Prove the numbers. Don't assume them.
Reconciliation confirms that what was recorded, what settled and what arrived all agree — and explains every difference that remains. Three independent records describe the same money, and they rarely match line-for-line on first sight. Reconciliation is the control that closes the gap.
The same money, described three ways.
- 01The system of recordWhat the PMS or POS booked as a sale.
- 02The settlement dataWhat the acquirer or PSP says actually settled, net of fees.
- 03The bank statementWhat money genuinely landed in the account.
Reconciliation matches these three, accounts for legitimate differences (fees, timing, FX), and surfaces everything that doesn't reconcile as an exception to resolve.
The elements involved.
- Matching rules
- Linking records by reference, amount, date, batch, or a combination.
- Fee reconciliation
- Confirming deducted fees match the agreed schedule, not just that a payout arrived.
- Timing differences
- Cut-offs, weekends and T+n mean a sale and its settlement legitimately fall on different days.
- Exceptions
- Missing, duplicate, partial or mismatched items — the cases that need attention.
- Refunds and chargebacks
- Reversing flows matched back to their original transaction.
- Multi-currency and FX differences
- Small variances from conversion between transaction, settlement and booking currencies.
- Bank statement ingestion
- Structured formats (CAMT.053, MT940) bringing the bank's view into the match.
- The reconciliation lifecycle
- Ingest → match → isolate exceptions → resolve → mark clean for posting.
The gaps between these three records are exactly where money leaks: under-settled transactions, fees that don't match the agreement, refunds processed but never funded, transactions that never settle. Reconciliation is also the evidence trail for audit and the gate that month-end close depends on. Unreconciled, a group trusts that the chain worked — reconciled, it can prove it did.
Key terms.
- Three-way reconciliation
- matching system, settlement and bank records.
- Matching key
- the reference used to link records.
- Exception
- an item that doesn't reconcile and needs resolution.
- Chargeback
- a disputed transaction reversed by the issuer.
- CAMT.053
- an ISO 20022 bank statement format.
- MT940
- a SWIFT end-of-day bank statement format.
Close the gaps where money leaks.
Reconciliation is where errors are caught and the numbers are proven. Talk to our team about your close process, or see how three-way matching and exception handling work inside the platform.