Connecting Bank Accounts

Connect your company's bank accounts to Light to enable automatic transaction feeds and reconciliation. This article covers bank account setup and the connection process.

# What is this page about

This page covers adding a bank account to Light, authorising the feed that imports its transactions, mapping it to a ledger account, and keeping the connection alive over time. Read it before your first bank feed setup.

On this page

• Why Connect Bank Accounts?
• Before You Start
• Adding a Bank Account
• Bank Feed Authorization
• Supported Bank Feeds
• Bankgiro for Swedish Entities
• Multi-Currency Accounts
• Default Bank Account
• Ledger Account Mapping
• Account Status
• Editing Bank Account Names
• Re-authorizing Bank Feeds
• Disconnect a Bank Account
• Reconnect a Bank
• Troubleshooting Connection Issues
• Bank Account Validation
• Best Practices
• Related Articles

# Why Connect Bank Accounts?

Connecting bank accounts enables:

• Automatic transaction feeds: bank transactions import automatically instead of manual entry
• Bank reconciliation: match transactions to accounting entries
• Real-time visibility: see current bank balances and recent activity

Light supports connections to major banks in US, Europe, and Asia through providers like Plaid, GoCardless, Stripe and Host-to-Host (AMC) integrations.

# Before You Start

Ensure you have:

• Access to the bank account online or mobile banking login
• Authority to set up third-party connections at your bank
• The bank routing number or IBAN (International Bank Account Number)
• Currency and country information for the account

# Adding a Bank Account

To add a new bank account to Light:

1. Go to Settings → Bank accounts

2. Click Add Bank Account

3. Select your bank provider from the list (Chase, HSBC, Deutsche Bank, etc.)

4. Choose your company entity (which entity owns this account)

5. Enter the account name (for internal reference, e.g., "US Operating Account")

6. Select the account type (Physical or Virtual)

7. Enter account details:

   • For IBAN accounts: IBAN and BIC
   • For US accounts: Routing number and account number
   • For Swedish accounts: IBAN, BIC, and Bankgiro (7-8 digits, optional)
   • Bank country and currency
   • For Swedish accounts: set the bank country to Sweden to reveal the optional Bankgiro field (see Bankgiro for Swedish entities below)

8. Click Add

# Bank Feed Authorization

To enable automatic transaction imports, authorize Light to access your bank account:

1. Go to Accounting → Bank reconciliation and click Connect bank, or go to Settings → Integrations, click + Add new integration and choose Bank
2. Choose your provider: European banks (via GoCardless) or American banks (via Plaid). For GoCardless, select your bank and click Next
3. Under From what date should transactions be synced?, choose the date to import from, and choose a sync schedule. This date can't be changed later
4. Click Next. You're directed to your bank's secure login page
5. Log in with your online banking credentials
6. Approve Light's access request
7. You're redirected back to Light. Map each bank account from your bank to a bank account in Light, then click Create feed to complete the connection

Important: Light never stores your banking password. You authenticate directly with your bank each time. Your bank shares only transaction information with Light, not passwords or credentials.

# Supported Bank Feeds

Light supports transaction feeds from:

Plaid (United States): Connects to thousands of banks in the United States

GoCardless (Europe, UK): Covers European and UK banks including Revolut, Wise, Starling, and traditional banks

Stripe (Payment Processing): For Stripe payment accounts

AMC (Host-to-Host): For banks not covered via Plaid and GoCardless. Your bank may charge you a fee for setting this up, and the timeline is often 2-3 months depending on the bank.

Not all banks support all providers. J.P. Morgan and HSBC are not supported via Plaid in the US, and GoCardless does not support J.P. Morgan in the UK. If your bank isn't available via your preferred provider, you can upload the bank feed manually or ask Light about options for Host-to-Host integration support.

# Bankgiro for Swedish Entities

Bankgiro is the primary payment method for Swedish business-to-business transactions, and it shows up in two separate places in Light. Setting a Bankgiro number on one of your own bank accounts makes it appear in the payment details of outgoing sales invoices, so a customer paying you sees it there. This requires the invoice's payment method to be bank transfer, with that bank account attached as the payee account. The standard invoice template renders it automatically, with no extra setup. Separately, Bankgiro also exists as its own field on a Swedish vendor's payment details, for when you're paying that vendor. These are two different fields on two different records: your bank account's Bankgiro appears on invoices you send, and a vendor's own Bankgiro is used when you pay them.

To add a Bankgiro number to one of your bank accounts:

1. Go to Settings → Bank accounts
2. Open the bank account you want to edit (or add a new one)
3. Set the bank country to Sweden. This reveals the optional Bankgiro field
4. Enter your Bankgiro number
5. Click Save

Note: The Bankgiro field is optional and appears only when the bank country is set to Sweden. If you invoice internationally using BIC/IBAN only, no action is needed.

Note on Plusgiro: Plusgiro is a separate payment number, and it lives on a vendor's payment details rather than on your bank account. When setting up a Swedish vendor for payment, you can enter either a Bankgiro or a Plusgiro number for that vendor, not both. Light rejects a vendor record that has both.

