Matching Bank Transactions to Contributions

Your bank feed shows every deposit and withdrawal that hits your account. Your contribution records in Wired Church show every gift your church has received. Matching connects the two — linking a bank deposit to the internal records that explain what that money is. This is the core of bank reconciliation, and Wired Church provides tools to make it as painless as possible.

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Why Matching Matters

Without matching, you have two disconnected views of your finances:

• The bank says: "A deposit of $3,247.50 posted on March 12."
• Your books say: "Sunday's offering totaled $3,247.50 across 42 individual contributions."

Matching connects these two records, confirming that the deposit in your bank account corresponds to a specific contribution batch. This is how you know:

• Every dollar deposited can be accounted for.
• No contributions were lost between the offering plate and the bank.
• Your internal records and your bank statement agree.

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The Stripe Payout Problem

Online giving through Stripe creates a specific matching challenge:

1. A member donates $50 online on Monday.
2. Another member donates $100 online on Tuesday.
3. A third member donates $75 online on Wednesday.
4. Stripe batches these together and sends a single payout to your bank account on Friday for $225 (minus Stripe fees, so the actual deposit might be $218.43).

Your bank sees one lump-sum deposit. Your contribution records show three separate donations. Matching connects the single bank deposit to the Stripe payout, which in turn is linked to the individual online donations.

Wired Church automates much of this process. Here's how.

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Auto-Match: Stripe Payout Detection

Wired Church automatically identifies Stripe deposits in your bank feed and attempts to match them:

How Auto-Match Works

1. Description detection — Stripe payouts typically appear with descriptions like "STRIPE TRANSFER," "STRIPE PAYOUT," or "STRIPE INC." The system recognizes these patterns.
2. Amount comparison — The system checks for a contribution batch with batch_type: 'online' that has a matching stripe_payout_amount.
3. Date proximity — The bank transaction date should fall within 1-3 business days of the payout date recorded in the batch.
4. Match proposed — If all three criteria align, the system flags the transaction with a Suggested Match indicator and links it to the corresponding batch.

Reviewing an Auto-Match

1. Click on the bank transaction with the Suggested Match badge.
2. The detail panel shows the proposed match:
   • The contribution batch number, date, and total
   • The number of individual donations in the batch
   • The gross amount (before Stripe fees) and net amount (the actual bank deposit)
   • The Stripe payout ID for reference
3. Review the amounts — the bank deposit should equal the batch's stripe_payout_amount (net of fees).
4. Click Confirm Match to finalize the match. The transaction moves to Matched status.

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Manual Matching

For non-Stripe deposits or when auto-match does not find a suggestion, you can match transactions manually:

Matching a Bank Deposit to a Contribution Batch

1. Navigate to Finance > Bank Feeds and locate the unmatched deposit transaction.
2. Click on the transaction to open the detail panel.
3. Click the Match button.
4. A search dialog appears showing contribution batches that are candidates for matching:
   • Batches are sorted by date proximity and amount similarity.
   • You can filter by date range, batch type, or amount.
   • Use the search field to find a specific batch by number or description.
5. Select the matching batch from the list.
6. Review the match summary — the bank amount and batch total should align.
7. Click Confirm Match to link them.

Matching to Other Internal Records

Bank transactions can also be matched to records beyond contribution batches:

• Expense records — If you track expenses in the finance module, match withdrawal transactions to specific expense entries.
• Payroll records — Match payroll debits to payroll run records.
• Transfer records — Match inter-account transfers to the corresponding transfer journal entry.

To match to a non-contribution record:

1. Open the transaction detail panel.
2. Click Match.
3. Switch the tab from Contribution Batches to Journal Entries or Expenses.
4. Search and select the matching record.
5. Confirm the match.

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Split Matching

In some cases, a single bank transaction corresponds to multiple internal records. While uncommon, this can happen:

• A bank deposit includes both a cash/check deposit and a Stripe payout that happened to post on the same day.
• A lump-sum withdrawal covers multiple expenses or vendor payments made in a single check run.

To split-match a transaction:

1. Open the transaction detail panel.
2. Click Match.
3. Instead of selecting a single record, click Split Match at the bottom of the dialog.
4. Add the first matching record and its allocated amount.
5. Click + Add Record to add additional matches.
6. The total of all allocated amounts must equal the bank transaction amount.
7. Click Confirm Split Match when all allocations are accounted for.

