📽️ Videos
1. How do I categorize transactions?
On the Transactions page, each transaction has a category field. You can manually categorize transactions by selecting the appropriate category. Additionally, you can create rules to automate categorization. Please check the Rules section for that. If you apply or edit a rule, remember to click "Apply rule on existing data" if you want it to update transactions that are already in Clearing, otherwise it will only apply going forward.
2. What's the most efficient way to work through a batch of transactions?
Set up saved filters for the accounts or vendors you deal with regularly (for example, one for your credit card, one for a frequent vendor), so you can jump straight to a clean view instead of filtering manually each time.
Use the "Unlocked" filter to see only what's left to review. As you finish a transaction, lock it, that way your unlocked count always reflects your real remaining work for the month.
3. How do I attach an asset to a transaction?
In the transaction details, you can select the relevant asset from the dropdown menu. This associates the transaction with a specific asset.
4. How do I bill an expense transaction to an owner?
Use the accounting field to push an expense transaction to an owner. Set the accounting field to “to owner” and make sure to attach the right owner to the transaction, as well as the right category, and it will reflect in their statement.
5. How can I split a transaction?
For transactions involving multiple assets or homeowners, use the "Split transaction" option. Allocate amounts to different categories, assets and owners for accurate accounting. This is a great use case to allocate expenses from the same transaction to multiple assets or owners.
6. How can I group transactions to the same merchant?
Manually change or create merchants to group transactions. Use custom rules on transactions for automated merchant association, enhancing efficiency.
7. How should I use the accounting field?
The "trust accounting" field in Clearing refers to a feature that helps you flag transactions based on whether they should be associated with the owner, management, a vendor, taxes, a security deposit, or excluded entirely. This field is particularly relevant in property management scenarios where you need to track and allocate expenses or revenues to different stakeholders. Here's a breakdown of the options within the "trust accounting" field:
To owner:
Transactions flagged as "To Owner" indicate that the associated expense or revenue should be attributed to the property owner. This is typically used for expenses that the property owner is responsible for. This is also relevant for booking revenue that are due to the owner. Anything flagged “to owner” will be attached to the owner statement and not in the management statement.
To management:
Transactions marked as "To Management" signify that the expense or revenue should be allocated to the property management. This is useful for tracking expenses that are handled by the management rather than the property owner. Any transaction or booking financials flagged “to management” will be in the management statement and not in the owner statement.
To vendor:
Transactions marked as "To Vendor" indicate the amount is owed to, or associated with, a specific vendor rather than the owner or management directly, and that needs to be paid to the vendor out of the trust account. This is useful for tracking vendor payables and ties in with the Payables and Vendors section.
To tax:
Transactions marked as "To Tax" indicate the amount relates to taxes, such as occupancy or sales tax, rather than owner or management revenue. This keeps tax amounts distinguishable from regular income and expenses in your reporting and shows how much money inside the trust account is set aside for tax payments.
To security deposit:
Transactions marked as "To Security Deposit" indicate funds being held as, or returned from, a security deposit in the trust account. This keeps deposit activity tracked separately from regular owner or management funds.
Exclude:
This option is meant for use within booking financials, rules, or other booking-line-item situations, not general transaction categorization.
By utilizing the "trust accounting" field, you can automate the process of determining whether a transaction is associated with the owner, management, a vendor, taxes, or a security deposit. This adds a layer of clarity and automation to the financial management process, ensuring that transactions are appropriately categorized and allocated based on your specified criteria.
Important: Category and the accounting field are required on every transaction, that's what gets it into statements and reports. Asset and owner are optional, except owner becomes required once you set the accounting field to "To Owner."
If a transaction is already tied to a booking, leave its accounting field blank; the booking itself is what allocates that revenue, and filling in both will duplicate the amount on the resulting statement.
8. What does the "Reimbursable" checkbox do?
Mark a transaction "Reimbursable" when it's an expense you paid from your credit card or operating account that the trust account owes you back for. This adds it to the management statement, telling you the amount to transfer from trust to operating to pay yourself back.
Don't mark it reimbursable if you paid the expense directly from the trust account and are simply billing it to the owner. In that case it's deducted on the owner's statement as normal, but since the trust account already covered it, no transfer to operating is needed.
9. Can Clearing help me categorize transactions automatically?
Payables and Vendors: uploaded invoices can be matched to existing transactions automatically. If an invoice covers multiple properties, match and split it in one step, allocating each line item to the right asset and owner, which creates the corresponding sub-transactions for you.
Receipts: upload or email in receipts and Clearing will try to match them to the corresponding transaction. Any that still need a match will be flagged so you can review them.
Rules (Rules → On Transactions) are the most powerful way to automate categorization long-term. A rule can be built a few different ways:
By Merchant: set a merchant to always apply a category, and optionally an asset and owner. For example, a specific vendor could always map to "Maintenance," or a utility company to "Utilities."
By Account: apply rules at the account level, based on a card, bank account, or journal entry.
By Type of Transaction: map the transaction types reported by a connected platform to a category. This only affects sub-transactions.
By Category: apply accounting rules by category. This only applies to transactions in the Transaction section, not booking data coming from your PMS.
Custom Mapping: build granular rules by selecting transactions with specific criteria and choosing how to modify them automatically.
Custom Split: split a transaction by specific criteria into sub-transactions, useful for dividing a shared expense equally (or by a custom split) across listings or owners.
Note: Rules can be ranked. When two or more rules could apply to the same transaction, Rule #1 is applied last and wins the conflict. Click "Apply rule on existing transactions" to run a rule against transactions already in Clearing, not just future ones.
10. Should I lock transactions once they're done?
Yes. Once a transaction has a category, the accounting field filled out, and any asset or owner it needs, lock it. This keeps your unlocked view an accurate to-do list, and protects the transaction from accidental changes later. Note that a transaction with unmatched sub-transactions can still be locked; it doesn't need to be fully matched to a booking to be considered done.