Wave pros unable to see their client bank account transactions?
Bruce_C49
Member Posts: 38
I have several clients who use Wave. As their assigned Wave Pro I have been able to see their accounts in the past and help reclassify and code transactions. Recently I got a Wave client and I helped set up a chart of accounts and opening balance sheet entries. However, I wasn't able to see his bank transactions. Has this function been removed from the Wave Pro's sphere of activity?
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Hi @Bruce_C49 ! This isn't Pro-specific, but it's related to way the collaborator function currently works in Wave. That is, some information things are limited to the account holder only. You can see an explanation of this here in our Help Center.
If you have a few moments, I'd encourage you to share more information about why this would be helpful or necessary and/or more details and specifics regarding what permissions you need and whether you need them all the time or just during setup.
@KelseyRodricks in case this is of interest to you too.
This must be a change in how Wave operates from the functionality of a few years ago. I haven't met any entrepreneur (using Wave or another system) who worried about the coding of accounts.They left that up to the Wave Pro. However, correct coding of Wave transactions (uploaded through the bank upload) is a critical service performed by an accountant. I guess Wave feels that accounting is a function best left to the entrepreneur or the Wave team?
Some accountants operate in a way where they are the account holder (and therefore would have full visibility of everything in the account) and add business owners themselves as collaborators, however, this can present a problem if the relationship changes because the ownership cannot easily be handed back to the business owner.
To be clear, Wave's support team doesn't have the ability to access or modify transactions in an account unless we are also added as a collaborator, and then we would have the same permissions as any other person added to the account in this way. This is completely at the discretion of the business owner.
This hasn't changed recently. I want to clarify my earlier comment -- as you can see in the linked article, with full permissions (that is, the ability to view, edit, and send items in the account) you should have the ability to add and categorize transactions, manage the chart of accounts, create invoices and bills, and generate reports.
The limitation extends to the automated bank connection functionality, where you cannot add or edit connections and you won't see the balance widget on the dashboard. You also cannot change account settings or perform an export of the account data. While your account holder would need to connect their bank account (if using this functionality) you would have the ability to manage transactions. If you find you can't edit anything, I'd recommend checking with the business owner to ensure you have edit permissions. Could you tell us a little bit more about how this impacts your work?
Thanks again for taking the time to reply.
Okay. I am clear on what you told me but one of the true benefits of Wave was the ability of an accountant (who was collaborator) to code the bank transactions as imported. I haven't met a business owner who wanted to do accounting work. That is why they have accountant/collaborators Issues such as an income entry appearing in a bank transfer when (in reality) it was dealt with when the receivable transaction was taken out of the billings module.
Thanks for this update though.
I assume that the business owner is responsible for coding their bank transactions?
@Bruce_C49 could you clarify what you mean by code? With the existing setup you will be able to manage transactions (e.g. to edit, create transfers, add or remove, etc.). You only cannot add, edit, or delete connections for the automated bank connection feature. This refers to the connections themselves, not the imported transactions (which you will be able to see and edit in the same way as the account holder).
I am still quite confused but for the time being I will look at some of my existing Wave clients to see if I can edit, split, code (add a GL account when one isn't present) etc
You should be able to do all of those things.
Please do get back to us if you can't.
Hi @Bruce_C49! I'm a Product Manager at Wave. We’re developing new features in Wave related to Collaboration and want to make sure you’re on the pulse of what’s coming up next. I PMed you more details + a direct link to my calendar. We'd love to hear your thoughts, if you're interested!
@KelseyRodricks I'm very interested in this, too. From the docs ("They will not have access to your banking information, integrations, credit card payments feature, business data export function, and business information."), it seems that I can't have a collaborator who can see the bank balances. Is this so? I just bought a business, it's got a GM and an accountant, I want to be the Wave business owner but let the management do everything they need to, which obviously includes keeping track of cash balances. Do I understand Wave's features in this regard?
Slightly off-topic: can I have a different email address for invoices, e.g. one that' s not mine, but still be the account owner?
Thanks,
David
Hi, @DaveWave.
Your collaborators won't be able to see your banking information, but they will see your account balance according to what's entered in Wave. As long as your accounting is up to date, the balance as it appears in Wave should match the balance uploaded from your bank connection.
The information they won't have access to is the information regarding your bank connection. They'll see the transactions that are uploaded, but not the "Bank Connections" page, or the balance from your bank account that you can see as the business owner on your dashboard.
As for your second question, the email that appears by default on invoices is the primary email for your Wave account. You could set a different email as the primary address, and your own as a secondary email, but I wouldn't recommend doing it unless you owned both of those addresses. Both addresses would use the same password, so using someone else's email would mean sharing your login information, which is always risky.