• Home
  • |
  • Blog
  • |
  • When Tech Fails: How to Troubleshoot Bookkeeping Software Issues

March 13, 2018

When Tech Fails: How to Troubleshoot Bookkeeping Software Issues

When Tech Fails: How to Troubleshoot Bookkeeping Software Issues

Technology is amazing until it isn’t.

The Roomba that spreads dog poop all over the house.

The cell phone that pocket dials your ex.

The autocorrect that makes your convo with your mother-in-law super awkward.

But on the whole, technology has improved our lives immensely.

When it comes to your business the technology options are endless.

Email service providers, funnels, ads, schedulers, bookkeeping software...all tech options to make our lives more convenient.

So how do you troubleshoot when something goes wrong?

Here are a few things that can go wrong when you download your transactions into your bookkeeping software and how you can fix them.

Transactions are being double counted

Ah, my Facebook ads for the month, that goes to advertising...but wait, didn’t I just categorize that one yesterday?

Yep. Totally happens.

Duplicating of transactions usually happens when a transaction is brought into the software while your bank considers it to be pending, and then it gets brought in again after it clears.

How to identify duplicate transactions: download a list of all of the transactions from your software, if it’s obvious which ones are duplicates then you know which ones to go delete.

But I’ve seen where it’s not so obvious.

Sometimes the transactions have totally different descriptions.

Consider keeping the transaction that has the most descriptive data. If it’s really difficult to figure out which to keep and which to delete consider downloading the transactions from your bank or comparing the list to your bank statement.

This path takes more time but it’s the most thorough.

Transactions are missing

Occasionally your bookkeeping software and your bank may lose connection.

Password changes, going too long between downloading transactions, any number of things can cause missing data.

Make sure you hop into your software weekly to confirm that your transactions are downloading properly.

This has an added benefit in that you know exactly how your business is doing in real time, and I’m all about that.

Unfortunately, it can be difficult to catch missing data.

The best way to catch it is to do your monthly bank account reconciliation. This is where you compare you month-end bank balance per your statement to the month end balance in your software.

Most software makes this process super simple, so it’s practically painless. When it doesn’t agree you know that you’ve got some investigation to do. 

How to identify the missing transactions: again the best method is to download the transactions from your bank and compare it to the transactions in your software.

Once you figure out what’s missing you can easily manually add the item and categorize it as normal.

Transactions are downloading incorrectly

Technology can do some crazy things.

I’ve seen a software bring cash in and cash out transactions all as cash in. Crazy town! Took me a bit to figure out what was going on.

I probably can’t even list all of the ways transactions could be downloaded incorrectly.

How to identify the incorrect transactions: No surprise here, you’re going to have to compare your software transactions to the bank transactions and find the problem children.

In some software, you won’t actually be able to edit the value of the transaction, in that case, your best option is to delete the transactions and upload the correct ones.

While several things can go wrong when you download transactions from your bank account to your bookkeeping software, overall the technology makes everything so much easier.

And I’m on board for anything that makes the complicated world of entrepreneurship a little bit simpler

Have no desire to sort out your own software issues? I can totally help.

In the words of one of my favorite clients: “Every time I look at it, I want to cry. I'd rather be writing :)”

And I’d rather be troubleshooting your bookkeeping issues!

Send me an email and we can talk about all the ways we can work together to get your software woes figured out.

Related Posts

How to Record PayPal Transactions

Bookkeeping software is awesome.

Well, maybe it’s only awesome if you’re a huge nerd like me.

Anywho, your software can be hooked up to so many of the services that you use, Acuity, PayPal, Stripe, so many options.

But sometimes having so many connections can be overwhelming.

Especially when you consider how many times you’ll see the same transactions.

Read More

Should I Connect My Bank Account to My Bookkeeping Software?

Auto bill pay, automatic car washes, online grocery shopping.

I’m all for services and conveniences that make our lives easier.

And if it’s something that makes your bookkeeping faster, ultimately allowing you to get back to serving your clients faster then I’m super all in.

Read More

3 Reasons to Fall in Love With Bookkeeping

Ah, the pure joy when your bank reconciliation matches.

The complete satisfaction when every single transaction is categorized.

No?

Just me then?

Even if you’re not as ridiculously Nerdy and number-crunchy as me there are still several reasons to love bookkeeping.

Or at the very least to love what it provides.

Read More

1099-MISC: A Quick and Simple Guide

1099-MISC: A Quick and Simple GuideNo woman in business is an island, nor should they be. There’s a good chance you’ve hired someone to do something in your business. Be it marketing, a virtual assistant, or a bookkeeper. And if you’ve hired someone to help you out you might need to file a 1099-MISC tax form with

Read More

Megan


I’m a bookkeeper for women who run a service-based business. They dread tracking their business expenses and want someone they can trust to take it off their hands. I get their books in order so they can focus on serving their clients.

Megan Carter