# Set up a Bank Account

This guide walks you through creating a **Bank Account** record in NexWave. Bank Accounts come in two flavours, and the flag at the top of the form decides which one you are creating:

* A **Company Bank Account**: your own bank account, linked to a General Ledger account of type *Bank*. Required for bank reconciliation and for posting Payment Entries from the bank.
* A **Party Bank Account**: a customer's or supplier's bank account, used to store their banking details for payment runs, remittance advices, and Direct Credit files. No GL account, no reconciliation.

You will create **one Bank Account per real-world account**: each company account you operate, plus one record per party whose banking details you want NexWave to remember.

> Only company bank accounts can be reconciled. If you set up a customer's or supplier's account, NexWave uses it to remember their account number for payments, but that record will not show up in the Bank Reconciliation Tool.

## Before you start

You will need:

* A **Bank** record for the bank the account belongs to (BNZ, ANZ, Westpac, etc.). NexWave creates it automatically the first time you type a new bank name into the **Bank** field, or you can create it ahead of time under **Banking → Bank**.
* For a **company** bank account: a GL account of type **Bank** under your chart of accounts. If it does not exist yet, create it under **Accounting → Chart of Accounts**, add a child account under the parent *Bank Accounts* group, and set **Account Type** to *Bank*.
* For a **party** bank account: an existing **Customer** or **Supplier** record.
* Permission as an Accounts User, Accounts Manager or System Manager.

## Step 1: Open the Bank Account form

In the awesomebar (top of NexWave), search for **Bank Account** and click **+ Add Bank Account**, or go to **Banking → Bank Account → New**.

 ![New Bank Account form](https://docs.nexwaveapp.com/api/files.get?sig=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJrZXkiOiJ1cGxvYWRzL2YxMTg5ZTEzLTdlMTQtNDA1ZC04MDI1LWMxZmI0Y2Y2MTg0ZC9hOGE0NjRhYi04YzBhLTQ5ZjAtYTk0ZC0zNWE0YWI4MjQwY2QvMDEtYmFuay1hY2NvdW50LW5ldy1lbXB0eS5wbmciLCJ0eXBlIjoiYXR0YWNobWVudCIsImlhdCI6MTc5MjYyMTgwMCwiZXhwIjoxNzkyNzA4MjAwfQ.z-Axca6AfOk18ns9HVLtrLBkIiIGyuiPa0d9GxENHtE)

The same form is used for both company and party accounts. The fields that appear depend on the **Is Company Account** flag.

## Step 2: Fill in the basics

These fields apply to every Bank Account regardless of type.

| Field | What to set |
|-------|-------------|
| **Account Name** | A short, human-readable label (for example, *BNZ Current Account*, *Apple ANZ*). NexWave appends the bank name to form the unique record ID, so you do not need to repeat the bank in this field. |
| **Bank** | The financial institution. Pick from the existing list, or type a new name and select **Create new "BankName"** to register it on the spot. |
| **Account Type** | *Current* (also called Cheque), *Savings*, etc. Optional but useful for reporting. |
| **Account Subtype** | Free-form classification. Optional. |
| **Is Default Account** | Tick if this is the default account for the linked party (or company). Used by some payment workflows to pre-select the right account. |
| **Disabled** | Tick to hide the account from selection lists without deleting it. Useful for closed accounts that still hold historical transactions. |

## Step 3: Pick the account type

The **Is Company Account** checkbox is the deciding switch. The form rearranges depending on whether it is ticked.

### Option A: Company Bank Account

Tick **Is Company Account** when the account belongs to your own organisation.

 ![Company Bank Account filled in](https://docs.nexwaveapp.com/api/files.get?sig=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJrZXkiOiJ1cGxvYWRzL2YxMTg5ZTEzLTdlMTQtNDA1ZC04MDI1LWMxZmI0Y2Y2MTg0ZC80MmExNDljYy1hYjllLTRjMGEtOWQwYS0xMTZlMTA0NWMyZjkvMDItYmFuay1hY2NvdW50LWNvbXBhbnkucG5nIiwidHlwZSI6ImF0dGFjaG1lbnQiLCJpYXQiOjE3OTI2MjE4MDAsImV4cCI6MTc5MjcwODIwMH0.VdAEVKJCeqKrZsGIj2RN3txh6BR22L1waACW8ZVRW5w)

Two extra fields appear:

| Field | What to set |
|-------|-------------|
| **Company** | The company that owns the bank account. |
| **Company Account** | The GL account of type *Bank* that this Bank Account posts to. The dropdown filters to bank-type accounts under the selected Company. |

**For credit card accounts**, also tick **Credit Card**:

| Field | What to set |
|-------|-------------|
| **Credit Card** | Tick when the bank account represents a credit card whose statements label charges as deposits and payments as withdrawals (the opposite of a normal bank statement). When ticked, the Bank Statement Importer automatically swaps deposit and withdrawal at import time so transactions land in the right column for reconciliation. Leave unticked for normal bank accounts. |

> If you tick **Credit Card** on an account that already has transactions imported with the normal orientation, those existing transactions are not changed. The flag only affects new imports.

