Categorise Transactions

Categorising transactions is the core day-to-day task in bookkeeping. It is the process of telling Kuberan Books which account each bank transaction belongs to — turning a raw bank feed into an accurate general ledger. This guide covers how to categorise one transaction at a time, how to split transactions, and how to use bank rules to handle recurring items automatically.

Open the uncategorised transactions list

1. Inside the client’s Books, click Bank Transactions in the left navigation.

2. Click the Uncategorised tab to filter to only transactions that need attention.

   

   The Uncategorised tab shows everything that still needs to be assigned to an account.

Transactions are listed newest-first. The columns show the date, payee name (from the bank feed), the debit or credit amount, and any existing categorisation suggestion from Kuberan’s auto-suggest engine.

Categorise a single transaction

1. Click on the transaction to open the categorisation panel on the right.

2. Select an account

   In the Account field, type or scroll to find the chart of accounts account this transaction belongs to. For example:

   • Office supplies purchased at Staples → Office Supplies Expense
   • Client payment received → Accounts Receivable (if accrual) or Revenue (if cash)
   • Hydro bill payment → Utilities Expense
   • Loan repayment → Bank Loan Payable (or split between principal and interest — see below)

3. Set the payee

   If the payee field is blank or shows a raw bank description (like “POS PURCHASE 4829 STAPLE”), replace it with the clean payee name (e.g., “Staples Business Depot”). This makes your reports and transaction history readable and improves bank rule matching.

4. Set the tax code

   For expenses that include GST/HST, select the appropriate tax code from the Tax dropdown:

   • GST — 5% federal tax only (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, British Columbia, PEI for most supplies)
   • HST 13% — Ontario
   • HST 15% — Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland & Labrador, PEI
   • Zero-rated — taxable at 0% (exports, basic groceries)
   • Exempt — no GST/HST applies

   Kuberan defaults to the province you set during Books setup but you can override per transaction.

5. Add a memo (optional)

   Use the Memo field for any note useful for a future audit or for your client. For example: “Team lunch — 50% deductible per client policy” or “Annual software subscription renewal.”

6. Click Save. The transaction moves out of the Uncategorised list.

The categorisation panel. Most fields have auto-suggest based on prior transactions to the same payee.

Split a transaction across multiple accounts

Some transactions cover more than one expense type — for example, a single credit card charge to Amazon that includes both office supplies and a personal item, or a loan payment that includes principal and interest.

1. Open the transaction and click Split transaction in the categorisation panel.

2. The panel expands to show two rows. Each row has its own Account, Amount, and Tax code fields.

3. Enter the amount and account for the first portion (e.g., $127.50 — Office Supplies Expense).

4. Enter the amount and account for the second portion (e.g., $47.20 — Personal — Non-deductible Expense). Kuberan shows the remaining unallocated amount so you can see when the split is complete.

5. Add more rows with + Add Split if needed. Click Save when all rows sum to the full transaction amount.

Use splits for loan payments

Loan repayments are a classic split: the principal portion reduces a liability account (e.g., Bank Loan Payable) and the interest portion hits an expense account (e.g., Interest Expense). The split amounts come from the client’s loan amortisation schedule.

Bank rules — automate recurring categorisations

Bank rules tell Kuberan how to categorise transactions automatically based on the payee name or description. Once you set up a rule, every future transaction that matches it is categorised instantly — no manual work required.

Create a bank rule

1. After categorising a transaction, click Create rule from this transaction at the bottom of the categorisation panel. Kuberan pre-fills the rule with the payee name and the account you just selected.

2. Review the Condition — by default it matches on the payee name. You can change this to match on a keyword in the description field (useful when the payee name varies slightly between transactions).

3. Confirm the Action — the account, payee, and tax code to apply automatically.

4. Choose whether to apply the rule to all unreviewed historical transactions that match (useful for catching past transactions to the same payee).

5. Click Save Rule.

You can view and manage all bank rules under Bank Transactions > Rules.

Bulk categorise similar transactions

When you have many similar uncategorised transactions — for example, 15 charges from the same gas station — you can categorise them all at once.

1. In the Uncategorised list, tick the checkbox on the first matching transaction.

2. Kuberan highlights other transactions with the same payee and prompts “Select all X transactions from [payee]?” Click Select all.

3. With multiple transactions selected, click Categorise selected in the toolbar that appears at the top of the list.

4. Choose the account and tax code. Click Apply to all selected.

Review before bulk categorising

Scan the selected transactions before applying a bulk categorisation. Occasionally the same payee name appears for two different types of purchase (e.g., “Amazon” could be office supplies, subscriptions, or personal). Remove any outliers from the selection before applying.

What to do next

• Reconcile the bank account — confirm your books match the bank statement
• Run financial reports — see the impact of your categorisation on the P&L
• Review GST/HST — verify tax codes before the next return period