Payment reconciliation rules and operations runbook template

Reconciliation is finding the same transaction in two places, so the first field is not a rule but a key. Decide which of the order number, your own transaction ID, the provider transaction ID, the authorization number, and the capture slip number is the primary key, and record the rest as secondary keys hanging off it. Providers put different fields in their files, so write one line per provider mapping which column maps to which key. Where one order splits into several transactions — partial cancellation, split shipment — the unit of reconciliation is the transaction, not the order. Currency, amount unit, and rounding position go in the same field. Record when and by what route each file arrives, and which time zone its timestamps use. Different time zones put the same transaction on different dates.

Reconciliation rules follow the state of a transaction across five axes. Authorization matches your orders against the provider's authorization records. Capture checks whether an authorized item actually moved to capture; items authorized but never captured surface here. Settlement matches the expected payout, the actual deposit, and the fees in the provider settlement file. Refund ties your refund request to the provider cancellation record and to the amount deducted at settlement. Partial cancellation checks that the remaining balance of the original transaction is identical in all three places. For each axis, record what is compared, the tolerance, and the point in time of comparison. Set tolerance from the currency's smallest unit and the verified calculation method. Falling within that range does not by itself justify automatically closing a missing record or genuine error.

When a mismatch appears, attach a type before hunting for the cause. Separate timing differences, fee and tax calculation differences, delayed cancellation posting, missing files, and genuine errors. Close each type only after verifying evidence. Reconcile timing differences in the next cycle, and recover missing files before comparing again. Check fees and cancellation posting against agreed rules, and assign unresolved items to an owner. Fix the order of inspection as well. First whether every file arrived, then whether the primary key exists on both sides, then whether amount and currency agree, and last whether the state agrees. Keeping that order stops a late file from being mistaken for an amount error. Record who handles each type and within how many days it closes. Write the condition that separates what a rule settles from what a person reviews as a number. A condition written only as a sentence gets read differently by each owner.

A runbook starts from the symptom. The fields are symptom, the first screen and query to open, the decision criterion, the action, the person to escalate to along with how to file with the provider, and where the record goes. Write the symptom in the words an owner actually uses — the deposit is smaller than the expected payout. In the decision field, write as a number which value, outside which range, gets raised as an incident. In the action field, separate what can be reversed from what cannot; for an irreversible action such as executing a refund, name the approver alongside. Provider filing is split per provider into the contact channel, the information required, and the response time. The record field says where the screens checked and the notes left are kept. When the same symptom returns next month, work starts from that record.

Put the reconciliation summary, the number of open items, the remainder by type, and the reason for each carry-over on one page, and have operations and finance each sign it. Agree in advance on the conditions under which a close can happen with open items remaining. An amount limit, a count limit, and the number of days an item may be carried keep the same discussion from repeating every month. Record the date of each rule change and who made it in the same document. Which rule tied which two records, under which condition, has to remain per item, or an audit months later repeats the same calculation.