Connecting a business bank feed

A business bank feed should be connected through the provider’s authorised process, with the correct account and a clear opening date. Verify imported transactions against bank statements and distinguish a feed connection from permission to initiate payments.

Check access roles and avoid sharing banking credentials with staff or advisers. Confirm how duplicate imports and connection renewal will be handled.

Understand the permission being granted

Identify the service connecting the bank account and the legal provider behind it. Read what information will be accessed, how it will be used and whether the service has any payment-initiation function. Account-information access and authority to initiate a payment are different capabilities. The FCA explains these services and the importance of checking the provider's authorisation or registration for the relevant activity. ^[1]

Use the bank's and provider's supported authorisation process. Do not send online-banking credentials to a bookkeeper or a person claiming to provide setup support. Keep the business owner or an appropriately authorised user in control of the connection. If a request asks for more access than the intended bookkeeping task requires, clarify the scope before proceeding rather than assuming every permission displayed is essential.

Select the correct account and opening date

Confirm the account holder, account type and currency against the ledger being connected. A business with several accounts should map each feed to the correct accounting account. Avoid selecting a similarly named personal account or connecting the same bank account twice through different integrations. Record the connection date and the earliest transaction imported so the opening position can be reconciled.

Choose the start date in light of records already entered. If the ledger contains a manual import through the end of June, an overlapping feed can create duplicates unless the supported matching process handles them correctly. Keep the existing statement and import record before connecting. The aim is a continuous transaction history with neither missing days nor a second copy of the same payments.

Review the first imported transactions

Compare a sample of receipts and payments with the bank statement, then reconcile the opening and closing balances for the imported range. Check dates, signs, currency and descriptions. A technically successful connection may still import an unexpected date range or map a transfer incorrectly. Resolve those issues before enabling broad automation that could multiply a setup mistake across hundreds of transactions.

Establish how the software distinguishes a new transaction from a match to an existing invoice or bill. Test a customer receipt, supplier payment and transfer between accounts. The feed should support reconciliation, not create duplicate revenue or costs already recorded elsewhere. Keep uncertain matches for review and avoid approving an entire batch solely because the suggested counterparty names look plausible.

Limit access to the imported information

Bank transactions can reveal personal information about customers, workers and sole traders. Give users the access needed for their role and review what exports or connected applications can copy. ICO guidance supports a proportionate approach to personal-data access, security and retention. A bank-feed connection should therefore be considered within the wider accounting-data process, not only as a convenient way to save typing. ^[2]

Document who can reconnect the feed, change its mapping or remove it. Use named accounts and appropriate authentication, and keep recovery arrangements available to authorised people. The business should not depend on a former employee's phone or personal email for routine renewal. When advisers change, review their accounting permissions separately from the bank's connection authority so obsolete access is removed at the correct layer.

Plan for interruptions and disconnection

Record how connection expiry, bank maintenance or provider errors will be detected. Assign someone to check the most recent imported date and compare it with actual activity. A dashboard showing no new transactions may mean a broken feed rather than a quiet business. Keep a controlled fallback for importing the missing period and reconcile it carefully when the feed resumes.

Read Reconciling bank feed interruptions for recovering from an interruption and Cloud bookkeeping setup to discuss bank-feed setup within bookkeeping. State the bank, accounting system and date range already recorded, without sharing credentials. A focused setup review can then confirm the mapping, reconciliation and responsibility for renewals, giving the business a useful feed without mistaking automation for complete accounting control.

When the connection is no longer needed, follow the appropriate revocation process and check both the provider and bank settings where relevant. Preserve required accounting records separately. Removing live access should stop future data collection without causing the business to lose the evidence needed to explain transactions already included in its accounts.

Illustrative scenario

A company connects its bank feed after importing a statement manually. The bookkeeper checks overlapping dates and removes duplicate imports through a documented process before reconciling the account.

Preparation checklist

• Confirm the bank account
• Set the opening date
• Review connection permissions
• Check overlap with existing data