Bank reconciliation for Swiss sole proprietorships

From bank statement to journal entry – with CAMT.053 or PDF

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The payment is on the bank statement, the invoice is in Effizo, and manual work sits in between. Bank reconciliation closes that gap: you upload your statement, Effizo suggests the matching journal entries for every transaction – and you confirm with a click.

Even without a bank file

Upload the statement as your bank's CAMT.053 file or simply as a PDF, exactly as you download it from your e-banking. Effizo reads both formats.

  • CAMT.053 – the Swiss standard for electronic bank statements
  • PDF – the statement your bank provides anyway

Whatever you can download from your e-banking, you can reconcile. A PDF is read rather than simply imported – so you do not need a CAMT file if your bank does not offer one.

Uploading a bank statement as CAMT.053 or PDF

Checked before you even look

Effizo reconciles the statement against itself before you review the first transaction:

  • Opening balance plus transactions against the closing balance – if it does not add up, it says so
  • Declared turnover totals against the recorded payments – a missing transaction shows up
  • Statements you have already uploaded are recognised, so you never book anything twice

The result appears at import: “Checked” or “Discrepancy”. A discrepancy opens a diagnosis with hints on the individual transactions. That way you notice an incomplete statement straight away – not at year-end.

Suggested journal entries for a bank transaction

Matching – by hand or automatically

For every transaction Effizo suggests the journal entries it could settle, the strongest one first. Each suggestion shows why it fits:

  • the payment reference – it usually carries your invoice number
  • the payer's IBAN
  • the payer's name
  • the amount – even when it covers only part of the open amount

By default you decide: Effizo suggests, you confirm. If that feels too fiddly, switch on “Book bank transactions automatically” in the settings – Effizo then books the unambiguous cases itself. Unambiguous means: exactly one open entry carries the payer's name and exactly the amount. Everything else waits for you. A preview shows you beforehand how many transactions of your last statement that would affect.

And then it is done

Once matched, the invoice counts as paid – including when things do not divide neatly:

  • Partial payments are credited correctly
  • A batch credit is broken down into the individual payments it consists of – each one is matched separately
  • Outstanding reminder fees are included
  • If you account for VAT on payments received, the VAT falls into the period the money arrived

The invoice then shows the bank payment and a link back to the bank reconciliation, and your books are current. And if you got it wrong: every match can be undone.

Paid invoice with the matched bank payment

Not every transaction is an entry

Bank charges, payroll runs, private transfers: these do not belong to any open invoice. You ignore them – they disappear from the worklist and stay traceable all the same.

That way you work the list down to zero without losing anything.

How bank reconciliation works

  1. Upload the statement – CAMT.053 or PDF. Effizo reads the transactions and checks the statement.
  2. Match – for every payment the matching journal entries are ready, the most likely one first. With automatic booking switched on, Effizo handles the unambiguous cases itself.
  3. Ignore the rest – whatever is not an entry, you hide. The list is empty.

In brief

  • Upload the bank statement as CAMT.053 or as PDF
  • Statement checked for balance, totals and duplicates
  • Suggestions with reasons: payment reference, IBAN, name and amount
  • Matching by hand – or automatic, as soon as you switch on “Book bank transactions automatically”
  • Partial payments credited, batch credits broken down into individual payments
  • Outstanding reminder fees feed into the settlement
  • With VAT on payments received, the VAT falls into the period the money arrived
  • Transactions unrelated to an invoice can be ignored
  • Every match can be undone

Bring your books up to date with your account

With bank reconciliation, a bank statement turns into clean bookkeeping – without the manual work, and without Effizo taking the decision out of your hands.

Have a look at invoicing, simple accounting and VAT accounting as well – or take a look at our pricing.

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