Trustaccounting
Property managers hold other people's money. I designed how they prove every dollar is where it should be.
- Role
- Lead designer. Senior Product Designer and AI product builder.
- Product
- Holdfast, renamed for confidentiality
- Scope
- Bank accounts, bank rules, expenses, reconciliation
The answerfirst
One screen says how far along you are, what's left, and what needs a person.
Names and figures in every screen are fictional.
Other people'smoney
A manager takes guest payments, pays cleaners, keeps a commission and sends the rest to owners. A single deposit can bundle all of it, under a memo only a bank could love.
What the bank shows
ACH CREDIT BOOKING.COM DES:LANTERN LOFT
$1,082.06
What's inside it
- Reservation, 3 nights$640.00
- Reservation, 2 nights$560.00
- Channel fee−$117.94
Whose money it is
- Cleaner$120.00
- Manager's commission$216.00
- Owner$746.06
Volume
- Hundreds of bank lines a month, across channels and accounts.
Trust
- A wrong match can reach an owner's statement, so people need to see why.
Expertise
- Many managers aren't accountants. It has to work for them and hold up for their bookkeeper.
What I found,what it changed
- User interviews
- Competitor and pattern research
- Team workshops
- Priority mapping (MoSCoW)
- User journeys
People won't accept a match they can't explain.
Every suggestion says why: same amount, same vendor, same date.
See itMost lines repeat, and get handled by hand every month.
Bank rules catch repeats. Clear matches go through together.
See itA wrong match costs more than a slow one.
By default a rule only suggests. Nothing posts until someone approves it.
See itMany managers don't think in accounting terms.
Plain words, with trust or operating explained where you choose.
See it
What madethe cut
What had to work on day one, and what could wait.
Must
- Bank feeds and imports
- Trust and operating accounts
- Matching, with reasons
- A clear finish at $0
Should
- Bank rules
- Accept clear matches together
- Previewing a rule before it runs
Could
- Recurring expenses
- Keyboard shortcuts
Won't
- Automatic posting as the default
- A separate accounting app, away from Finance
One bank line,five steps
Difference between bank and books
$152,068.07
Start and end from the screens. Figures in between are illustrative.
Start withthe accounts
Trust and operating money are labelled from the first screen.
Bank says,books say
Separate tabs on one account keep what the bank says apart from what the business recorded.
One decisionat a time
The workspace takes each bank line in turn, with a different view for each situation.
Teach itonce
Most lines repeat. Rules catch them, and the person stays in control.
The mostrepeated card
People make this decision hundreds of times. They should approve a clear match at a glance, and question it in one more.
Green meansfinished
In accounting, colour carries meaning. A period at 74% is not a success, so green waits until the job is done.
Whatshipped
It's too early for numbers, and I won't invent any. Here's what shipped, and how I'd judge it.
Shipped
The full loop, from connecting a bank to a reconciled period: accounts, rules, expenses and the matching workspace, on one small system.
I'd measure
Time to reconcile a period. Share of suggestions accepted. How often a rule gets edited after it's created.
I'd keep
A reason on every suggestion. It's the smallest thing on the card, and it carries the trust.
I'd do next
Let rules earn their way to automatic, once people have watched them be right.
Product name, brand, people and account data are fictional. Bank names and logos belong to their owners and appear for illustration only. Screens are redrawn to represent the shipped work.