Upload & Review

This guide covers importing client documents into Kraal and reviewing extracted accounting work before it posts.

Choose the intake path that fits the client

Statement upload works for every client. Plaid bank feeds are optional and useful when the client wants automatic bank and credit-card intake; Plaid is a paid add-on per linked account.

Uploading documents

Supported formats

Format	Notes
PDF	Bank-generated statements, vendor bills, customer invoices, receipts, and other structured PDFs work best. Scanned documents may have lower accuracy.
CSV	Standard bank export CSV files. Column mapping is handled automatically when the file is recognized.
Excel (.xlsx, .xls)	Spreadsheet exports of transactions or supporting schedules.
OFX / QFX	Bank and financial institution download formats.
Images / text files	Useful for simple receipts or supporting evidence when enabled for your workspace. Extraction quality depends on the source file.

Upload steps

1. Open Transaction Processor in the Accounting workspace sidebar.
2. Select the client you're working with.
3. Open the upload area.
4. Choose the files from your computer.
5. Confirm the client and entity scope before processing. A client with multiple entities must have the entity chosen — the upload blocks with an entity picker until you pick one; a single-entity client is filed automatically. A file the client already has (in any entity) is refused as a duplicate unless you explicitly confirm it belongs here too.
6. Kraal detects document type, extracts structured data, and places each file into a review status.

TIP

For PDF uploads, use statements downloaded directly from your bank's online portal. These contain structured text that Kraal can extract with high accuracy.

Snap documents from your phone

Receipts, invoices, and expense documents can also be captured with your phone through Dispatch. Phone captures enter the same intake pipeline and appear in the Transaction Processor for review under the selected client. See Using Dispatch on Your Phone.

Reviewing extracted work

After upload, Kraal presents extracted work in a review interface. Depending on the document type, you may review bank transactions, bills, invoices, receipts, payment evidence, or supporting documents.

Common details

Each extracted item may show:

• Date — The transaction date from the statement
• Description — The payee, customer, vendor, or transaction description
• Amount — Debit or credit amount
• Suggested category — AI-recommended account from your chart of accounts
• Confidence — How confident the AI is in its suggestion
• Document type — Statement, invoice, bill, receipt, or other supported type
• Scope — The client and entity where the work will be reviewed or posted

Review actions

For each item, you can:

• Approve — Accept the suggested category as-is.
• Re-categorize — Select a different account from the chart of accounts.
• Map vendor — Create a permanent mapping between this vendor name and an account. Future transactions from the same vendor will be auto-categorized.
• Flag for review — Mark a transaction for later review by a supervisor.

If a file fails extraction, keep it visible in the review flow until it is retried, replaced, or intentionally cleared. Do not assume a missing file was processed successfully.

Vendor mapping

Vendor mapping is one of Kraal's most powerful features. When you map a vendor:

• The mapping is saved at the client level.
• All future transactions matching that vendor name are automatically categorized.
• Over time, the number of manual reviews decreases as more vendors are mapped.

INFO

Vendor names are matched using fuzzy logic, so minor variations in how a bank describes the same payee will still match your mapping.

Bulk actions

For large uploads, you can:

• Approve all — Accept all AI suggestions at once (useful when confidence is high across the board).
• Filter by status — Show only uncategorized or flagged transactions.
• Sort — Order by date, amount, or category.

Use bulk approval only when the items share a reliable review basis. Items with low confidence, missing scope, unknown vendor, or unusual amounts should be reviewed individually.

Bank feeds (Plaid)

For accounts connected via Plaid, transactions flow in automatically:

• Transactions sync automatically after the connection is active.
• New transactions appear in the Banking view automatically.
• No manual upload is needed for connected accounts.
• You can connect bank accounts from the guided setup banking step or the client's banking/integrations area.

See the Integrations guide for details on setting up Plaid.

Next steps

Once transactions are in the system (via Plaid or manual upload), proceed to the Reconcile view to match them against accounting entries, or Export them for use in other systems.