Banking is where your real bank activity meets your books.
Import a statement
Banking → Reconcile. Upload your bank statement — 360books reads CSV, OFX/QFX and PDF files. It detects columns and dates automatically, and deduplicates so re-importing the same file won't create doubles.
Any size statement. A normal statement imports in about a minute. A very large PDF (a year's history, say) automatically switches to a background import — you'll see a progress bar, you can close the page, and 360books emails you when it's done. The same to-the-cent verification applies before anything lands.
Duplicates are handled properly in both directions: re-importing the same statement (or an overlapping period, or the CSV and the PDF of the same month) skips the lines you already have — while two genuinely identical transactions on one statement (two same-price card swipes on the same day, several equal wage payments) each import as their own line, as they should.
Statement verification
PDF statements are read by AI — any bank's layout, including scanned or photographed statements, with the full description and reference captured on every line. And every import is proven before it lands: bank statements print their own arithmetic (an opening balance, a closing balance, and a running balance on every line), and 360books checks the extracted lines against it line by line, to the cent. A single misread digit breaks the chain at that exact line and the import is refused with the line named — a wrong number can't slip into your books silently. When a statement passes, you'll see it: "✓ Statement verified — opening and closing balances reconcile to the cent."
Categorise & match
For each imported transaction you can:
- Categorise it — pick the account it belongs to (e.g. an expense), which creates the journal entry.
- Match it to an existing invoice or bill — e.g. a deposit that matches an open invoice records the payment and closes the invoice.
- Ignore it if it's not relevant.
360books suggests matches by amount and date, and you can Undo a categorisation or match at any time.
Tagging a line to a division
If you use divisions, projects or classes, a second picker sits next to the category: choose the division and the cost or income lands in your segmented reports instead of showing up as Untagged. It's on the single line, on bulk categorisation, and on rules.
This matters more than it sounds. Most of a small company's costs never pass through a bill — debit orders, card subscriptions, bank charges all arrive straight on the statement. Without the tag here, those costs never reach the division reports, and the split you set up only ever sees the handful of things you invoiced or billed.
The tag goes on the income or expense side only; the bank side belongs to no division.
Bank rules
Banking → Rules. Create rules so recurring transactions categorise themselves — e.g. any description containing "VODACOM" → Telephone expense. Rules run first, so most of a statement can be one-click.
A rule can also carry a division, so it tags forever rather than once: anything containing "ANTHROPIC" → Software & AI, division 360books. Set it when you create the rule, or leave it blank to categorise without tagging.
AI categorisation
For anything left uncategorised, click ✨ Suggest with AI — 360books proposes the right account for each line (rules always run first, so AI is only used where needed). It suggests; you review and post. You can also "Post + rule" to teach it for next time — which remembers the division too, so the next line like it needs no thought at all.
Multiple bank accounts
Click + Add bank account next to the account picker, choose your bank (FNB, Standard Bank, Absa, Nedbank, Capitec and more) and name it — 360books creates the ledger account behind the scenes with a zero balance (nothing is posted, so your reports are untouched) and even pre-sets your bank-payment-file format to that bank. Each account imports and reconciles independently; the balance sheet shows them as separate lines.
Transfers between your own accounts
Moved money from FNB to Capitec? Categorise the outgoing line to the Capitec account — that one posting is the whole transfer (both balances update). When the incoming amount appears on Capitec's statement, 360books recognises it and offers ⇄ Transfer from FNB — match: one click clears it against the same entry, so the transfer is never posted twice. (A note also appears the moment you categorise a line to another bank account, reminding you the mirror side just gets matched.)
First-class bank accounts & reconciliation
Your bank account did not start at zero, and the app can only see what you import — so each account needs an opening balance or every screen understates your cash by exactly that amount.
Usually you don't have to do anything: the first PDF statement imported into an empty account sets its own opening balance, from the statement's "balance brought forward" figure, dated the day before the statement starts — the import message tells you when it has. It deliberately will not do this when the account already has an opening balance or any activity before the statement (adopting a brought-forward figure on top of history would double-count your cash); and CSV files don't print a brought-forward figure at all. In those cases set it by hand: Banking → Reconcile → Opening balance — the date, the amount off your statement's first page (negative if overdrawn), done. Setting it again replaces the old figure cleanly, so a mistake is never permanent.
Then use Banking → Reconcile to tick off cleared transactions against your bank statement balance. When the difference is zero, you've reconciled — and 360books keeps the history.
Next: Reports →