Plaid bank feeds: connect your bank to your books.

Before you start

You need a role in Imprest that can manage banking: owner, admin, accountant, bookkeeper or AP admin. If you work at an accounting firm, your assignment to the client also has to allow it.

On the bank's side, you need the online banking sign-in for the account. Plaid connects banks in the United States. You sign in to your bank inside Plaid's own window, so Imprest never sees your bank password.

Connect your bank

1. Open Bank Connections in the sidebar and select Add a connection.
2. On the Plaid card, select Connect.
3. In Connect an account, search for your bank and pick it.
4. Sign in to your bank in the Plaid window and choose the accounts to share.
5. For each account, Imprest asks Which account in your books is this? Pick the account it already is in your chart of accounts, add it as a new account, or choose not to track it.
6. Set the start date and opening balance, then select Continue. On the last account the button reads Start tracking.

Bank already connected? Imprest says so and offers Add to my existing connection. Use it rather than signing in to the same bank a second time, because some banks disconnect the first login when a second one is made.

Can't find your bank? Select Can't find it? Add manually to set the account up by hand and upload statements instead.

What comes in, and how it lands in your books

The first sync brings in transactions back to January 1 of last year, up to two years, and the current balance of each account. Pending transactions come in marked as pending. When the bank posts one, Imprest updates the same line instead of adding a second.

A feed line is not an entry in your books. Each new line lands in Banks & Cards for review. Your rules run on it first, and Imprest looks for a match among the expenses, bills and payments you've already recorded. When you accept a match or choose a category, the matched record is what posts to your books.

Lines from an account you haven't told Imprest about yet are held until you answer which account in your books it is.

Day to day

• Plaid tells Imprest when your bank has new transactions, and Imprest pulls them in. It also checks every morning as a backup.
• To check now, open the connection from Bank Connections and select Sync now.
• Review new lines in Banks & Cards. Accept a suggested match, categorize the line, or mark it personal or ignored.
• Reconcile each account against its bank statement when you close the month.

Common problems

Login expired

Banks ask you to sign in again from time to time. The connection then shows Login expired and the message "Bank login expired. Reconnect to resume syncing." Select Reconnect and sign in to your bank. Syncing picks up where it stopped.

Access removed at the bank

If you removed Imprest's access in your bank's own settings, the connection is marked disconnected and shows Relink bank. Relink it and your account history is reattached to the new connection.

The last sync failed

A message that Imprest couldn't finish the last sync means the connection is fine. Select Retry sync.

The connection didn't finish

If you closed the Plaid window early, Imprest shows Connection not finished. Select Try again, search for a different bank, or add the account by hand.

A transaction disappeared

When the bank withdraws a transaction, Imprest removes the line only if nothing has been done with it yet. A line you've matched or categorized is flagged for you instead, and a reconciled line is never touched.

Disconnect

1. Open Bank Connections and select the connection.
2. Select Disconnect, then Disconnect account to confirm.

Imprest stops syncing and asks Plaid to remove its access. Posted transactions and everything already in your books stay. Pending transactions that hadn't posted yet are removed. To take the connection off the list, select Remove, then Remove bank.