Bank Reconciliation | Stripe - Add an option to set 'only match' with the reference
We integrate with Stripe for payments and we reconcile our Stripe payments every day to invoices that we generate automatically via a script. On average, we reconcile 50 to 100 invoices each day to Stripe payments. The issue we have with Xero is that the Xero algorithm looks at the amount, the name (customer), OR reference (invoice, order, etc) to match payments with invoices. Like many businesses, our sales price is the same across many accounts and we sell many of the same products over and over to the same customers so this renders the Xero algorithm useless for an exact match. IOW, when we reconcile payments to invoices, the vast majority of payments will match 2 or more invoices, sometimes as many as 20 or more. It would be WAY better if we could set the match to be more precise so we don't have to search. An option to ONLY MATCH the reference would save me hundreds of clicks each day.
Douglas Ballinger
shared this idea
-
Martin Dent
commented
I completely agree with this "idea". It's more than an idea, it is completely logical and obvious. I take payments in via Worldpay and the only reliable check is the "Cart ID" or reference number, and Xero completely ignores this when it suggests Find and Match candidate. Customer names are completely unreliable and often are different to the invoiced party so these are the worst things to Sort on.
-
Tom Archibald
commented
I'm needing this. I've had to create a selenium bot to reconcile the most obvious matches every day (approx 600/day)
-
Douglas Ballinger
commented
Hi Jubin,
I guess we all keep complaining. This seems like such an easy fix. I want the option to match based on information in the reference field instead of using their matching algorithm. For my business, we pass our unique order number in the reference field. The matching will be faster and more accurate than their current matching system, which in our business turns up multiple matches for the vast majority of orders. Why? Because the amount is the same and we sell many items for the same amount to different customers EVERY day! They should make this an option for those who want to match by reference and let everyone else who like their current option keep it.
-
Jubin Roomiani
commented
I asked support for help and they've guided me here. It's an embarrassment that we need to wait for some "critical mass" before a simple feature may be incorporated. Think of the time required to manually match hundreds of invoices per day. This is a deal breaker if not solved.
-
Douglas Ballinger
commented
Hi Martin, thanks for your comment. Please let me know if you find another solution because we would likely move as well. This seems like such an obvious use case that I'm surprised that there haven't been more requests to add this fix. Customers who like the existing algorithm should be able to continue using it but if you want to use "exact match" it should be an option.
-
Martin Dent
commented
I have EXACTLY the same requirement. It is so important to us, that as soon as we find a book keeping solution that features a match against a reference number (in our case our Cart ID), if Xero still is unable to provide, we will have to move
-
Martin Dent
commented
Reconciling online payments is a slow and cumbersome process within XERO and it need not be. Currently the Find and Match algorithm makes suggested Reconciliation Matches based on Amount and Name. This is not 100% and it can suggest a wrong match if there is two customers with same or similar name. For thousands of monthly payments this means hours of checking each payment. However, there is a much better way which is for Find and Match to use a combination of the amount and the unique reference number (which appears on both the payment and the invoice) as the basis for the suggested Match. Then it would save hours of time if Xero could allow a bulk acceptance of such Matches..... Surely this is a simple bit of coding for the Xero team?
-
Martin Dent
commented
Reconciling online payments is a slow and cumbersome process within XERO and it need not be. Currently the Find and Match algorithm makes suggested Reconciliation Matches based on Amount and Name. This is not 100% and it can suggest a wrong match if there is two customers with same or similar name. For thousands of monthly payments this means hours of checking each payment. However, there is a much better way which is for Find and Match to use a combination of the amount and the unique reference number (which appears on both the payment and the invoice) as the basis for the suggested Match. Then it would save hours of time if Xero could allow a bulk acceptance of such Matches..... Surely this is a simple bit of coding for the Xero team?