Overview

Beeswax lets you import a CSV file downloaded from your online banking system. It is important to know that the CSV format provided by each bank can vary. Some banks provide a CSV with a Debit and Credit column rather than just a single Amount column with positive and negative amounts. For those of you who are importing a CSV file from a bank that gives you Debit and Credit columns rather than just a single Amount column, it is important to note that Beeswax assumes the Debit and Credit columns are those that the bank presents in their statement. In other words, the Debit and Credit columns that appear on your bank statement will in fact be opposite to the Debit and Credit columns shown in the Beeswax General Ledger. It’s a matter of perspective. Now we're not going to get into the nitty-gritty of double-entry accounting, but if you’re new to accounting, it's understandable that this may seem confusing at first…however, for the sake of getting stuff done, you'll need to accept that this is just the way it is.

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So remember this:
Debit  —> Spend
Credit —> Receive

So… make sure that the Spend and the Receive columns have the correct values in them. Beeswax uses Spend and Receive columns instead of Debit and Credit so as to avoid this confusion.

If you haven’t downloaded a CSV from Bank, log in and do it. Be mindful of the date range and the number of line items in your CSV file. We limit it to 1000, which should be enough for importing a few months at a time.

STEP 1

Under the Money section in the Main Menu and click on the Bank Import.

STEP 2

This will take you to the Bank Import page where you will see any previously imported files if any.

To import a new CSV file, click on the Import CSV button.

STEP 3

You'll be presented with a form where you will have to specify the following:

1. Bank Account
   This is the Bank Account into which the transactions will be imported
2. Date Range
   Note: The Date range is purely for identification / naming purposes. It just allows you to know which statement you have imported looking at all your imported CSV files in the list view. It doesn’t actually do anything beyond this so don’t worry if you don’t get this exactly right.
3. Import Template
   If you are importing a CSV file for the first time then leave the selection as New. This will allow you to configure the mapping of the CSV file and it will be saved as a mapping template. Once you have done this it will save this field mapping template for next time so that you don’t have to do this each time.
4. Select the CSV
   This is where you select the CSV from your computer. This will usually be in your Downloads folder but could be anywhere you specified when you downloaded it from you online Banking system.

STEP 4‍

If you selected “New” for the Import Format you will be presented with the following Import  Mapping configuration screen where you will assign each column of your CSV file to a field in Beeswax.

A few things to Remember:

1. If you get this wrong you can just delete the Imported line items and do it again.
2. Note that you will have saved this mapping configuration as a template so you will also need to delete the mapping template if you do get this wrong. Afterall, you won't want to use this mapping again. See Manage Field Mappings to learn more about it.
3. It's good to know that the imported items here do not impact your accounts what so ever. It is just a temporary holding area where you actually allocate the line items. It's the allocation process that will impact your accounts.

Once you’re happy with the Mapping and you click on the Save Mapping & Import button, the CSV file will be imported into Beeswax and you will be presented with all the imported Line Items as shown.

STEP 5

Select the Check Box for the Line Item(s) that you wish to Import. You can Bulk Import by selecting multiple Line Items.Select what you would like to import the line item as:

1. Create a New Invoice + Payment
2. Create New Expense + Payment
3. Apply a Payment to an existing Invocie
4. Apply a Payment to an existing Expense
5. Create a Bank Transfer
6. Click Save to save the Line Item allocation.

Once you click on the New Import you will be presented with a screen that prompts you to select the Bank Account into which you wish to import the line items. Select the Bank account from the dropdown menu, then select the date range for the statement.

If you don't have the Company that you would like to put the User or Contact under then create a new one by clicking on the New Company button.

"Companies" are a way to group Users, Projects and all money related things are grouped. They are usually businesses that you work with. They can be either Suppliers or Clients, it doesn't really matter.