Import a Bank Statement with AI

What Bank Import (AI) Does

Most businesses have weeks of bank entries pending — every NEFT, UPI, cheque and bank charge typed in by hand. Bank Import (AI) removes that typing entirely:

• You load the statement file — the AI reads every row, none skipped.
• Money in becomes a Receipt voucher, money out becomes a Payment voucher.
• ATM/cash withdrawals, cash deposits and transfers between your own accounts become Contra vouchers — exactly as Tally would classify them.
• The AI decodes the bank's cryptic narration ("NEFT-RAJESH SHARMA-INV118") to suggest the real other-side ledger — an existing customer, supplier, expense or income ledger where one matches, or a new ledger with the correct Tally group.
• It writes a clean, human-readable narration for each entry.
• You review in a grid, edit anything, tick the rows you want, and post them all in one click.

A 3-page statement that took an hour to type is posted in a couple of minutes.

Bank Import vs Bank Reconciliation

Two different jobs, two screens:

The two work together: if you load a scanned PDF in Bank Reconciliation, iAccounting offers to hand it to Bank Import (AI) for reading, and after reconciling it points any unmatched statement rows back to Bank Import so you can book them.

Step 1 — Open Bank Import (AI)

In iAccounting Desktop:

1. Open the 🤖 Auto Accounting menu.
2. Click 🏦 Bank Import (AI).

Or simply tell the AI Assistant (press F12) — "import my bank statement" — and it opens the screen for you.

Step 2 — Pick the Bank Account

At the top of the screen, choose which bank ledger this statement belongs to. The dropdown lists your existing bank (and cash) ledgers.

First time importing for this bank? Choose ➕ Add new bank account… and type its name (e.g. HDFC Bank A/c). You don't need to create the ledger beforehand — it is created automatically when you post the first entries.

Step 3 — Opening Balance (One-Time)

If the selected bank ledger exists but has no opening balance, iAccounting asks whether you want to set it before importing, so every imported entry carries the correct running balance. You can:

• Set it now — the ledger master opens; enter the balance as on the start of the statement.
• Skip — and here is the nice part: statements print a balance against each row, and iAccounting works the opening balance out from the first row's printed balance and writes it onto the ledger for you.

A manually entered opening balance is never overwritten.

Step 4 — Load the Statement

Click 📎 Load statement… and pick the file. Everything a bank can give you works:

You can select several files at once — for example three monthly PDFs — and the AI reads them in sequence. Rows stream into the grid as they are read.

Step 5 — Review the AI's Rows

Each statement row appears in the grid with:

• Tick box — only ticked rows are posted.
• Date, Narration — the narration is rewritten in plain language.
• Withdrawal / Deposit — the amount on the correct side.
• Voucher — Receipt, Payment or Contra.
• Ledger (other side) — the AI's suggestion for the contra ledger.
• New — badges explained below.

Step 6 — Edit Anything Before Posting

Every cell is editable, and the grid helps you:

• Ledger dropdown — click the Ledger cell and pick from all your existing ledgers, or type a brand-new name (it gets the NEW badge and is created on post).
• Narration type-ahead — the Narration cell suggests past narrations used with that ledger, newest first, so repeat entries stay consistent.
• Rename on all rows — changed "Bank Interest" to "Interest on FD" on one row and the same suggestion appears on five more? iAccounting offers to apply your rename to all matching rows in one go.
• Voucher type — switch a row between Receipt / Payment / Contra if needed.

Step 7 — Submit

Tick the rows you want (a single click on the tick column toggles a row) and press ✅ Submit ticked rows. iAccounting then:

1. Posts a voucher for every ticked row — one leg on the bank, one on the chosen ledger.
2. Auto-creates the bank ledger and any NEW contra ledgers, under the right Tally groups.
3. Sets the bank's opening balance from the statement if it was still unset.
4. Removes the posted rows from the grid, leaving anything you left un-ticked for later.

The status bar confirms how many rows were posted, and every voucher is a normal entry — visible in the Day Book, editable, deletable.

The NEW, DUP? and Suspense Safety Nets

AI Credits

Reading a statement uses AI credits from your wallet — roughly proportional to the number of pages. Reviewing, editing and posting the rows costs nothing. You can see your balance in the wallet indicator, and the app warns you before a job would run your balance low.

Tips & Troubleshooting

1. Import month by month. Smaller statements are faster to review, and the DUP? check works within one grid load.
2. Prefer the bank's own PDF/CSV over a photo. Photos work, but a native e-statement gives the cleanest extraction.
3. Review Suspense A/c after posting. Open the ledger and re-point anything still parked there.
4. Left rows un-ticked and loading a new file? iAccounting asks before clearing them, so half-reviewed work isn't lost.
5. Row missed or misread? Every cell is editable — fix it in the grid before posting, or add the odd row manually as a normal voucher.
6. Same statement loaded twice? Rows the AI re-emits with the same running balance are dropped automatically; look-alikes get the DUP? badge instead of a double entry.

What's Next?

• Bank Reconciliation — match books vs statement and generate a BRS
• Scan Bills with Mobile — the same AI magic for purchase bills
• Video Tutorials in Hindi — real product recordings