Recurring Transactions Analysis

Overview #

The Recurring Transactions feature identifies transactions that repeat at regular intervals (weekly, biweekly, monthly). This helps you understand subscription costs, payroll, rent, and other repeating cash flows for budgeting, audits, and financial analysis.

What It Does #

• Automatic detection: Finds transaction patterns that repeat over time
• Interval classification: Labels patterns as weekly, biweekly, monthly, or unknown
• Amount and count: Shows the typical amount per occurrence and total number of occurrences
• Drill-down: View all underlying transactions for any recurring pattern
• Export: Use the table for reporting or further analysis

How to Use #

1. Navigate: Go to Analyze → Recurring tab (or from Bank Transactions, open the Advanced Analysis tab and select Recurring).
2. Run detection: Click Detect Recurring to analyze your transactions and find recurring patterns. Wait until detection completes.
3. Review the table: Each row is a recurring pattern with:
   • Description: Normalized description for the pattern
   • Amount: Typical transaction amount
   • Total amount paid: Amount × count for the period
   • Interval: weekly, biweekly, monthly, or unknown
   • Count: Number of occurrences
   • First / Last: Date range of the occurrences
4. Drill down: Click a row to open a modal with all individual transactions in that recurring pattern.
5. Filter and sort: Use the column filters and sorting to focus on specific intervals or amounts.

Understanding the Results #

• Weekly / biweekly / monthly: The system infers the interval from the spacing of transaction dates.
• Unknown: The pattern repeats but doesn't fit a standard interval.
• Total amount paid: Helps compare impact of different recurring expenses (e.g. subscriptions vs rent).

Common Use Cases #

• Budgeting: List all recurring outflows to build or update budgets
• Audits: Verify recurring payments (rent, subscriptions, payroll)
• Cost reduction: Identify subscriptions or recurring charges to review or cancel
• Cash flow: Understand fixed vs variable outflows
• Compliance: Document recurring payments for investigations or reporting

Best Practices #

• Run Detect Recurring after importing new transaction data so new patterns are included.
• Use date filters on the transaction set (e.g. account/period) so detection runs on the relevant range.
• Combine with Transaction Tagging to tag recurring patterns for quick filtering later.
• Export the table to CSV for use in reports or spreadsheets.

Troubleshooting #

• No results: Ensure you have enough transaction history (at least a few months) and that the account/period selection includes the right data.
• Missing pattern: Some recurring transactions may be grouped under a different description; check similar descriptions or run detection again after categorization.
• Wrong interval: Intervals are inferred from dates; if statements have gaps, the interval may show as "unknown."