looking forward to sharing with you over the coming months.   I’m confident these will help you use Xero more effectively and efficiently plus save you time as well!

Bank Rules

These are fantastic when set up correctly in Xero and they make reconciling some transactions so much easier and faster!  I’m going to use Entertainment transactions as my example as entertainment needs to be split 50% to entertainment and 50% to non-deductible entertainment.

 

How to add a Bank Rule around entertainment

1. Go to Manage Account on your dashboard and click Bank Rules

2. Click on create rule and select Spend Money

3. In the 1st column you will select ‘payee’ and in the 2nd column select ‘contains’ and then in the 3rd column type in the name of the place you want to add as a condition to this rule e.g. Prego, Salta Cafe.  Ensure you select ‘any’ and not ‘all’ at top of bank rule screen.

4. In the description enter in ‘Client meeting’ and code to entertainment -deductible and put 50% in the percentage box

5. Next add a new line and ‘Client meeting’ again but this time you will code to entertainment Non-deductible and put 50% in the percentage box.

6. Save this by clicking the save button at the bottom of the screen and name your rule ‘Entertainment’.

7. You can keep adding conditions to this bank rule as required. Whenever transactions are imported into Xero that match your bank rule, Xero will do the split and code automatically for you. All you need to do is hit ok.

Check out the Xero help centre for more information on Bank Rules.