The LedgerSync Rules Engine is a firm-wide transaction categorization system that works with QuickBooks Online. Instead of creating rules one client at a time inside QuickBooks, you build rules once in LedgerSync and they apply across every client whose accounts you have mapped to your Global Categories, with the correct account for each client. You review and accept the results before anything is sent to QuickBooks.
Create a rule once and it applies to every client whose accounts are mapped. Each client's own chart of accounts is respected: you map each Global Category to the matching account in each client's chart of accounts, and the rule posts to that client's account. For example, a rule for "Starbucks to Meals & Entertainment" applies to all mapped clients without needing to recreate it for each one.
A Global Rule needs a Global Category. You cannot save a Global Rule without choosing a Global Category, and the rule only categorizes a client's transactions when that Global Category is mapped for that client. If it is not, the transaction shows that the rule matched but the category is not mapped for this client.
Which rule wins. If a transaction is already categorized by one of the client's own rules (the rules on the Client Rules page), Global Rules skip it. Between Global Rules, the rule with the lower priority number keeps its transactions.
All Global Rules are listed on the Global Rules page. You can filter by Rule State (Active or Inactive), Rule Type and Applied To (Money in, Money out, or Money in or out), or search by keyword. Global Categories and Global Vendors have their own pages under Settings, Global Settings. No need to jump between QuickBooks company files.
Re-applying a rule never changes transactions you have already accepted (in Categorized) or already sent to QuickBooks.
When you add a new client, connect their QuickBooks Online account and map their accounts to your Global Categories, your existing Global Rules automatically evaluate their transactions. This is similar to a VLOOKUP: LedgerSync looks up each transaction against your firm's rule library and categorizes it. You map a client's accounts on the Global Categories page under Settings, Global Settings.
Resetting a client's transactions: the Reset Transactions button at the bottom of the Rules Engine menu (with a client selected) clears the categorization of the client's MasterCard bank transactions that have not been sent to QuickBooks and are not excluded or pending, and moves them back to For Review. It also removes the client's Global Category mappings, and LedgerSync warns you that Global Rules will stop applying to that client until you map its categories to Global Categories again on the Global Categories page.
No transactions are sent to QuickBooks until you review and accept them. Transactions categorized by your rules wait in the For Review tab. When you accept them, they move to the Categorized tab. From there, you send the selected transactions to QuickBooks in a single sync action.
Each time a Global Rule is created or edited, LedgerSync records who made the change, when, and what each changed field said before and after. Open the rule and click its Rule History icon to see the full change history of that rule.
LedgerSync's AI model can analyze unmatched transactions and generate Global Rules and Global Vendors for you. You can generate a rule for a single transaction or, on the Global Rules + AI page, run bulk AI rule generation across all unassigned transactions at once. AI-generated rule names start with the prefix "AI" so they are easy to identify. AI-generated rules are turned on as soon as they are created, so review them before relying on them.
For full details see: Global Rules Creation Via LedgerSync AI Model and Rules Engine Bulk AI Categorization
The Rules Engine Audit page under Settings keeps a searchable record of actions taken in the Rules Engine: rule creation and edits, category changes, and individual transaction actions (accept, undo, exclude). Each entry shows who performed the action and when. You can filter by client, entity type, action or date range, and search by keyword, including a user's name. This gives your firm full accountability and makes it easy to investigate any categorization question.
When check images are available for a client's account, LedgerSync matches each check image to its corresponding bank transaction. A check icon appears on the matched transaction in the Rules Engine and opens the check image with its details, including the payee (Pay To) and memo. If you correct the check details and click Update, LedgerSync adds the payee to the transaction's description. This gives you richer context when reviewing and categorizing check-based transactions.
If a client's bank cannot be connected electronically, you can upload a bank statement PDF directly into LedgerSync as a data source. Transactions extracted from the PDF appear in the Rules Engine alongside MasterCard and MX transactions, each marked with an icon for its source. The same categorization, accept, exclude and sync actions apply to PDF transactions.
If a particular bank account should not go through the Rules Engine (for example, an internal transfer account or a hold account), you can exclude it with Exclude Accounts on the Bank Accounts Mapping page. Transactions from excluded accounts are not shown in the For Review queue (they move to the Excluded tab) and are not processed by any rules.
Each rule can be set to match Money in, Money out, or Money in or out (both directions in a single rule), while LedgerSync still posts the correct QuickBooks transaction type based on each transaction's actual direction. See: Rule Direction: Money In, Money Out, or Both
Client rules can assign a QuickBooks Class in addition to the category, which helps government entities, nonprofits and multi-location businesses that track at a deeper level. See: Assigning QuickBooks Classes with Rules