# Multi-Currency Accounts

If your account holds multiple currencies, specify the base currency for reporting:

1. When adding the account, select the currency (USD, EUR, GBP, etc.)
2. All transactions in other currencies will be converted using daily exchange rates
3. FX gains and losses are automatically calculated

The bank account is associated with one currency, but Light can match it with invoices in different currencies using FX conversion.

# Default Bank Account

For each company entity and currency, set a default bank account for payments:

1. Go to Settings → Bank accounts
2. Find an account and click Set as Default
3. When creating payments, this account is pre-selected

You can override the default for individual payments if needed.

# Ledger Account Mapping

Each bank account is mapped to a ledger account for posting to your general ledger:

1. When adding the account, specify the ledger account (Cash, Bank Account 1000, etc.)
2. When transactions post, they debit/credit this ledger account
3. Ensure the ledger account is a balance sheet account (Cash or Bank type)

The mapping is checked when posting, and if the account doesn't exist, posting fails.

Good to know: Each bank account must be mapped to its own unique ledger account code, and Light rejects a ledger account code that is already in use by another bank account. Use a consistent numbering scheme, such as 1010, 1011, 1012 for accounts at the same bank, to keep reconciliation and reporting easy to follow.

# Account Status

Bank accounts track two separate statuses:

Feed status (whether the account is active for transactions):

• Active: enabled and visible for transactions
• Inactive: disabled and hidden from most screens

Connection status (whether the bank feed authorisation is still valid):

• Linked: bank feed connection is active and importing transactions
• Expired: bank feed connection has expired, so re-authorisation is required

If a connection expires (your bank requires periodic re-authorization), you'll see a notification to renew the connection.

# Editing Bank Account Names

To change the display name of a bank account in Light:

1. Go to Settings → Bank accounts
2. Open the bank account you want to rename
3. Update the Name field
4. Click Save

The updated name will appear in bank reconciliation and throughout Light.

Note: The bank account name is separate from the label of its linked ledger account. Renaming the ledger account in Chart of accounts changes how it appears in your financial records, and the bank account name shown in bank reconciliation is managed separately, in Settings → Bank accounts.

# Re-authorizing Bank Feeds

Bank feed authorizations may expire after a period set by your bank or feed provider (for example, GoCardless-connected UK institutions limit access to a maximum of 90 days per authorization):

1. Go to Settings → Integrations
2. Click Banks, then click the bank with the expired connection. The Edit bank connection panel opens
3. Click Renew connection
4. Follow the authorization flow at your bank
5. Once complete, transactions will resume importing

Renewing keeps your existing feeds and the original history window. You can't set a new sync from date when you renew.

# Disconnect a Bank Account

To stop importing from a bank, delete its bank connection:

1. Go to Settings → Integrations
2. Click Banks
3. Click the bank you want to disconnect. The Edit bank connection panel opens
4. Click Delete connection at the bottom of the panel
5. Click Confirm. This action cannot be undone

Deleting the connection removes all of its feeds, so new transactions stop importing. The bank accounts and the transactions already imported remain in Light.

To stop importing for a single account only, open the connection and remove that account's mapping instead.

# Reconnect a Bank

Deleting a connection removes its feeds, so reconnecting creates a new connection and new feeds. Importing starts again from the sync from date you choose, not from where the old feed stopped.

1. Go to Settings → Integrations, click + Add new integration and choose Bank (or click Connect bank on the Bank reconciliation page)
2. Choose your provider and, for GoCardless, select your bank, then click Next
3. Under From what date should transactions be synced?, choose a date, then choose a sync schedule
4. Click Next and authorize access at your bank (or in the Plaid window)
5. Map each bank account to the matching bank account in Light
6. Click Create feed

Light skips transactions it has already imported for the account. To be safe, choose a sync from date on or after your last imported transaction, and review the account for duplicates after the first sync. Transactions you uploaded by CSV are not checked against the bank feed.

# Troubleshooting Connection Issues

"Cannot find my bank": Check that you selected the correct country and bank name. Try a different provider (Plaid vs. GoCardless).

"Login fails at the bank": Ensure you're using correct credentials. Some banks require special app passwords for third-party access.

"Connection times out": Try again later. Your bank's servers may be temporarily unavailable.

"Connection succeeded but no transactions appear": Bank feeds sync on a schedule (daily or twice a day depending on the feed), so it can take up to a day for the first transactions to appear. If it takes longer, check that your account has recent activity and the connection status shows "Linked".

# Bank Account Validation

Light validates bank account details:

• IBAN format: checks country code and check digits
• Routing number: checks that US routing numbers are exactly 9 digits, numeric only, which is a length check rather than a full ABA checksum
• Account number length: checks for a reasonable length for the country

Invalid account details prevent adding the account. Double-check the IBAN or routing number if validation fails.

# Best Practices

• Connect all accounts: full visibility helps reconciliation, so avoid excluding accounts
• Test with a small amount: if you're unsure about the account details, make a small test transfer first
• Keep authorisations current: re-authorise before connections expire
• Use consistent naming: name accounts consistently for easy identification
• Map to correct GL accounts: verify ledger accounts before large transactions start flowing

# Related Articles

• Setting up bank feeds
• Importing bank transactions
• Automated bank reconciliation