Reconciliation - Ensure attachments on source transaction flows to reconciled bank statement
As a Xero user, I regularly upload supplier invoices and receipts as attachments to Bills. While the attachment is stored correctly against the Bill, it is not visible when viewing the related bank transaction, account transaction, or reconciled payment.
This creates a challenge when working with accountants and bookkeepers. During month-end reviews, audits, and reconciliations, accountants typically review transactions from the bank account and transaction listings to verify that every payment has supporting documentation.
When they open a reconciled bank transaction and cannot see an attachment, they often assume that the invoice or receipt is missing. I then have to repeatedly explain that the document is actually attached to the original Bill and provide instructions on how to locate it.
To access the invoice attachment, users must:
- Open the bank transaction or account transaction.
- Click through to the related Bill payment.
- Open the Bill.
- View the attachment from the Bill.
This process can be time-consuming and confusing, especially for accountants, auditors, and business owners who frequently review bank transactions and expenditure records.
Suggested Improvement
When a Bill containing attachments is reconciled against a bank transaction, the attachment(s) should automatically be accessible from:
- Bank Transactions
- Account Transactions
- Reconciled Spend Money Transactions linked to Bills
- Audit and transaction review screens
Ideally, the attachment could either:
- Be displayed directly within the transaction details, or
- Be shown through an attachment icon indicating that supporting documents are available.
Benefits
- Faster transaction reviews and audits.
- Reduced navigation and clicks.
- Improved visibility of supporting documentation.
- Easier reconciliation checks for accountants and bookkeepers.
- Better user experience when reviewing historical transactions.
This enhancement would allow users to access supporting invoices directly from the transaction they are reviewing, rather than having to navigate back through the linked Bill to locate the attachment.
kelly zhen
shared this idea
Hi Kelly, thanks for sharing this idea. We can see how being able to view attachments from reconciled bank statement lines could make it quicker to review transactions during audits and day-to-day bookkeeping.
At the moment, attachments remain linked to the source transaction, such as the bill, spend money transaction, or invoice, and can be accessed by opening that record. While this keeps the supporting documents available, we appreciate it's more convenient to see attachments directly from the bank statement view.
I've updated the status of this idea to Gaining Support so we can continue tracking interest from the community. If there are particular bank screens or workflows where attachment visibility would be most helpful, let us know as those examples help us better understand the feature.
