Adding a Financial Account to a Contribution

Question

I've imported a bunch of Financial Accounts using the CSV importer. There are no associated Financial Types created (should there be?) so I am not sure how to link a new Contribution to the relevant Financial Account. Can anyone give me a pointer?

Answer 1

Yes, you should create Financial Types, and link them to the relevant Financial Accounts. Once you've created your new Financial Type, find it in the list and click on Accounts. This is where you will 'Assign Accounts' to your Financial Type, creating the link between the two. You can read more about how to do that here.

To link a new contribution to the relevant Financial Account, simply record a 'New Contribution' and select the appropriate Financial Type from the drop-down menu. When you export a list of contributions, you then have the option to include the 'Accounting Code' in your export.

A note for people using the CSV API Importer: if you import Financial Accounts, it doesn't create a linked Financial Type. However, if you import Financial Types, it creates and links an associated Financial Account. It may be easier to go through and enter an accounting code for the automatically created Financial Account rather than creating and linking new Financial Types for each Financial Account.

Answer 2

As far as I know: You do need to link the Financial Accounts to the Financial Type, and create more financial types if you need them. When you enter a contribution you can select the financial type, which will then provide the link to the Financial Account.