Creating a Bank Account
A bank account record is the bridge between two worlds: the real account at your bank and the cash account in your ledger. Every payment, receipt, statement and reconciliation flows across that bridge — so it's one of the first things a new entity sets up, and worth setting up carefully. Here's Meridian's First National Bank - Operating, field by field.
Access you'll need. Creating and editing bank accounts requires the Accounting Admin v2 or Accounting Controller v2 permission set. The Accounts Payable v2, Accounts Receivable v2, and Read Only v2 sets use the accounts every day but cannot create or change them.
The essentials
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Bank Name / Account Type | The institution, and Checking / Savings / Credit Card / Money Market. |
| Account Number (Last 4) | Exactly four digits — the safe identifier shown everywhere. Enter the full account number and the last four derive themselves; or enter just the four. |
| Entity | Whose books this account belongs to. One entity per account, like the real world. |
| GL Account | The ledger cash account this bank represents — every posting through this bank hits it. Meridian's operating account maps to Cash and Cash Equivalents. |
| Currency Code | The account's currency — it becomes the law for everything banking: statements, deposits, reconciliations and matched documents must all agree with it. |
Everything else on the record
Beyond the essentials, the record carries the operational settings — none are required on day one, all pay for themselves later:
| Field | What it's for |
|---|---|
| Account Number (full) | Optional — stored if you want it; the last four derive from it automatically. |
| Routing / Sort Code | The bank's routing identifier, for your records. |
| Adjustment GL Account | The default offset account pre-filled on reconciliation adjustment journals — point it at bank charges before your first month-end. |
| AI Match Window Days (default 10) | In the system's own words: "How many days before/after a bank statement line date to look for matching transactions when using AI matching. Default is 10 days. Increase for accounts with longer clearing times." The same window drives auto-match's date-range pass. |
| Auto-Create Reconciliations (default off) | When a reconciliation on this account is approved, next period's draft creates itself. |
| Starting / Ending / Next Check Number · Check Stock Description | The check stock range, if this account writes checks — see Check Stock & Check Printing. |
| Current Balance / Last Reconciled Date | Maintained by completed reconciliations — read them, don't write them. |
| Is Active (default on) | Inactive accounts refuse new statements ("Bank Account is inactive."). |
Make it the entity's default
Set the entity's Default Bank Account to this record and every new cash receipt and payment pre-fills with it (and with its GL account as the cash account) — the single highest-convenience setting in banking. The field's own help text says it exactly: "Default bank account for this entity. Auto-populates on new Cash Receipts and Cash Disbursements. The bank account's GL Account drives the Cash Account default." Entities with several accounts pick the workhorse.
Meridian's operating account, as configured
The account you'll see throughout this knowledge base, exactly as Meridian set it up:
| Setting | Meridian's value | The payoff |
|---|---|---|
| Bank Name / Account Type | First National Bank - Operating, Checking | The everyday account for rent receipts and vendor payments |
| Entity / GL Account | Meridian Properties US LLC / Cash and Cash Equivalents | Every receipt, payment and reconciliation on this bank flows through that one ledger account |
| Currency Code | USD | Statements, deposits, reconciliations and matched documents all held to it |
| Entity's Default Bank Account | This record | New receipts and payments arrive pre-filled — bank and cash account both |
| Adjustment GL Account | Bank Charges and Fees | July's $45 service-fee adjustment arrived with its offset account already filled |
| AI Match Window Days | 10 (the default) | Statement lines pair with documents up to ten days apart — enough for checks, tight enough to avoid wrong neighbors |
| Check stock | 5001–6000 loaded | Check payments number themselves — see Check Stock & Check Printing |
| Auto-Create Reconciliations | On, once the first reconciliation settled the rhythm | From then on, each month's approval spawns the next period's draft reconciliation by itself |
Worth configuring now
- Check stock (Starting/Ending/Next Check Number) if you print checks — see Check Stock & Check Printing.
- Adjustment GL Account — the default expense account pre-filled on reconciliation adjustments (bank fees); saves a lookup every month.
- AI Match Window Days (default 10) — how far apart a statement line and a book entry can be, date-wise, and still be match candidates; increase for slow-clearing accounts.
- Auto-Create Reconciliations — when one month's reconciliation is approved, next month's draft creates itself. Meridian turns this on once the first reconciliation settles the rhythm.
The rules that keep bank accounts clean
Spelled out, verbatim, with the fix alongside:
| The message | What it means / what to do |
|---|---|
| "Account Last 4 must be exactly 4 digits." | The safe identifier is strict: four digits, no more, no fewer, no letters. Or enter the full account number and let the last four derive themselves. |
| "Either the Entity or GL Account on this Bank Account is inactive. Replace with active records." | A live bank account can't stand on retired foundations — point it at an active entity and an active ledger account. |
| "Currency Code must match the organisation default currency in single-currency mode." | Foreign-currency accounts belong to multi-currency organizations. In single-currency mode, every account runs in the org's one currency. |
| "Bank Account is inactive." | What an inactive account says when a statement import tries to reach it. Reactivate deliberately, or accept that its history is closed. |
| "Bank Account must belong to the same entity as the Cash Receipt." | The guard you'll meet from the other side, on documents: each company banks separately, so pick this entity's account. |
Common mistakes to avoid
| Mistake | Why it hurts | Do this instead |
|---|---|---|
| Two bank accounts sharing one GL account | Reconciliation compares each bank against its GL account — two banks in one account means neither ever reconciles cleanly | One bank account, one dedicated GL cash account, always |
| Changing the GL Account mid-life | History posted to the old account, future posting to the new — the reconciliation chain straddles an orphaned ledger | Treat GL Account as set-once. A genuine re-banking is a new bank account record |
| Skipping the Adjustment GL Account "for now" | Nothing breaks — until the first month-end, when every fee adjustment demands a manual account lookup | Two clicks at creation: point it at your bank-charges account |
| Getting the Currency Code wrong at creation | The currency is the master value and the law for every statement, deposit and reconciliation downstream | Set it to the real account's currency and verify before the first import |
| Deactivating an account mid-reconciliation-cycle | Statement imports start failing ("Bank Account is inactive.") while the month is half-proven | Finish the final reconciliation first, then deactivate — the account retires with a clean last month |
Where to go next
- Bank Account Configuration — every setting in depth.
- Importing Bank Statements — the first statement.
- Understanding Reconciliation — where it all leads.
Frequently asked questions
Technically possible, practically painful — reconciliation compares the bank against its GL account, and two banks in one GL means neither reconciles cleanly. One bank account, one GL account is the rule worth keeping.
In multi-currency organizations, yes — set the account's Currency Code to EUR and everything banking on it runs in EUR. Documents must match the account currency to be matched against its statements.
Accounting Admins and Accounting Controllers — banking is books-owner territory. AP/AR clerks use the accounts every day but don't change them.
At-a-glance account health, maintained by the system: both update when a reconciliation completes. Between month-ends they legitimately lag the live GL balance by whatever hasn't been reconciled yet — read them as "the last proven position."
Yes — Credit Card is one of the four account types, alongside Checking, Savings and Money Market. The card issuer sends statements and your ledger holds a matching account, so the same import-match-reconcile machinery applies unchanged.
Banking HQ: the Import Statement tool embedded right on the page, plus related lists for Bank Statements, Reconciliations, Matching Rules and Bank Feed Setups. Your first statement import is one scroll away — see Importing Bank Statements.
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