Westpac – setting up automatic bank feeds and importing the gap!

Many Not-for-Profit organisations use Westpac for banking. 

When a new Xero organisation is set up or if you are already using Xero, when a new Westpac bank account is created, you will need to: 

1.  Set up the automatic bank feeds for your Westpac account to your Xero organisation, and then
2.  Manually import the bank transactions for the gap period
   
3. Set up the Automatic Bank Feeds – 2 steps 
   • Create the Bank Account in Xero 
   • Set up the Bank Feeds from within your Westpac Online banking

Create the Bank Account(s) in Xero 

Click on the Accounting Tab, scroll down and select Chart of Accounts
Click on Add Bank Account
Enter the Bank type, Account Code, Bank Account Name, BSB and Account numbers
Click here to link to Xero’s support page to add a new bank or credit card account 

Set up the Bank Feeds in Westpac Live 

Click here for  Xero’s support page for this.
Westpac will give more instructions
NB – if the bank accounts in Xero and Westpac don’t match, Xero will automatically create a new bank account matching the account that you’ve connected in Westpac Live. We understand that they need to match in name, BSB and account number!! 

2. Manually import the bank transactions for the gap period 

There is usually a period of time between the date you start your new organisation, or the last reconciled date and the date automatic bank feeds begin. We call this the “gap period”.
You will need to manually import the transactions with the gap period from your bank account. 

To do this: 

i. first determine the date range of transactions you want to import.  To do this, in Xero:
          a. go to the Dashboard screen and click on the name of the bank account,
          b. Then click on the Statements Tab
          c. Then click on Statement lines to Statements
          d. Determine the transaction date range not yet imported.

This partial screenshot displays bank imports and feeds.
The first column is the date of the import
The second and third columns indicate the date range of transactions that were imported.

This particular example indicates:
        • The first bank feed started on 27th Feb and fed transactions dated 26th Feb
        • The last date transactions were imported for was 15th Feb.
        • Therefore transactions need to be imported for the period 23-25th Feb  

ii. Export them from Westpac 

iii. Import them into Xero  

Please click here for detailed steps on how to complete ii and iii above. 

Please contact us if you would like to discuss the financial management of your church or NFP at  [email protected] or 1300 138 627  

© Benkorp  Management Services Pty Ltd 2019