Bank Accounts

Track money movement across different bank accounts and organizations in Hidma.

🎥 Video Tutorial

Watch this complete walkthrough of the Bank Accounts feature:

What is the Bank Accounts Feature?

The Bank Accounts feature transforms how you track money in Hidma by letting you see exactly which physical bank account funds flow through. Instead of recording payments generically as just "money in" and "money out," you can now specify that a client deposited €5,000 into your primary current account, or that you're allocating funds from your savings account to pay a specific bill.

This level of detail becomes particularly valuable when your business operates with multiple bank accounts, perhaps a current account for day-to-day operations and a savings account for reserves. It's even more powerful if you're running multiple legal entities (organizations) that each have their own separate bank accounts. The feature gives you visibility into cash flow patterns across all your accounts, making it much easier to reconcile your Hidma records with actual bank statements at month-end.

Why Use Bank Accounts?

Think about how you currently track payments. Most likely, when a client pays you, you record the amount but not which specific bank account received it. Later, when reconciling with your bank statement, you're left matching amounts without clear connections. This becomes problematic when you have multiple accounts or multiple legal entities, because you can't easily answer questions like "How much does this client have in our primary account versus our trust account?" or "Which organization's account did this payment go into?"

Enabling Bank Accounts solves these challenges. Once activated, every payment transaction requires you to specify the bank account involved. When a client pays, you select which account received the funds. When you allocate payments to bills, you choose which account the funds are coming from. Hidma then maintains separate balances for each client across each bank account and organization combination. This means you can see that Client A has €2,500 in your current account and €1,000 in your savings account, giving you a complete picture of money movement.

The reconciliation benefits alone make this feature worthwhile. Instead of struggling to match transactions at month-end, you can filter your Hidma payments by bank account and compare directly with that account's bank statement. Any discrepancies become immediately obvious. If you're operating multiple organizations with separate bank accounts, you get clear financial separation that matches your legal entity structure.

Enabling Bank Accounts

Step 1: Enable the Feature

1. Go to Settings in the sidebar
2. Navigate to Configuration > Payment Settings
3. Find the Bank Accounts feature
4. Toggle it ON
5. Click Save Changes

Important

Once you enable Bank Accounts, all future payment transactions will require you to specify which bank account is involved.

Setting Up Bank Accounts

Bank accounts are created and managed at the Organization level because they represent legal entities in your business structure.

Accessing Bank Accounts

1. Go to Settings > Organizations
2. You'll see a list of your organizations (e.g., "ABC Corporate Services", "Polk Ltd")
3. Click on an organization to edit it
4. You'll see a Bank Accounts table showing accounts for that organization

Understanding the Default Bank Account

When you first enable Bank Accounts, Hidma automatically creates a default bank account for each organization. This automatic creation serves an important purpose: it captures all the financial history that existed before you turned on the feature. Any funds or payments you recorded in the past, when Hidma wasn't tracking specific bank accounts, get assigned to this default account. This ensures that none of your historical financial data gets lost or orphaned when you enable the feature.

You're not stuck with the name "default bank account" - you can rename it to match your actual primary bank account. Perhaps it becomes "ABC Corporate Current Account" or "Primary Operating Account." You can also fill in all the account details like account number, IBAN, and bank name to make it a complete record.

Creating a New Bank Account

To add a bank account to an organization:

1. Open the organization's edit page
2. In the Bank Accounts table, click Add Bank Account
3. Fill in the details:

Required Fields:

• Account Name - Give it a descriptive name (e.g., "ABC Current Account", "Savings Account")
• Currency - Each bank account must be denominated in a single currency

Optional Fields:

• Bank Account Number - The actual account number from your bank
• IBAN - International Bank Account Number
• Bank Name - Name of the financial institution
• Account Type - Free text field (e.g., "Current Account", "Savings", "Business Account")
• Description - Additional notes about this account

4. Click Save

Best Practice

Use clear, descriptive names for your bank accounts that match how you refer to them internally. For example: "ABC Euro Current Account" or "Client Trust Account".

Example Setup

Let's say you have "ABC Corporate Services" with two accounts:

Account 1: ABC Current Account

• Currency: EUR
• Bank: Local Bank
• Type: Current Account
• For: Day-to-day operations

Account 2: ABC Savings Account

• Currency: EUR
• Bank: Local Bank
• Type: Savings Account
• For: Reserves

Both accounts will appear in the bank accounts dropdown when processing payments for this organization.

Using Bank Accounts

Adding Funds to a Bank Account

When a client sends you money:

1. Go to Payments page
2. Click Add Funds
3. Select the Client
4. Choose the Currency
5. Select the Organization (this determines which bank accounts are available)
6. NEW: You'll see a Bank Account dropdown showing all accounts for that organization in that currency
7. The dropdown also displays the current balance for this client on each account
8. Enter the Amount being deposited
9. Click Save

Example Scenario:

• Client "Ardvar Inc" sends €1,000 to your primary current account
• They also send €1,000 to your savings account
• You can record both deposits separately, each to the correct bank account
• Hidma now tracks that this client has €1,000 balance in each account

Viewing Balances

When adding funds, the bank account dropdown shows existing balances for that specific client, currency, and organization. This helps you see how much unallocated funds the client has in each account.

