How to download and use Transactions from Bank into Sage

Question

My bank is Scotiabank and they offer downloads of Bank Account transactions. I would like to use the file from this so I can import it into Sage so that I don't have to manually enter all the transactions. Is this possible? Or is it a good idea? And, if so, how do you do it? The formats the bank offers are Quicken, QuickBooks, Excel, MS Money, Simply Accounting, ASCII, or QIF. 
 I thought I read somewhere that this is available only for reconciling accounts but that's not my purpose here. I am just lazy and would like to avoid manual processing if possible. 
 Thanks

Kristine2012 · Accepted Answer

Hi RickBC44 - it's been my learned experience that downloading your transactions in Sage50 is really only for reference. 
 It won't be what you want to hear, but I always enter all transactions --typically around 80 a month, depending on how busy things are. 
 I checked with our accountant about this, and he says those programs that do offer importing transactions to save having to manually enter them, ALWAYS end up being a nightmare, i.e. re-done. 
 And to be honest, I can believe that--the thing is, how is Sage50 really supposed to know what the bank transactions are? For example, if you make a purchase with a local computer supplier, how would Sage50 know if the purchase should go to an asset account (for capitalization) versus say, the office supplies account, based solely on the information the bank statement shows for a given transaction? (That info usually being a date, some cryptic few letters indicating the vendor name, and a dollar amount... not much to go on.) 
 For myself, I like having a handle on the actual transactions so I really know where the money is going and coming from. 
 At any rate, perhaps double check this with your accountant for their opinion on this, just to be safe. 
 
 Best, 
 Kristine

Erzsi_I · Answer

See our blog: What are Sage Bank Feeds and how do they work in Sage 50 CA 2018.2? Since the January release of 2018.2, you can save time by automatically downloading bank or credit card transactions into Sage 50.

RickBC44 · Answer

Thanks Kristine, I appreciate your response. I will follow your advice especially since several other people have told me the same thing. Happy new year!

Sage 50 Canada

How to download and use Transactions from Bank into Sage

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