Nothing in this post has been built. It’s how I’d build it.
Where this came from
Expense reconciliation that isn’t so manual came up as a possible project with a regional brewery. Their answer was not now. A four-store grocer described a close cousin of the problem: vendor credits on short and damaged deliveries.
Two businesses, the same hand work, from opposite ends: money owed out, and money owed back. I haven’t built it for either of them.
The manual version
Here’s the version I’d expect. Someone has the bank or card statement open in one window and receipts or invoices in another. They match line by line. Anything that doesn’t match goes on a list. The list gets chased when there’s time.
How I’d build it
- Pull both sides from where they already live. The accounting system, the card export, the AP inbox, or a spreadsheet. No new software for the team to learn.
- Match what’s obvious. Same vendor, same amount, close dates. I’d expect most lines to clear here.
- Flag what isn’t. Every unmatched line goes on one list with an owner and an age.
- Draft the follow-up. For a missing receipt or an owed credit, the email is written and waiting. A person approves it before it goes.
- Report the number. Each month: what’s outstanding, by vendor, in dollars.
What stays with a person
Anything that moves money. The system matches, flags and drafts. A person decides. You can loosen that later if you want to, one vendor at a time.
Is this you?
If someone at your business spends hours a month matching statements by hand, the Walkthrough tells us whether this is worth building for you. The grocer’s side of it is in A credit-recovery agent for a grocer.