You can review, categorize, and confirm transactions from the Transactions dashboard in Bluevine accounting. Categorizing your transactions helps keep your financial reports accurate and makes it easier to understand your business income and expenses.

Review transactions that need attention

Bluevine accounting brings together posted transactions from your Bluevine Checking accounts and external bank and credit card accounts you've connected.

When a transaction from a synced account is ready for you to review, it appears with a Needs review status. Before confirming the transaction, review its details and select the appropriate To/From contact and accounting Category. 

How transactions sync

Pending transactions do not appear in Bluevine accounting until they have posted with the financial institution. For connected external bank accounts and credit cards, Bluevine accounting syncs transaction data every several hours.

How transaction categorization suggestions work

Bluevine accounting learns from how you categorize and confirm transactions to help make bookkeeping easier over time. As you review transactions, Bluevine accounting may suggest information for the To/From and Category fields based on your previous choices or other available transaction information.

For example, if you categorize and confirm a transaction from a specific merchant, Bluevine accounting may remember your selection and suggest the same categorization for similar transactions in the future. As you continue categorizing and confirming transactions, these suggestions may become more relevant to your business.

Important: Categorization suggestions do not confirm transactions for you. Transactions with suggestions will remain in Needs review until you review and select Confirm.

If you change a suggested categorization, select Confirm to save your changes.

Assign a contact

Adding a contact to the transaction feeds the information into your accounting reports, and helps understand who the top customers and payees you have. 

1. Sign in to your Bluevine dashboard. 

2. Go to Accounting > Transactions.

3. Find the Transaction that needs a contact update.

4. Select the To/From dropdown menu and choose from existing contacts or click +Add contact.

   1. For full steps and more information about the contacts dashboard, refer to this process. 

5. Select Save. 

6. Next, complete categorizing the transaction

Categorize a transaction

Before you categorize a transaction, determine what the money represents for your business:

• Revenue: Money your business earns from its primary business activities, such as customer payments or payments for products or services.

• Expense: Money your business spends to operate, such as office supplies, software, utilities, rent, or inventory.

• Other Income: Money your business receives that is not part of its primary business activities, such as interest earned on an account.

Choose the accounting category that best represents the business purpose of the transaction. Available categories include standard business accounting categories.

For example:

How to categorize a transaction

1. Go to Accounting > Transactions.

2. Find the transaction with the Needs review status.

3. Select the To/From contact.

4. Select the appropriate category from the dropdown menu. This includes a preset list of accounting categories.
   
    

   • To add a custom category, select +Add category and enter the category type, name, and code details.

   • To edit a category, review the steps below.

5. Review your selections.

6. Select Confirm.

After you select both a contact and category, Confirm becomes available. Confirming transactions applies your selections and includes the transactions in your financial reports.

Confirmed transactions no longer appear when the Needs review filter is applied. To view them, remove the Needs review filter.

Add customized categories

You can create and edit custom categories for even more control and better organization of your accounting transactions.

How to add a custom category

1. Go to Accounting > Categories.
   

2. Select Add category.
   
    

3. Under Type, select Revenue, Expenses, or Other Income.

4. Enter a unique Name.

5. Review or update the 4-digit category Code.

6. Select Save category.

Category codes must be unique and contain 4 digits. The first digit is determined by the category type and cannot be changed.

How to delete a category

Custom categories can be edited or deleted. Preset accounting categories cannot be edited but most of them can be deleted, see the list below for details.

Cannot be deleted: 

• 8100 — Bank Revaluations

• 8150 — Unrealized Currency Gains

• 8200 — Realized Currency Gains

Steps to delete a Category

1. Go to Accounting > Categories.

2. Select the vertical ellipses ( ⋮ ) next to the category you want to edit.

3. Select Delete category.

4. Complete the prompts.

Deleting a category won't affect transactions already assigned to it. However, the deleted category will no longer be available for new transactions.

