Choose the source of sales before importing
A Toronto retailer may have Shopify orders, a connected accounting app and a bank feed. If each records the payout or order as new revenue, the books can show sales that never happened. Decide which system records the sale and which records settlement. Test the decision with an ordinary order, a refund and a disputed payment.
Maintain a processor-specific clearing account where appropriate. Its balance should be explained by unsettled batches, reserves, pending refunds or known differences. The purpose is not to accumulate unexplained entries in a suspense account indefinitely.
Illustrative batch: $10,000 in sales becomes $10,396 in cash
Assume ordinary taxable Ontario sales by an HST registrant. A batch contains $10,000 of sales and $1,300 HST. It includes a $565 customer refund, comprising $500 of sales and $65 HST, plus $300 in processor fees and $39 tax on those fees. The resulting payout is $10,396.
The accounting record must preserve the $9,500 net sales, $1,235 sales HST and separate fees, with input tax credit treatment assessed from supporting documentation. Treating $10,396 as revenue would mix cash, tax and expenses. This is an illustrative calculation; actual processor fees and tax treatment depend on the transaction and invoice.
Timing differences should have an expiry check
A month-end batch may arrive at the bank in the next month. Keep the batch ID, currency, expected payout and subsequent bank match. A reserve may remain outstanding longer, but it should still agree with the processor report and have a documented reason.
Foreign-currency conversion introduces another step. Retain the currency received, processor conversion detail and bank amount. Chargebacks also need a link to the original sale and the outcome of the dispute, rather than an unexplained reduction to current sales.
Review exceptions before changing the rules
When a difference appears, inspect representative transactions before editing automated mappings. One unusual refund is not enough reason to recode an entire channel.
- Check whether gross sales were imported twice.
- Find payouts missing from either the bank or processor report.
- Separate fee invoices, refunds, reserves and conversion charges.
- Age the clearing balance and assign responsibility for unresolved items.
Put this into practice
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