Why the GL link matters:

* The Bank Reconciliation Tool reconciles the **Bank Account** against the General Ledger balance of the linked **Company Account**. Without that link, there is nothing to reconcile against.
* Payment Entries that draw from this Bank Account post their bank-side leg to this GL account.
* Bank statements imported via [Import Bank Statement](/doc/3e567099-e3b8-40e3-a207-81e8e0e501a4) attach to this Bank Account, and through it the GL account.

> One bank account, one GL account. Do not point two Bank Account records at the same GL account, the reconciliation balances will overlap and you will not be able to tell which transactions belong to which.

### Option B: Party Bank Account

Leave **Is Company Account** unticked when the account belongs to a customer or supplier.

 ![Party Bank Account filled in](https://docs.nexwaveapp.com/api/files.get?sig=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJrZXkiOiJ1cGxvYWRzL2YxMTg5ZTEzLTdlMTQtNDA1ZC04MDI1LWMxZmI0Y2Y2MTg0ZC8xZTUwNWFhNi00MGExLTQ0OWUtODZkNC01Y2I1N2MwMGRmY2IvMDMtYmFuay1hY2NvdW50LXBhcnR5LnBuZyIsInR5cGUiOiJhdHRhY2htZW50IiwiaWF0IjoxNzkyNjIxODAwLCJleHAiOjE3OTI3MDgyMDB9.gG2Icu0-Eu9_ciFS4SrSN-sAM_zjoztBGMlezwnxgyY)

The **Party Details** section is where you link it:

| Field | What to set |
|-------|-------------|
| **Party Type** | *Customer* or *Supplier*. |
| **Party** | The specific customer or supplier record. |

Party Bank Accounts do not have a GL link and do not appear in the Bank Reconciliation Tool. They are referenced from:

* **Payment Entry**: when paying a supplier or refunding a customer, picking their Bank Account auto-fills the bank account number on the entry.
* **Batch Payment / Payment Run**: used to generate Direct Credit (.aba/.csv) bank files.
* **Remittance advices** and **payslip** templates, show the party's bank account on the printed document.

> A single party can have multiple Bank Account records (for example, a supplier with separate AUD and NZD accounts). Tick **Is Default Account** on the one to use unless told otherwise.

## Step 4: Fill in the account details

The **Account Details** section captures the actual banking numbers. These are optional fields; fill in whichever your processes need.

| Field | When you need it |
|-------|------------------|
| **Bank Account No** | Almost always. NexWave uses this to populate Direct Credit batch files and remittance advices. |
| **IBAN** | International accounts (mainly EU, UK). |
| **Branch Code** | NZ accounts where the branch number is stored separately from the account number. |
| **Direct Entry User ID** | Australian payment files (AusPayNet AUDDIS); leave blank for NZ accounts. |

## Step 5: Save

Click **Save**. NexWave names the record `<Account Name> - <Bank>` (for example, *BNZ Current Account - BNZ*). The label in the title bar updates and the record becomes available throughout NexWave.

## What to do next

For a **company** account, you are ready to:

* Import a bank statement: see the [Import Bank Statement guide](/doc/3e567099-e3b8-40e3-a207-81e8e0e501a4).
* Reconcile transactions: see the [Bank Reconciliation Tool guide](/doc/df082da9-8898-4ffe-9a0c-56a0d7a36137).

For a **party** account, you are ready to:

* Pay the supplier via [Batch Payments / Payment Run](/doc/9e75c25b-142a-461b-9bde-dedcdc929aa9).
* Record a Payment Entry against the party, the Bank Account is offered automatically when picking the party.

## Troubleshooting

| Symptom | What to check |
|---------|---------------|
| **Company Account** dropdown is empty | The selected Company has no GL account of type *Bank*. Open **Chart of Accounts** for that company, add an account under *Bank Accounts* with **Account Type = Bank**, and come back. |
| **Party** dropdown is empty | **Party Type** is not selected, or the Customer/Supplier you want is disabled. Set the type first, or unhide the party record. |
| Cannot tick **Is Company Account** after saving | The Bank Account is referenced by a Payment Entry, Bank Transaction, or Bank Reconciliation. Switching its type would break those links. Create a new record instead. |
| Bank reconciliation does not see this account | Confirm **Is Company Account** is ticked and **Company Account** points to a GL account of type *Bank*. Party accounts are excluded from reconciliation by design. |
| Two Bank Accounts both linked to the same GL account | One of them is a duplicate. Disable the unused one and re-route any historical transactions, or merge them via a system manager. |

## Related guides

* [Import Bank Statement](/doc/3e567099-e3b8-40e3-a207-81e8e0e501a4): load transactions into a company bank account
* [Bank Reconciliation Tool](/doc/df082da9-8898-4ffe-9a0c-56a0d7a36137): reconcile a company bank account
* [Bank Reconciliation Tool reference](/doc/2869cb02-cb4f-42ad-938e-5f0abd973889): field-level reference
* [Batch Payments / Payment Run](/doc/9e75c25b-142a-461b-9bde-dedcdc929aa9): pay suppliers from a company bank account