How to edit a custom category

Changes to a custom category also apply to transactions assigned to that category. 

1. Go to Accounting > Categories.

2. Select the vertical ellipses ( ⋮ ) next to the category you want to edit.

3. Select Edit category.
    

4. Update the category name or editable portion of the category code.

5. Select Save category.

6. Note: The first digit of the category code is preset and cannot be changed.

Note: Bluevine accounting can help you organize your transactions, but it does not provide tax advice. Contact a qualified tax professional if you have questions about how to categorize a transaction for tax purposes.

Categorize transfers and credit card payments

Money moving between your own accounts generally should not be categorized as new business revenue or an expense. Bluevine accounting provides transfer and credit card payment options to help you identify these transactions.

Transfers between Bluevine accounts

Transfers between Bluevine accounts for the same business, such as transfers between your primary checking account and a sub-account, are identified and confirmed automatically. You do not need to review these transfers.

Because these transactions are automatically confirmed, they do not appear when the Needs review filter is applied. Remove the filter if you need to view them.

Match a transfer involving an external account

For transfers involving at least one external account connected through Plaid, you can match the transactions.

1. Go to Accounting > Transactions.

2. Locate the transaction you want to review.

3. Open the category menu, then select Mark as transfer.

4. (Optional) Other account: If you see too many suggested matches, select the other bank or credit card account involved in the transfer to narrow the results.
    

5. Review the potential matching transactions.

6. Select the matching transaction.

7. Select Confirm.

Bluevine accounting initially looks for transactions that:

• Have the same amount moving in the opposite direction.

For example, if the original transaction is a $125.55 deposit, potential matches include a $125.55 withdrawal.

If you do not see the matching transaction, you can search by description, or expand the date range.

Previously confirmed transactions may also appear as potential matches.

Match a credit card payment

Use Mark as credit card payment when matching a payment between a bank account and a credit card.

1. Locate the transaction you want to review.

2. Open the category menu, then select Mark as credit card payment.

3. Select the account on the other side of the payment.

4. Review the potential matches.

5. Select the matching transaction.

6. Select Confirm.

When the transaction is from a credit card, Bluevine accounting displays eligible bank accounts. When the transaction is from a bank account, Bluevine accounting displays eligible credit card accounts.

Correct a matched transaction

If you match the wrong transactions, you can correct the match.

If you match one of the transactions to a different transaction, Bluevine accounting unlinks the original match. The unmatched transaction returns to Needs review so you can review and categorize it again.

You can also edit a confirmed matched transaction:

1. Go to Accounting > Transactions.

2. Remove the Needs review filter to find the confirmed transaction.

3. Select the vertical ellipses ( ⋮ ) next to the transaction you want to edit. 

4. Select Edit.

5. Update the transaction as needed.

6. Select Confirm.

Update a transaction category

You can edit a confirmed transaction if you selected the wrong contact or category.

1. Go to Accounting > Transactions.

2. Find the transaction you want to update.

3. Select the vertical ellipses ( ⋮ ) menu.

4. Select Edit.

5. Update the To/From contact, if needed.

6. Select the correct category.

7. Select Confirm.

Your financial reports will reflect the updated categorization.

Troubleshoot transaction categorization

A transaction is missing

If you cannot find a transaction:

• Confirm that the account is connected to Bluevine accounting. Follow the How to view connected external bank accounts steps in this process. 

• Confirm that the transaction has been posted with the financial institution.

• Allow time for the account to sync.

  • Newly connected accounts: 5 -7 minutes to sync. 

  • Existing connected accounts on a regular syncing schedule: Allow several hours for sync processing.

Pending transactions do not appear until they have been posted.

A category change is not showing

If an updated category does not appear as expected:

1. Refresh the page.

2. Allow time for your accounting data to update.

3. Review the applicable financial report again.

Need more help?

If the transaction or category still does not appear correctly after troubleshooting, contact Bluevine Customer Support.