How to reconcile Stripe payouts with QuickBooks each month

To reconcile Stripe payouts with QuickBooks, export Stripe's payout reconciliation report and a QuickBooks transaction report for the same dates, then match each deposit to the charges, fees and refunds inside it. Kaer can do that matching from the two exports and return a list of what does not agree. You post the entries yourself.

Why doesn't one Stripe payout match one QuickBooks invoice?

Stripe pays out in batches, net of fees. One bank deposit can cover many charges, minus fees and refunds, so the deposit matches no single invoice in your books. The bank feed shows only that one total.

Each part of the payout needs its own check. Every customer charge should match an invoice or sales receipt in QuickBooks. Fees are taken before the money reaches you, and they are easy to miss if the income is booked net. Refunds come off a later payout, often in a different period from the original sale, so a refund can land in a different month from the sale it reverses.

How do you run the match, step by step?

Two exports and a short set of rules are enough to start. Kaer works from the exports, so the first run needs no connection to either tool.

1. Export from Stripe. Download the itemised CSV of the Payout reconciliation report for the month.
2. Export from QuickBooks. Export a standard transaction report for the same dates. Reconciliation reports themselves do not export directly, so this is the report to use.
3. Attach both, with your rules. In a Kaer Work chat, attach the two files and say how you book fees, refunds and currency differences. Write those three rules down once and reuse them each month, so the next run books them the same way.
4. Review the list. Kaer returns what does not agree. You decide what to change, and you post the entries in QuickBooks yourself.

Kaer keeps your accounts and house rules for later runs, so next month's fees and refunds are booked the same way. As advice, take a month you have already closed and check it by hand first. Then compare Kaer's list with your own. The gaps show you which rule needs a line added.

What ends up on the list?

The list covers four kinds of mismatch, and each one points to a different fix.

• Charges with no invoice or sales receipt behind them.
• Invoices marked paid with no charge to match.
• Fees taken from a payout that were never booked.
• Refunds booked twice.

Kaer reads and reports at this step, so nothing waits for you while it matches. Where a receipt or invoice is missing, Kaer's mail can draft a note to whoever holds it. Each of those emails waits for your approval before it goes.

What does Kaer leave to you?

The books, the sign-off and every payment stay with you.

• Sign-off. Kaer is not an accountant. The books and the tax position stay with you and your adviser.
• Entries. If you start from exports, Kaer never touches QuickBooks. If it works QuickBooks in its own browser, it stops before any click that pays, while other steps you ask for run to the end, including entries. The Kaer page recommends starting from exports and posting the entries yourself until you trust the matching.
• Payments and refunds. Paying, refunding and transferring each get an approval card, whichever tool they are made in.
• Sign-in. You type your passwords and one-time codes yourself, and Kaer never sees them. If you let Kaer sign in to a site, use a reports-only user where your plan offers one.

Can the monthly check run on its own?

Yes. Once a run works, it can become a monthly workflow with an approval step before anything is sent. The steps that need a person wait for one, and a site that asks for a one-time code needs a person at that step.

Start with a test run, not a schedule. The weekly-report guide says to choose Test run or Run now and check the output before anything is on a schedule. Then add the approval step. An approval step waits for Approve or Reject. If nobody decides within the hours you set, 72 by default, the step is treated as rejected or approved, whichever you chose.

As advice, choose that default with care, and set any step that moves money to rejected. The publish screen shows the credits each run uses before you turn it on. Workflows come with paid plans, so check which plan includes them before you set one up for the month.

What does a month end look like for a small agency?

Take a hypothetical five-person agency that takes card payments through Stripe and keeps its books in QuickBooks. On the first working day of the month, the owner downloads Stripe's payout report and a QuickBooks transaction report for the same dates. The owner attaches both to a Kaer chat and sets out the house rules: how fees are booked, how refunds are booked, and how currency differences are treated.

Kaer returns a list of what does not agree. In this example, the list shows a charge with no matching invoice and a refund that was booked twice. The owner corrects both in QuickBooks. The bookkeeper then signs off the month, because the books and the tax position stay with the business and its adviser.

The first month takes the longest, because the rules are new. Once a run works, the same export, attach, review routine repeats each month, and the Stripe and QuickBooks use case sets out the same four steps for anyone starting from scratch.

Frequently asked questions