• 10/11/2026
  • 3 minutes to read

Understanding exact matching using direct match

By setting up payment reference rules, you can define how payment references are validated, matched, and processed within your system. These rules help automate reconciliation by identifying key elements within payment references, such as document numbers, customer identifiers, or payment indicators.

As part of this setup, you can turn on Direct Match to match an entire payment reference directly to a field in Business Central without extracting substrings or performing additional parsing. This method is ideal for consistent reference formats where the payment reference is expected to exactly match a value in your system, such as invoice or customer numbers.

Note

Use Direct Match when the payment reference in the bank statement is stable and predictable. If your references include prefixes, suffixes, or embedded data, use substring extraction instead.

To enable direct match:

  1. Search () for and select Payment Reference Rules.

  2. Click New.

  3. On the General FastTab, enter information in the fields marked with an asterisk:

    • Code
    • Payment Reference Search Field Template - for example, select DESCTRANSACDETAILS.

  4. On the Validation FastTab, enter a pattern in the Validation Pattern Code field. If payment references always contain the invoice number (for example, 102345), you could add the following regex: ^[0-9]{6}$

    PartMeaningExplanation
    ^Start of the stringEnsures the match begins at the start
    [0-9]Any digit from 0 to 9Matches a single digit
    {6}Exactly six digitsMatches exactly six digits (for example, 102345)
    $End of the stringEnsures nothing comes after the digits

  5. On the Matching FastTab, turn on Direct Match and enter information in the following fields:

    • Match to Table - for example, Cust. Ledger Entry.
    • Match to Field - for example, Document No..

  6. Save the rule and test it with sample payment references. When a payment reference is processed, the system compares the full reference to the Document No. field. If a match is found, the transaction is automatically reconciled.

Note

When Direct Match is turned on, the system compares the entire payment reference against the selected field. The Reference Start Position and Reference Length fields are automatically cleared and ignored.

Setting up a payment reference rule
Default payment reference rules
Configuring check digit validation
Payment reference rule examples
Payment reference rules FAQ