One transfer. Two statements. One voucher.
Your client moves ₹50,000 from their HDFC account to their ICICI account. It appears on both statements - a debit on one, a credit on the other. Post both and you have recorded the movement twice: each bank ledger is out by fifty thousand rupees, and nothing in Tally says why.
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The same ₹50,000, posted two ways
- HDFC - payment₹50,000
- ICICI - receipt₹50,000
Two unlinked vouchers. Both bank balances wrong, turnover inflated, and the cause is not visible anywhere in the day book.
- Dr - ICICI Bank₹50,000
- Cr - HDFC Bank₹50,000
One voucher carrying both sides. The ICICI row is held back, the day book shows a single entry, and both balances stay right.
How Greenote finds it
1. It reads the client’s other statements
When you open a statement, Greenote checks every line against the other statements you hold for that client - matching the amount, the reference number and the direction of the money within a short window. A shared NEFT reference on opposite sides is what makes the match strong rather than a guess.
2. It asks you, it does not decide
A likely transfer is flagged on the row with the evidence beside it - same UTR, same amount, opposite direction - and waits. You answer “Yes, own transfer” or “No”. Left unanswered it stays unanswered rather than quietly posting as an ordinary payment.
3. One voucher carries both sides
Confirm it and the row becomes a Contra pointing at the far account, while the matching row on the other statement is held back as “Not posted from here”. Tally receives a single voucher: the receiving account debited, the paying account credited.
Watch it end to end
Two statements for one client, the transfer found and confirmed, and the single Contra voucher read back out of Tally. 3:25, on a real statement.
A cash withdrawal is a Contra as well
Money drawn at the branch or an ATM has not left the business - it has moved from the bank into cash in hand. That is a Contra between two accounts the client owns, and it needs no second statement to prove it, because both sides are on the one you already have.
Contra runs in both directions, which is worth saying plainly: cash deposited at the counter is the same kind of entry as cash withdrawn, moving the other way. Treating the voucher type as if it only meant “withdrawal” is how deposits end up posted as money leaving the bank.
Nothing is decided behind your back
A detected transfer is a question, not an action. The row is flagged with the evidence next to it and waits for you. If you never answer, it never posts as a Contra - it stays on the review list rather than being quietly filed either way.
A confirmed transfer can be undone before upload. Undo returns the row to undecided and clears the ledger it had been given, so a wrong answer costs one click rather than a correction inside Tally afterwards.
Questions accountants ask
What is a contra entry in Tally?
A Contra voucher records money moving between two accounts the business already owns - bank to bank, bank to cash, or cash to bank. Nothing is earned and nothing is spent, so it is neither a payment nor a receipt. Tally keeps it as a separate voucher type for exactly that reason.
Why does it matter if I post a transfer as a payment and a receipt instead?
Because the same money is then recorded twice. The paying account is reduced and the receiving account is increased by two separate vouchers with no link between them, so both bank balances are wrong by the amount of the transfer and your turnover is inflated by it. The error is invisible in the day book and usually surfaces weeks later at reconciliation.
How does Greenote know a transaction is a transfer and not a real payment?
It checks each line against the client’s other statements in Greenote, looking for the same amount moving the opposite way, carrying the same reference number, within the same short window. A match on the reference is strong evidence - a NEFT UTR appears on both sides of the same transfer. Greenote does not decide on its own: it flags the row and asks you.
Do I have to upload both bank statements?
For a transfer between two banks, yes - Greenote can only match a pair it can see. Cash movements are different: a withdrawal at the branch or an ATM is a Contra between the bank and cash in hand, and that is visible on the one statement.
What gets posted to Tally?
One Contra voucher carrying both sides: the receiving account debited, the paying account credited. The matching row on the other statement is held back and shown as “Not posted from here”, so your day book has a single entry rather than two, and both bank ledgers stay right.
What if Greenote gets it wrong?
Nothing posts without your answer. Every detected transfer is flagged and waits for you to confirm or reject it, and a confirmed one can be undone before upload - which puts the row back to undecided and clears the ledger it had been given.