Reconciliation Automation Rules

Reconciliation automation rules control how Light matches bank transactions to accounting entries. This article explains how to create and manage these rules.

# What is this page about

This page covers writing your own bank reconciliation rules: the fields a rule can match on, the actions it can take, the order rules run in, and how to review and delete them. Read it once you're ready to automate matches beyond what the seven built-in rules cover.

On this page

• Rule Types
• Creating Custom Rules
• Rule Conditions
• Rule Actions
• Example Rules
• Rule Order and Priority
• Reviewing a Rule Before Saving
• Deleting Rules
• Rule Statistics
• Conflict Resolution
• Reference Number Matching
• Vendor/Customer Specific Rules
• Audit Trail of Matches
• Best Practices
• Related Articles

# Rule Types

Light includes two types of rules:

System Rules: built-in rules created by Light that match common scenarios. They cannot be modified or deleted.

User Rules: custom rules you create for your specific business scenarios.

Light's system rules are:

• Match by document number: matches based on invoice or document numbers found in the bank transaction reference
• Match by amount and description: finds matches where both the amount and transaction description align with a ledger entry
• Register payment for open invoice receivables: matches incoming bank transactions to open customer invoices and registers the payment
• Register payment for open invoice payables: matches outgoing bank transactions to open vendor bills and registers the payment
• Create Journal Entry for card balance funding transactions: recognises transfers that fund a card balance account
• Match by bank transaction end to end id: uses end-to-end payment references, common in SEPA and wire transfers
• Match by amount and date: matches a transaction when exactly one ledger entry has the same amount and date

# Creating Custom Rules

Create custom matching rules for specific needs:

1. Go to Accounting → Bank reconciliation and open the Rules tab
2. Click Create rule
3. Enter the rule Name
4. Under When, use the Instructions field to describe in natural language when the rule should apply, for example "When the transaction reference contains 'RENT'"
5. Select the Action to perform when the rule matches
6. Fill in the Details for the entry the rule creates: business partner, GL account, description, tax code, and so on
7. Click Validate & Save

Light parses your natural-language description into structured matching conditions. Rules are evaluated in order, and the first matching rule applies.

You can also create a rule directly from an unmatched transaction using Convert to rule on the reconciliation view, which pre-fills the rule based on the selected transaction.

# Rule Conditions

Conditions are generated from your natural-language Instructions. They can reference the following bank transaction fields:

• Amount: the transaction amount
• Original amount: the amount in the original currency, for converted transactions
• Fees: transaction fees
• Date: the transaction date
• Reference: the transaction reference or description text
• Account: the ledger bank account the transaction belongs to

Supported comparisons are equals, not equals, greater than (or equal), less than (or equal), and, for reference text, contains.

Conditions are combined with AND/OR logic for complex scenarios.

# Rule Actions

Each rule specifies an action, meaning what to create and match when the conditions are met:

Create and match with a journal entry: creates and matches a journal entry with:

• A specific GL account, description, tax code, and accrual settings
• An optional business partner
• Custom property values

Create and match with a customer credit: for customer payments recorded as customer credits:

• Specify the product and optional tax code
• Optionally link a specific customer

Create and match with a credit entry: for vendor credits that offset AP:

• Specify the description and optional tax code
• Optionally link a specific vendor

Matching payments to open AR or AP invoices is handled automatically by the built-in system rules, so you don't need a custom rule for that.

# Example Rules

Rule: International Wire Transfers

• When: Amount is greater than $50,000 and the reference contains "Wire"
• Action: Create and match with a journal entry to International Receivables account

Rule: Daily Stripe Deposits

• When: Reference contains "Stripe"
• Action: Create and match with a journal entry to Stripe Clearing account

Rule: Vendor Refunds

• When: Reference contains a specific vendor name
• Action: Create and match with a credit entry

# Rule Order and Priority

Rules run in a fixed order: system rules first, then custom rules in the order they were created. Each new custom rule is added at the end of the list.

A transaction stops evaluation once a matching rule is found, so:

• Each transaction is matched at most once
• Earlier rules take precedence over later ones

Write specific conditions in your rules to prevent a broad rule from matching transactions it shouldn't.

# Reviewing a Rule Before Saving

When you create or edit a rule, Light parses your natural-language description and shows the resulting conditions so you can verify them before saving. Review the parsed conditions carefully, and if they don't reflect your intent, refine the wording of the Instructions and validate again. Once you confirm the parsed conditions, the save button changes from Validate & Save to Save & apply rule.

This prevents the rule from incorrectly matching unintended transactions.

# Deleting Rules

To remove a custom rule:

1. Find the rule in the Rules tab
2. Click Delete
3. Confirm in the dialog

Once deleted, a rule is gone from the Rules tab for good. There is no way to bring it back yourself, so treat deleting a rule the same as any other permanent action.

System rules cannot be deleted or modified.

# Rule Statistics

The rules table shows usage information for each rule:

• Runs: how many times the rule has matched and been applied
• Last run: when the rule last applied

Use this to review your rules. If a rule never runs, consider refining or deleting it.

# Conflict Resolution

If multiple rules could match the same transaction:

• First rule wins: the first matching rule, by order, applies
• No double-matching: each transaction is matched at most once
• Manual override: you can undo an auto-match and manually match differently

# Reference Number Matching

The built-in Match by document number system rule matches document numbers found in the bank transaction reference to accounting documents:

Invoice number: matches bank transaction reference to an invoice number

Document number: matches other document numbers appearing in the reference text

When the bank description contains the document number, Light can automatically identify the matching entry.

# Vendor/Customer Specific Rules

Some rules apply only to specific business partners:

1. Create a rule whose Instructions identify the partner's transactions, for example "reference contains 'ACME'"
2. In the rule's Details, set the business partner and the GL account to use
3. Repeat for other vendors or customers needing specific treatment

This is useful for business partners with unique payment patterns or GL accounts.

# Audit Trail of Matches

Track which rule matched each transaction:

1. Go to Accounting → Bank reconciliation, open the bank account, and click the Matched tab
2. View matched transactions and see how they were matched
3. If a match made by a rule was incorrect, undo the match, and refine or delete the rule

This helps identify problematic rules.

# Best Practices

• Start simple: begin with a few core rules before adding complexity
• Review parsed conditions: always check the conditions Light generates from your description before saving
• Monitor effectiveness: review rule run counts regularly
• Write specific conditions: prevent overly broad rules from matching unintended transactions
• Document rules: use descriptive names explaining the rule's purpose
• Review quarterly: update rules as business patterns change
• Remove old rules: delete rules that are no longer needed

# Related Articles

• Automated bank reconciliation
• Resolving discrepancies
• Multi-currency reconciliation