Bank Account Rules

Controller 8 min read Updated July 2026

Every month, the same lines appear on Meridian's statement: the account service fee, the merchant-processor settlement, the loan interest. None of them arrive as documents — someone must create the bookkeeping each time. Unless you teach the account. A Bank Account Rule recognizes a recurring statement line by its text and creates the matching document automatically — a receipt, a payment, or a two-line journal — and matches it, in one pass.

Getting there. Open the App Launcher (the grid icon at the top-left of any page) → REDA Financials Admin → the Bank Accounts tab, then open the account and add rules from its Matching Rules related list. Rules run from the reconciliation workspace's Run Rules button.
Access you'll need. Creating and editing rules requires the Accounting Admin v2 or Accounting Controller v2 permission set. The Accounts Payable v2, Accounts Receivable v2, and Read Only v2 sets can view them but not change them.

Anatomy of a rule

Field	Meaning
Match Field + Match Pattern	What to look for, where: a case-insensitive contains on the line's Description, Reference or Check Number ("SERVICE FEE"), or a regular expression between slashes for precision.
Document Type	What to create: Cash Receipt, Cash Disbursement, or Journal Entry (the two-line fee/interest pattern).
GL Account	The ledger account the rule works with: on a journal rule, the offset side — the fee expense account, the interest income account; on a receipt or payment rule, it becomes the created document's Cash Account.
Account	The customer/vendor, when the created document is a receipt or payment — required for those two types.
Auto Post	Unchecked: documents arrive as drafts for review. Checked: they post themselves — full automation for the boring stuff.
Priority / Active	Rules evaluate in priority order (lowest number first, blanks last, older rule wins a tie); the first match wins; inactive rules sit out. Active defaults on.
Description Template	The created document's description, with merge fields like {Description}, {Amount}, {Date}, {CheckNumber}.
Times Applied / Last Applied Date	Usage counters, maintained automatically — the evidence of which rules earn their keep.

Two pattern styles, one field. Plain text in Match Pattern means case-insensitive contains: "SERVICE FEE" hits any description containing those words, in any casing. Wrap the pattern in slashes — /^ACH PMT \d+/ — and it's treated as a regular expression instead, for formats too precise for contains. A pattern that isn't valid regex simply never matches, quietly: test new patterns on a real month's lines before trusting them.

Running rules

From the reconciliation workspace, Run Rules sweeps the unmatched statement lines (Auto Match runs rules automatically after its own passes). For each line whose pattern hits:

The document is created as a draft — amount from the line (always its positive value), date from the line, reference carried over from the line (falling back to the check number or the line's own number when blank). A receipt or payment rule fills the document's Cash Account from the rule's GL Account and infers the payment method — a check number on the line means Check, otherwise ACH. A journal rule books a deposit as DR bank / CR your GL, a withdrawal as DR your GL / CR bank — precisely the fee-and-interest pattern.
With Auto Post on, it posts; the statement line is matched (Rule-Based) and linked to the rule that did it.
The rule's Times Applied counter and last-applied date update — your evidence of which rules earn their keep.

Order matters and is knowable: active rules are tried by Priority, lowest number first (blank priorities go last, and an older rule beats a newer one on ties); the first pattern that hits wins, and no second rule ever fires on the same line. A rule missing its Document Type is skipped outright — the run reports "Rule … has no Document Type. Skipped." — and the whole sweep only runs on an open reconciliation: "Bank Reconciliation must be In Progress to run rules."

Auto Post creates real accounting with no human between. A rule with Auto Post on doesn't queue drafts — its documents post, GL entries and all, the moment the pattern hits. That's the feature, and the responsibility: reserve it for lines whose amount, account and meaning never surprise you, and let everything else arrive as drafts for review. Only Accounting Admins and Accounting Controllers can create or change rules — this is why.