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The Reconciliation Dashboard

The Bank Feeds dashboard includes a reconciliation summary that shows your matching progress at a glance:

Summary Cards

Reconciliation Percentage

A progress indicator shows the percentage of transactions that are either Matched or Excluded (i.e., fully reconciled). The goal each month is to reach 100% — every bank transaction accounted for.

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Unmatched Transactions

Not every bank transaction will have an obvious match. Regularly review unmatched transactions to determine what they are:

Common Reasons for Unmatched Deposits

1. Cash/check deposit not yet entered — Someone deposited the offering at the bank, but the contribution batch has not been created or finalized in Wired Church yet.
2. Miscellaneous income — Interest earned, insurance reimbursement, or a refund that does not correspond to a contribution batch.
3. Transfer from another account — An internal transfer between your own accounts.

Common Reasons for Unmatched Withdrawals

1. Expense not recorded — A bill payment, vendor charge, or auto-pay that has not been logged as an expense.
2. Bank fee — Monthly maintenance fees, wire transfer fees, or overdraft charges.
3. Payroll — If payroll records are maintained outside of Wired Church.
4. Unrecognized charge — Could indicate an unauthorized transaction — investigate immediately.

What to Do with Unmatched Transactions

For each unmatched transaction, you have three options:

1. Create a matching record — If the transaction represents a legitimate expense or deposit, create the corresponding record in Wired Church, then match it.
2. Categorize only — If there is no specific internal record to match against, categorize the transaction to the correct chart of accounts entry. This is sufficient for most routine expenses.
3. Exclude — If the transaction should not be part of your financial records (e.g., a reversed bank error), exclude it.

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Unmatching a Transaction

If you matched a transaction to the wrong record:

1. Navigate to the matched transaction in the bank feed.
2. Click on it to open the detail panel.
3. The current match is displayed with a link to the matched record.
4. Click Unmatch to remove the link.
5. The transaction reverts to its previous state (Categorized or New, depending on whether it had a category).
6. You can now match it to the correct record.

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Best Practices for Bank Reconciliation

1. Reconcile weekly, not monthly. A weekly 10-minute review is easier than a monthly marathon. Most churches find Friday afternoon works well — review the week's transactions while they are fresh.

2. Start with Stripe payouts. These are the easiest to match and often represent the largest deposits. Clear them first.

3. Use AI categorization for expenses. Let the AI handle routine expense categorization (utilities, subscriptions, payroll) so you can focus your manual effort on deposits and unusual transactions.

4. Investigate discrepancies immediately. If a contribution batch total does not match the bank deposit, find out why before moving on. Common causes: a contribution was entered in the wrong batch, a check bounced, or a deposit was split across two bank transactions.

5. Keep the "Unmatched" count low. A growing unmatched count is a sign that reconciliation is falling behind. Address unmatched transactions promptly.

6. Lock reconciled periods. Once a month is fully reconciled, use the period locking feature under Finance > Settings > Period Locking to prevent accidental changes to that month's data.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What if a Stripe payout amount does not match any batch? This can happen if the online giving batch was not automatically created (e.g., a webhook was missed) or if the batch has not been finalized. Check Contributions > Batches for any open online batches. If none exists, you may need to create one manually from the Stripe dashboard data.

Can I match one batch to multiple bank deposits? No. A contribution batch can be matched to only one bank transaction. If a batch's physical deposit was split across two bank transactions (e.g., cash deposited separately from checks), you will need to split the batch in the contributions module to match each deposit.

Does matching affect my financial reports? Matching itself does not create journal entries or affect fund balances — it is a reconciliation tool. The journal entries are created when batches are finalized, not when they are matched to bank transactions. Matching confirms that those journal entries correspond to real bank activity.

How do I handle bank fees? Bank fees (monthly maintenance, wire fees, etc.) should be categorized to the appropriate expense account in your chart of accounts (e.g., "Bank Fees & Charges"). They typically do not need to be matched to an internal record — categorization is sufficient.

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Related Articles

• How Transaction Syncing Works
• AI Auto-Categorization
• Recording Donations Manually
• Disconnecting or Reconnecting a Bank Feed
• Understanding Your Chart of Accounts