Missing bank feed transactions: fill the gap safely

The bank feed stops on Tuesday, then resumes on Friday. Importing the whole month feels quicker than working out what is missing, but it can leave you investigating duplicates for longer than the original gap would have taken to fix.

Start by confirming the right bank account and feed connection. A recently added card, renewed connection or switched account may have a different start date from the one you expected.

Rule out a delay before importing

Download a statement or transaction export from the bank. Check whether the apparently missing payment is posted, pending, reversed or dated differently from the receipt. Search the software by amount and bank reference, including matched items and dates outside the current filter.

Check the bank-specific feed guidance and service status. There is no single delay that applies to every bank and connection. If the feed is catching up, an immediate manual import may overlap the transactions that arrive later. Record what you checked and when you plan to look again.

Mark the two boundaries of the gap

In this fictional account, the statement shows transactions on every date listed. The feed is complete through 10 August and again from 14 August. The missing posted lines are confined to 11, 12 and 13 August.

10 August: already complete

Last existing line: reference B-100, $80 debit. Keep this outside the new import.

11 to 13 August: missing

B-101: +$600
B-102: −$220
B-103: −$55
Import three posted lines, net +$325.

14 August: already complete

First returning line: B-104, $110 credit. Confirm it is already present once.

Boundary check: B-100 and B-104 remain single entries. B-101, B-102 and B-103 each appear once after import. The ledger still needs matching and reconciliation.

Original ASBG import timeline. A day with no bank transactions isn't a gap. If only part of a day is missing, compare references rather than importing that whole date unchecked.

Keep an import note containing the account, date interval, source filename, line count, total receipts, total payments and person performing the import. In the example, those controls are three lines, $600 receipts and $275 payments. A net total alone can hide two offsetting mistakes.

Prepare a file you can trace back to the bank

Save the untouched bank export separately. If you need a filtered import copy, give it a distinct filename and record which rows were excluded. Don't overwrite the source evidence.

Use a format your software currently supports and check its preview for dates, decimal separators, currency and debit/credit signs. Xero's manual statement import guidance supports importing exported bank transactions for a selected date range, including gaps before a feed started. Follow its current instructions for the specific file type.

If the import preview reverses receipts and payments, stop and fix the mapping. Don't import first and plan to correct every line later. If the software offers a duplicate check, still compare the boundary transactions yourself; descriptions or references can differ between a bank file and a feed.

Recheck the feed after the import

Compare the imported line count and receipt/payment totals with your saved control note. Check the statement balance at the end of the gap, then at the period end. When the live feed next updates, inspect the same interval for duplicates.

Imported lines may match invoices, bills or payments already recorded. Use those existing records rather than creating fresh income or expenses. The MYOB month-end checklist separates matching from final reconciliation.

If the file imported twice or overlapped existing data, use the duplicate feed investigation. Don't delete a whole import until you've checked which genuine records or matches depend on it.

Escalate a gap you can't explain

Give the software or bank support team the account's last few identifying digits, missing posted dates, transaction references and connection status. Don't send passwords, authentication codes or an unredacted personal statement through a general support form.

For a period already included in a lodged business activity statement (BAS), tell the agent what was missing and whether the ledger already contained the purchases. Missing feed lines don't automatically mean the tax figures were missing too. Review the Xero connection checklist if the same gap keeps recurring.

Key takeaways

• Prove the gap from posted bank records.
• Preserve the source export and check both date boundaries.
• Reconcile after import and check for late-arriving duplicates.

Where to get help

Use the bank-specific guidance within your software's support centre. Ask your bookkeeper to review ambiguous matches or closed periods, and use bookkeeping and BAS for the next transaction check.