FreeAgent: upload succeeded but transactions are unexplained

A successful FreeAgent statement upload imports bank movements; it does not guarantee that every movement has an accepted accounting explanation. Review the account’s Unexplained transactions and any proposed explanations before deciding that the upload failed.

This follows FreeAgent’s UK documentation for a business bank account. For PDF-only evidence, LocalExtract can prepare transaction CSV locally; selecting a FreeAgent type, category or invoice remains a separate task.

Distinguish upload from explanation

FreeAgent’s statement-upload instructions finish by directing the user to explain the imported transactions. At upload, Guess explanations for my transactions controls whether Guess attempts explanations using existing account information. An attempted explanation still needs review.

After upload, open Banking → Bank Accounts, choose the relevant account and use Unexplained. The explanation guide requires level 6 access or above. A missing control can therefore be an access question; it is not evidence that your source file needs converting again.

The guide distinguishes business and personal accounts. Unexplained business movements appear red; personal-account movements appear grey and have different accounting consequences. Confirm the account’s designation before interpreting the colour or applying a business explanation to every row.

Explain the evidenced movement rather than its description alone

Select the relevant month and transaction, then review the available Type and Category. Check invoice, bill or other supporting records before choosing. A recognisable bank narrative does not establish the appropriate type or tax treatment.

Notes and supporting files can be attached to an explanation. The official guide warns that a file marked private becomes visible to others on the account when attached to a bank transaction. Review the attachment’s contents and intended audience before adding it. Keeping a document privately in Files and attaching it to the bank record are different access states.

FreeAgent can suggest explaining similar descriptions together. Its guide excludes Invoice Receipt, Bill Payment, Bill Refund and Credit Note Refund from that similar-transaction shortcut. Do not apply one generic category to a group merely because the payee text looks alike.

Record the next state without re-uploading

The synthetic explanation-state worksheet has three bank lines: one with a supported explanation ready for review, one with a proposed but unverified explanation, and one missing its supporting document. All three were imported in the scenario; only the first is ready to progress under that evidence.

Keep the latter two in an explicit review queue. Re-uploading their source cannot supply the missing invoice or make a proposed classification correct. The worksheet models editorial review states; it does not execute FreeAgent or establish a tax category.

Use the bookkeeper handoff guide to request missing supporting records. LocalExtract exports date,description,amount from one PDF at a time and does not create FreeAgent explanations. Download for PDF preparation.

Official FreeAgent sources checked October 16, 2026.