Import bank statements

Bank reconciliation (bankverzoening) matches the payments on your bank statement to the open bills (what you owe suppliers) and open invoices (what customers owe you). After reconciliation, both the bank side and the supplier/customer side are marked as settled.

Use the Import bank shortcut on the Financial overview dashboard, or go to Bookkeeping → Bank reconciliation.

Step 1 — Import your bank statement

Dutch banks export statements in CAMT.053 (ISO 20022) XML format. Download this file from your bank's online portal and upload it into Shillinq.

1. Go to Bookkeeping → Bank reconciliation → Import.
2. Upload the CAMT.053 file (.xml). Shillinq reads:
   • Each payment and receipt on the statement.
   • The IBAN of the counterparty.
   • The payment reference (often contains an invoice number).
   • The amount and value date.
3. Click Import. The statement appears in the Unmatched transactions list.

MT940 format

If your bank only supports MT940 (older SWIFT format), Shillinq can import those too. Use Import → MT940 instead. CAMT.053 is preferred because it carries more structured data that improves automatic matching.

Step 2 — Automatic matching

Shillinq tries to match each bank transaction to an open bill or invoice by:

1. Invoice number in the reference — if the payment description contains your invoice number (e.g. F2026-042), Shillinq matches it automatically.
2. IBAN of the counterparty — known supplier/customer IBANs narrow the candidate list.
3. Amount — exact match wins; partial matches are flagged for manual review.
4. Due date proximity — payments close to the invoice due date rank higher.

Automatically matched transactions show a green tick. Review them quickly; unmatched transactions are yellow and require your attention.

Step 3 — Manual matching

For unmatched transactions:

1. Click the transaction row.
2. Shillinq shows candidate open bills or invoices ranked by likelihood.
3. Select the correct open item. If the payment covers multiple invoices, add each one; Shillinq splits the matched amounts.
4. If the payment is not an invoice payment (e.g. a bank charge, salary payment, tax transfer), click Assign to account and pick the GL account directly (e.g. 83100 for bank charges).
5. Click Confirm match.

Step 4 — Post the reconciliation

Once all transactions on the statement are either matched or assigned to a GL account, click Post reconciliation. Shillinq:

1. Marks matched invoices as Paid and clears them from the open items list.
2. Marks matched bills as Paid and clears them from the crediteuren balance.
3. Posts each bank transaction as a journal entry (bank account debit or credit vs. AP/AR or GL account).
4. Updates the bank account balance in the general ledger to match the closing balance on the statement.

Reconciliation summary report

After posting, the reconciliation summary shows:

• Opening bank balance
• Total receipts matched to invoices
• Total payments matched to bills
• Total assigned to GL accounts directly
• Closing bank balance (must match the statement's closing balance)

If the closing balance does not match, there is an unmatched transaction. Check the Unmatched tab and resolve it before the period can be closed.

Bank connections (automatic import)

If you have a bank connection configured (Bunq, ING, Rabobank via PSD2, or Mollie), Shillinq can pull transactions automatically — no manual file download needed. Configure connections in Settings → Bank connections.

Once a connection is active, Shillinq fetches the latest transactions every night and adds them to the reconciliation queue automatically. You only need to review and confirm matches.

Common issues

Issue	Cause	Fix
Import fails	Wrong file format	Verify the file is CAMT.053 XML (not CSV or PDF); re-export from your bank
No automatic matches	Invoice numbers not in payment description	Match manually; ask customers to include invoice number in payment reference
Closing balance does not match	Unmatched transaction	Check the Unmatched tab; an amount may have been posted to the wrong account
Double import	Same statement imported twice	The second import is detected and rejected automatically

What's next

After your first full reconciliation cycle (import bills → create invoices → import bank) your books are up to date. You can now:

• Run a Profit & Loss report (Reports → P&L) to see revenue vs. costs.
• File your VAT declaration (Reports → VAT → Quarterly declaration).
• Check Bookkeeping → General ledger for a full transaction history per account.