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Common Questions: Recording a Purchase Made on Your Debit Card

How to record a purchase made on your group's own debit card so it's in BeeKeeper once, not twice.

Can I record a debit card purchase with an expense report?

Yes. Expense reports don’t have a “debit card” payment choice, but you can still use one to keep the receipt and the books together. You just need to match the bank’s charge to it afterward, so the purchase isn’t counted twice.

This is for purchases made on a debit card that belongs to your group, where the money comes straight out of your bank account.

Step 1: Submit the expense report

  1. Submit the expense report and choose Direct Payment to Vendor as the payment method. The store or merchant is the payee.
  2. Add the receipt. A Direct Payment to Vendor report can have only one item.

If you don’t see Direct Payment to Vendor, an admin can turn it on under Settings > Update Settings > Expense Report Payment Methods.

Step 2: Record the payment

  1. Open the expense report.
  2. Click Pay Expense Report.
  3. Choose Write a check.
  4. Set Pay From Account to the bank account your debit card draws from.
  5. Type Debit in the Check Number box.
  6. Click Pay Expense Report.

BeeKeeper records the purchase as paid to the merchant, with “Debit” as the reference.

Step 3: Match the bank’s charge

When the charge comes through from your bank, it shows up in Needs Review. Don’t add it as a new transaction. That would record the purchase a second time.

  1. Open Needs Review and find the charge.
  2. Click Match.
  3. Pick the entry you made in Step 2.

BeeKeeper looks for an entry with the same amount within 30 days of the charge, so yours should be right there in the list.

What if the charge is already in my books?

If the bank charge has already been recorded, open the expense report, click Pay Expense Report, and choose Approve only instead. It marks the report approved and keeps the receipt with it, without creating another transaction.

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