What is Card Reconciliation? Understand how to reconcile Sales and Payments 

Are you having trouble checking card transactions in your company? Then continue reading to find out what card reconciliation is and how to automate it. 

What is Card Reconciliation? 

When we talk about card reconciliation, we are referring to act of reconciling information on sales made with cards and ensuring that the company's records correspond to the transactions processed by the card operators.  

In general, card reconciliation is an important action for any business that accepts card payments. It verifies how the card transaction was carried out and whether it is correct, both in terms of amount and date. All this is done by comparing the transaction with the file, which is generated by the company's internal sales system. 

This procedure helps to identify discrepancies such as:

• Unrecorded transactions;
• Chargebacks; or
• Unexpected fees.

Why do Automatic Card Reconciliation? 

THE bank reconciliation brings several benefits. By opting for automatic card reconciliation, your company will enjoy numerous advantages, such as:  

1. Cost Reduction: Manual reconciliation requires significant investment in human resources. The high demand for credit card transactions makes this approach costly and inefficient. Automated reconciliation drastically reduces operational costs, ensuring a favorable cost-benefit ratio. 

2. Time Reduction: With the rise of online sales and the growth of e-commerce, credit card payments are becoming increasingly common. Automatic reconciliation saves valuable time, which is essential for financial management and tax compliance. 

3. Loss Elimination: Companies that do not adopt card reconciliation or have inefficient manual processes are subject to large financial losses. Some inconsistencies can be avoided with automatic reconciliation, such as: discrepancies in amounts, fees, cancellations and, especially, chargebacks. 

How does Card Reconciliation work? 

Have you ever wondered how you can ensure that all credit and debit card transactions in your business are being recorded and processed correctly?

The answer lies in reconciliation, an essential process for any business that accepts card payments. Let’s explore two crucial types of reconciliation: Sales Reconciliation and Payment Reconciliation. There are a few types of reconciliation, such as:

1. Sales Reconciliation

It consists of carefully comparing the information contained in your business management system (ERP) with the Sales Statement provided by the card operators.

In this process, each transaction carried out on the day is analyzed in detail. The mechanism for this comparison analyzes all transactions carried out on the day and points out possible: 

• Divergences of Values: to ensure that the values recorded in the ERP match the values present in the Sales Statement; 
• Date Discrepancies: to verify that transaction dates are correct and match system records. 
• Cancelled Sales and Chargebacks: to identify and handle transactions that have been cancelled or disputed, ensuring accurate accounting. 

2. Payment Reconciliation

This type of card reconciliation compares the information present in the Sales Statement from the card operators with the Payment Statement provided by the operators themselves. 

All of this results in the collection of all evidence in relation to all aspects of the reconciliation of sales with Payment, in addition to showing: 

• Rate discrepancies: to identify discrepancies in the rates charged by card operators, ensuring that your company is not financially harmed. 
• Advance payments: to manage and understand advance payments to optimize the financial health of your business. 

Card Reconciliation Features available in BankPus: 

If your company is looking to automate sales recognition for more efficient and accurate analysis, Sales Recognition functionality is ideal for your needs. 

If you are looking to facilitate the payment write-off process to keep records up to date and accurate, Payment Download functionality will support your business. 

#InventTip: 

Want to learn more about these features? Now that you know what card reconciliation is, find out how to automate your company's financial and banking operations with BankPlus: 

Talk to our team of experts now!