How to Set Up Reconciliation Rules

Reconciliation rules let you tell URBI what to do with recurring transactions automatically, so you spend less time on repetitive matching. Rules are evaluated before the algorithm and AI matching steps - if a rule matches a transaction, it acts immediately and the other steps are skipped.

You need GL Full access (edit and delete) to create or edit rules. Users with view-only GL access can see the Rules tab but cannot make changes.

Create a rule

1. Go to Accounting > General Ledger > Banking, then click the Rules tab.

2. Click + New rule (this opens a blank rule drawer - see the next section if you want URBI to prefill the rule from an existing bank line instead).
3. Give the rule a clear name (for example, "Water bill - City Utilities" or "Monthly insurance payment").
4. Set the conditions. You can match on any combination of:
   • Merchant or description text. Choose how your word or phrase is matched:
     • Contains (default): matches when the merchant or description contains your text anywhere - for example, "uber" matches both "UBER EATS" and "SUPER UBER CO". This is the most forgiving option and the right choice for most rules. When you start a rule from a reconciled bank line (see below), URBI may switch the default to Whole word automatically if the suggested term is short enough that Contains would over-match.
     • Whole word: matches only when your text appears as a complete word - for example, "uber" matches "UBER EATS" but not "UBERX" or "SUBURBAN". Use this when a short term would otherwise cause false matches.
     • Advanced (regular expression): for power users who need pattern matching. Open the Advanced section to enter a regular expression. An invalid expression simply matches nothing, so a typo can never break your feed.
   • Vendor. Match against a specific vendor's name, using the same Contains or Whole word choice.
   • Transaction direction (debit or credit)
   • Exact amount or amount range
   • Specific bank account
5. Set the action that fires when all conditions are met:
   • Set GL account: Categorizes the transaction to a specific GL account without matching it to an expense.
   • Auto-match: Links the transaction to a matching expense automatically. A safety cap prevents auto-matching if the amount difference is too large.
   • Auto-create draft: Creates a draft expense (recorded only, no payment sent) and links it to the transaction.
   • Mark as ignored: Clears the line from the unmatched queue (useful for inter-account transfers or items already recorded elsewhere).

6. Click Save rule.

Tip: As you set conditions, the drawer shows a live count of how many unmatched transactions the rule would act on right now. That count reflects exactly what Apply to existing transactions (below) will do - what you preview is what you get.

Start a rule from a reconciled bank line

Instead of building a rule from scratch, you can start one directly from any reconciled bank line. URBI will use Hero to clean up the raw bank description and prefill the rule drawer for you, so you spend less time on copy-paste and pattern guessing.

To use it:

1. Open a reconciled bank line (in the Banking view or the Reconciliation history).
2. Click Create rule from this reconciliation.

URBI then does the following automatically before the rule drawer opens:

• Cleans the merchant name. Raw bank descriptions often include transaction IDs, location codes, and noise (for example, "UBER 063015 SF**POOL**" becomes "Uber"). URBI extracts the brand-level root name and prefills it into the Merchant condition.
• Picks a smart match type. If the cleaned name is a short single word, URBI sets the match type to Whole word so it does not accidentally match unrelated lines. Longer or multi-word names default to Contains.
• Suggests a vendor. URBI looks at your existing vendor list and prefills the Vendor condition if there is a clear match. If no vendor is a confident match, the Vendor field is left blank for you to fill in.

3. Review the prefilled conditions. Change anything that does not look right.
4. If you prefer the original raw bank description instead of the cleaned version, click Revert to raw below the Merchant field. This restores the full original text and resets the match type to Contains.
5. Finish setting the action and any other conditions, then click Save rule.

Note: If the cleanup is unavailable (for example, due to a temporary service issue), the drawer still opens with the raw description filled in, so rule creation is never blocked.

This entry point is available to anyone with reconciliation rule access. It is not a premium feature. The plain + New rule flow (build from scratch) is unchanged.

Set rule priority

Rules are evaluated in priority order. The first rule that matches a transaction wins - no other rules run for that line. Drag rules up or down in the Rules tab to set the order.

You can also toggle individual rules on or off using the switch on each row without deleting them.

Apply a rule to existing unmatched transactions

After saving a rule, you can run it against transactions that are already in your unmatched queue - not just future ones.

1. In the Rules tab, find the rule you want to apply.
2. Click the action menu (three dots) on the rule row and choose Apply to existing transactions.
3. Confirm the action. URBI evaluates the rule against all currently unmatched lines and applies the action to any that match.

Note for view-only users: If your GL access level is view-only, you will see the Rules tab in read-only mode. The "+ New rule" button and all edit controls are hidden. Contact your PM to request edit access.