When importing Expenses into QuickBooks Desktop, often the payee name in the import file will not match the vendor name in QuickBooks. This is especially true with Bank and Credit Card Statements. You don’t want to constantly set up new vendors in QuickBooks; however, you also don’t want to manually update the payees before every import.
Transaction Pro Importer for QuickBooks Desktop helps you avoid both scenarios with the Alias Option. The Alias Option is found on the fourth window of Transaction Pro Importer and is available when importing Bank Statements, Bills, Checks, Credit Card Charges, Credit Card Credits, Credit Card Statements, and Vendor Credits. (Note: The Alias Option is not yet available with Transaction Pro Importer for QuickBooks Online).
With the Alias Option, you can set up a cross-reference file to be applied during import. Define rules for the vendor names by telling Transaction Pro that any time a payee contains a certain value, replace it with this specific vendor from QuickBooks. To use this option, the vendor must exist in QuickBooks prior to importing.
For example, instead of having each separate gas station set up as a vendor in QuickBooks, you can post all fuel purchases under a generic vendor, such as Fuel. Set up Alias rules to replace the payee name (such as Gas, Fuel, or Service Station) with the vendor Fuel.
In addition, the Alias Option can also automatically assign the General Ledger Account to transactions based upon the payee name. For example, any time the vendor is Office Depot, then the posting expense account should be Office Supplies. Just as with the vendor name, the accounts must exist in QuickBooks prior to importing to allow them to be used with the Alias Option.
The cross-reference rules can be manually overridden during the import, if needed, but the Alias Option will save time in assigning expense accounts to transactions in imports such as Bank Statements and Credit Statements when the expense account is not a part of the download from your financial institution.
Once you define your cross-reference rules, save the Alias Option file just as you save your mapping file. You can set up an infinite number of cross-reference rules per Alias Option file and can also have an unlimited number of different Alias Option files.
For more information, read our Knowledge Base article on the Alias Option as well as watch our YouTube Video for a full demonstration of the process. If you have any questions about this or other Transaction Pro topics, please reach out to support by emailing support@transactionpro.com.