Allocating Funds from a Bank Account

When you want to allocate client funds to a bill:

1. Go to Payments > Allocate Payments
2. Select the Client
3. The Currency and Organization are automatically selected
4. Choose which Bank Account to allocate from (defaults to primary account)
5. Enter the Amount to allocate
6. Select the Bill(s) to allocate against
7. Click Save

The allocation will deduct from that specific bank account's balance for that client.

Allocating Across Organizations

A powerful feature introduced with Bank Accounts:

Previously: Funds received on one organization could only be allocated to bills within that same organization.

Now: You can allocate funds from one organization's bank account to bills from a different organization.

Example:

• You receive €1,000 into "ABC Corporate Services" primary account
• You can allocate those funds to a bill issued by "Polk Ltd" (your second organization)
• Hidma tracks this cross-organization movement automatically

This flexibility better reflects real-world scenarios where you might manage cash flow across multiple legal entities.

Understanding Bank Account Balances

One of the most powerful aspects of the Bank Accounts feature is how it tracks balances with incredible granularity. Each client doesn't just have a single balance in your system - they can have completely separate balances across different bank accounts, different organizations, and even different currencies. This means the same client might have money sitting in multiple places within your business structure.

Consider a client called "Ardvar Inc" who works with you regularly. They might have €2,500 in your ABC Corporate Current Account from a recent project payment. Separately, they have €1,000 in your ABC Corporate Savings Account from funds they deposited for a future project. If you operate multiple organizations, they might also have €500 sitting in Polk Ltd's Primary Account. And if you work internationally, they could simultaneously have $3,000 in your ABC Corporate Current Account in US dollars. Each of these balances is tracked independently.

When you're adding funds or making allocations, Hidma shows you only the relevant balance for your current context. If you're working with Ardvar Inc, recording a euro payment to ABC Corporate, you'll see the euro balances in ABC Corporate's accounts. The system automatically filters to show what matters for that specific transaction, preventing confusion and mistakes.

Common Workflows

Workflow 1: Client Deposits to Specific Account

Scenario: Client sends payment to your business current account

1. Go to Payments > Add Funds
2. Select client and currency
3. Choose organization: "ABC Corporate Services"
4. Select bank account: "Current Account"
5. Enter amount: €5,000
6. Save

Result: Client now has €5,000 balance in ABC Corporate's Current Account

Workflow 2: Allocate from Multiple Accounts

Scenario: Client has funds in multiple accounts, you want to use both to pay a bill

1. Go to Payments > Allocate Payments
2. Select client
3. Create first allocation:
   • Bank Account: Current Account
   • Amount: €1,500
   • Select the bill
4. Create second allocation:
   • Bank Account: Savings Account
   • Amount: €1,000
   • Select the same bill

Result: Bill paid using funds from two different bank accounts

Workflow 3: Cross-Organization Payment

Scenario: Use funds from one organization to pay bill from another

1. Client deposited funds to ABC Corporate Services
2. Go to Payments > Allocate Payments
3. Select the client
4. The funds from ABC Corporate are available
5. Select a bill from Polk Ltd organization
6. Allocate the funds

Result: Cross-organization payment tracked correctly

Best Practices

Recommendations

✅ Name accounts clearly - Use names that match your internal accounting ✅ Match your bank structure - Create accounts that mirror your actual banks ✅ Set up before taking payments - Enable and configure before recording new transactions ✅ Use consistent currency - Each account should have one currency ✅ Document account purposes - Use the description field to note what each account is for ✅ Regular reconciliation - Compare Hidma balances with actual bank statements

Troubleshooting

Problem: Can't see bank account dropdown

Cause: Bank Accounts feature not enabled Solution: Go to Settings > Configuration > Payment Settings and enable Bank Accounts

Problem: Wrong accounts showing in dropdown

Cause: Different organization or currency selected Solution: Bank accounts are filtered by organization and currency. Check you've selected the correct organization, and accounts will only show for the selected currency.

Problem: Can't find historical payments

Cause: Payments made before enabling Bank Accounts Solution: These are automatically assigned to the "default bank account" for each organization. You can view them there.

Problem: Need to move funds between accounts

Solution: Bank Accounts tracks where funds came from, but you can allocate from any account to any bill. The system tracks the movement automatically.

Related Topics

• Adding Funds - Record client deposits
• Allocating Payments - Apply funds to bills
• Organizations - Managing multiple legal entities
• Partial Allocations - Paying bills in installments
• Refunds - Refunding money from specific accounts

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Need Help?

Bank Accounts require the feature to be enabled by an administrator. Contact your system administrator if you don't see the Bank Accounts option in Payment Settings.