How to Use Online Banking
By connecting your bank accounts and credit cards through MonkeyPod's secure Online Banking option, you can easily match or create transactions in your MonkeyPod as they arrive in your bank account.
What is "Online Banking" in my MonkeyPod?
Online Banking is a feature in MonkeyPod that allows you to receive a read-only stream of transactions from your connected credit card or bank accounts. This setup lets you easily match or create transactions in your MonkeyPod to ensure that everything in your accounts has a matching transaction in MonkeyPod. This makes reconciliation at the end of the month go smoothly because you'll know that the transactions in your bank account have been entered into your MonkeyPod as well.
Where do I connect my bank account in my MonkeyPod?
To connect an account to Online Banking, choose My MonkeyPod from the main menu, then select Connect Online Banking under MonkeyPod Setup.
MonkeyPod will display your eligible accounts (checking, savings, and credit card accounts) based on what is in your Chart of Accounts. Select Connect for each account and follow the on-screen instructions to link to your account through the Plaid platform. (A Plaid account is not required; you can connect as a guest.)
Tip! Not seeing your accounts? Be sure to add them to your Chart of Accounts!
How do I match transactions from my online accounts to the transactions in my MonkeyPod?
Once your accounts are connected, you can match transactions at any time by choosing Finance from the main menu, then selecting Online Banking (Match/Add).
Your connected accounts will display a count of the transactions that are ready to be reviewed.
Select Check Now any time you want to refresh the count to be correct up to the minute. Select View All to view all of the transactions from that account in your Chart of Accounts.
Select Review Transactions to view the transactions that have yet to be matched. If you're working through a long list, it can be helpful to use the search and filter options at the top of the feed to narrow it down. Search and filter options include:
- Description or category search: type any part of the bank's description (or the category your bank assigned) to find specific transactions.
- Dates: enter a 'from' date, a 'to' date, or both to narrow the list to a specific period.
- Direction: filter to just Money in (donations, sales, etc.) or Money out (purchases, expenses, etc.).
Select Clear Filters to remove all filter settings and view the full list.
To the far right of each transaction are icons that show your options: Confirm Match (if a match is available), Review Match Candidates, and Ignore.
Confirm Match
If a confident match has been found for the online transaction (indicated by the "confident match" badge), the checkmark to confirm the match will be available. A confident match is based on transactions having the same date, amount, and relationship details, but should still be verified. (To review the match before confirming it, see "Review Match Candidates" below.) Select the checkmark to indicate that the online transaction is an accurate match for the transaction on your books, and that entry will be removed from the list of unmatched transactions.
Tip: If you confirm a match and later determine that it was in error, you can go to the Archive tab on the Online Banking page, find the transaction there, and select the Un-match icon. (If you don't see the transaction immediately in the list of unmatched transactions, refresh the page in your browser.)
Review Match Candidates
If a likely match badge is shown, it means MonkeyPod has found one or more existing transactions in your MonkeyPod that might correspond to this entry from your bank. Select the list icon to review potential matches.
After reviewing the match(es), you can use the icons next to a possible matching transaction to:
- Confirm the match, if correct, by selecting the checkmark.
- Dismiss that match if it's incorrect by choosing the 'X'. This removes it as a possible match from just the transaction you're viewing.
- If the suggested match is something you'll likely never need, select the Hide (eye) icon to permanently exclude it from the Online Banking feed in your MonkeyPod. You shouldn't need this too often, but sometimes there will be a transaction from your bank that you want to ignore and not match to anything in MonkeyPod.
Tip! Notice how any variances between your recorded transaction and the online banking transaction are called out in this dialog. For example, the screenshot above shows that the actual transaction in your MonkeyPod was recorded one day earlier than the online banking transaction, but the amount is an exact match.
If you review the match candidates and don't find an accurate match, then you have the option to add a new transaction. Select the Add As New button to enter the details for a new transaction. Once you save the new transaction, it will be matched automatically to the online transaction, and removed from the "unmatched" list.
Add Matching Transaction
If your MonkeyPod hasn't found any match candidates, select the + icon to record a new transaction here based on this entry from your financial institution.
If AI Categorization is enabled, MonkeyPod will make suggestions based on what it knows about the online transaction and payee/payor relationship. You should review all fields, and enter any missing details (such as account, class, tag, and restricted funds options). Enter an optional memo or attach a file (e.g., a receipt) that is relevant to the transaction, and select Save to record the transaction and match it to the online entry automatically.
Tip! See below for how to turn on AI categorization to help with data entry when adding matching transactions.
How can MonkeyPod's AI categorization help me match and add transactions?
If your organization has AI categorization turned on, MonkeyPod can pre-fill some of the fields for you when you add matching transactions. Anyone with admin status can enable these suggestions under My MonkeyPod > Organization Settings—select the Accounting tab, and look for it under AI assistance.
Once that's enabled, you'll see a suggestion box in the Add Transaction dialog with a short explanation of its reasoning and a confidence rating. When a suggestion is available, MonkeyPod pre-selects a payee and transaction type and, if it has found relevant context in prior transactions, it suggests an account, class, and tags.
Nothing is recorded until you select Save, so treat the suggestion as a starting point. You should review it, change any field that doesn't look right, or select Clear suggestions (in the blue sidebar) to remove the pre-filled values and start from scratch.
The smiley icons next to Clear suggestion let you rate the suggestion. This helps MonkeyPod get better at guessing for you over time. Remember, your banking data is never used to train AI models. See How MonkeyPod Uses AI for details.
Notifications to review transactions
When MonkeyPod is notified of a new transaction to be reviewed in Online Banking, it sends a notification (either by email or in the notification center) to all users in your organization who have opted to receive those notices.
Example notification:
To turn off this specific notification for your account, choose My MonkeyPod from the main menu and select Notification Preferences under My Stuff. Look for the entry for Transactions imported from online banking under the Bookkeeping heading, and turn off the option to receive these messages by email and/or in the notification center.
Frequently Asked Questions
I don't see my deposit listed as a potential match candidate. What do I need to do to fix this?
That means your deposit likely hasn't been recorded in your MonkeyPod. For Online Banking to find a match, you'll need to enter the deposit in MonkeyPod first.
How can I attach a receipt or other documentation when I'm adding a matching transaction?
When adding a new transaction for an online banking entry, look for the Attach File option at the bottom of the dialog. Select that to upload a file to save with the new transaction.
Can I review this list of online transactions in a spreadsheet?
Sure! Just select Download Excel to export whatever transactions are currently displayed based on your filters.
Why is MonkeyPod suggesting how to categorize my bank transactions?
If your organization has turned on AI assistance (My MonkeyPod > Organization Settings > Accounting > AI assistance), MonkeyPod looks at each bank transaction — the amount, the bank's description, and your past categorization history — and suggests how to record it when you select Add Matching Transaction. It's only a suggestion: nothing is saved until you review it and select Save, and you can change or clear any pre-filled field first. If you'd rather not use this, anyone on your team with admin status can turn it off from the same settings page.
What do I do if I see an error for one of my accounts?
Occasionally, banks will terminate the connection and require you to reconnect. If you see an error like the one below, choose Reconnect to try to reestablish the connection.
If that doesn't do the trick, choose Disconnect from the 3-dot menu next to the View All button.
Once the account has been disconnected, it will appear in the list of unconnected accounts at the bottom of the page, and you may reconnect it from there.
My bank keeps closing the connection or isn't listed at all. Is there something I can do?
Please send an email to support@monkeypod.io and reach out to your bank as well. We'll see what we can do!