Meridian's fee rule, end to end

The $45 MONTHLY ACCOUNT SERVICE FEE from July's statement is the textbook case. In July, Meridian booked it as a one-off adjustment. For August onward, the account learns it:

Rule field	Meridian's value	Why
Match Field / Match Pattern	Description / MONTHLY ACCOUNT SERVICE FEE	The bank's exact wording — distinctive enough that nothing else can trip it
Document Type	Journal Entry	A fee is a two-line journal, not a customer receipt or vendor payment
GL Account	Bank Charges and Fees	The offset side — same account the July adjustment used
Auto Post	On, after a probation month of reviewing drafts	Small, stable, unambiguous — the ideal Auto Post candidate

Next month the fee line arrives, Run Rules fires (or Auto Match chains it), and a journal posts itself — debit Bank Charges and Fees $45.00, credit cash $45.00, because a withdrawal books as DR your GL / CR bank — with the statement line stamped Rule-Based and linked to the rule. The line that once held July hostage now explains itself before anyone opens the workspace queues.

Write patterns tight. "FEE" matches more than you think ("TRANSFEE", "COFFEE SUPPLY CO"). Use the distinctive fragment of the bank's wording — "MONTHLY ACCOUNT SERVICE FEE" — or a regex when the format is precise. And keep priorities meaningful: the most specific rules first, since first match wins.

Common mistakes to avoid

Mistake	Why it hurts	Do this instead
A pattern that's a common word ("FEE", "TRANSFER")	Contains-matching means it fires on everything containing it — a payee named "Coffee Supply Co" becomes a bank charge	Use the distinctive fragment of the bank's exact wording, or a slash-wrapped regex for precise formats
Auto Post on a brand-new rule	A mis-aimed pattern doesn't just match wrongly — it posts documents wrongly, one per hit	Run a probation month with Auto Post off; review the drafts; then graduate it
A receipt/payment rule without its Account	Nothing is created — receipts and payments need their customer or vendor	Fill Account on every Cash Receipt and Cash Disbursement rule; only journal rules go without
General rules outranking specific ones	First match wins: if "FEE" (priority 1) sits above "MONTHLY ACCOUNT SERVICE FEE" (priority 5), the specific rule never fires	Number priorities so the most specific pattern carries the lowest number
Building a rule for a one-time event	A rule is a standing instruction — it will fire again on the next vaguely similar line, months from now, when everyone's forgotten it	One-offs are adjustments; rules are for lines with a schedule

Rules vs adjustments vs AI

Three tools for the unmatched line: a rule for the recurring (best — permanent, automatic), a one-off adjustment for the occasional, and AI suggestions to spot candidates for both. Meridian's service fee started as an adjustment in month one and became a rule in month two — the natural progression.

Where to go next

AI Auto-Matching — where rules fit in the matching stack.
Completing a Reconciliation — the one-off alternative.
Bank Account Configuration — the account the rules belong to.

Frequently asked questions

For stable, small, unambiguous lines (the service fee) — yes, that's the feature. For anything variable or judgment-adjacent, leave it off and review the drafts. You can graduate a rule to Auto Post once it's proven itself for a few cycles.

The one with the better (lower) Priority; ties go to the older rule. Only one rule ever fires per line — design your priorities so the specific beats the general.

Unmatch the line and delete/void the created draft (or void the posted document), fix the rule's pattern, and re-run. Rules are ordinary records on the bank account — audit their handiwork through the statement lines they've stamped.

Any text, plus merge fields filled from the statement line: {Description}, {Reference}, {Amount}, {Date}, {CheckNumber}, {Payee} and {Category}. "Bank fee {Date} — {Description}" gives every auto-created journal a self-explanatory description, which future-you will appreciate in the GL.

On the bank account — rules belong to one account, under its Matching Rules related list. That's deliberate: the pattern that means "service fee" at one bank is a payee's name at another. An account's rules travel with its statements.

Check the rule's completeness first: a missing Document Type means the rule is skipped ("Rule … has no Document Type. Skipped."), and receipt/payment rules need their Account filled. Note that Times Applied counts the pattern hit — it ticks up even when document creation then fails, so a climbing counter with no documents is exactly this symptom.

Was this article helpful?