Financial Data Flow
Understanding your Financial Data Flow is Critical
Today, there are countless platforms to generate sales and, with the generation of these sales, there are also a staggering number of platforms to process the payments tied to those sales. Thus, understanding your financial data flow and how it lands in a bank or balance account is crucial.
At Bookkeep, we recognize the financial data flow as the journey from sales recognition through payment processing to a final balance, typically net of fees. In this complex ecommerce environment, your sales, payments, and balances could all reside on the same platform or be scattered across several different systems.
For instance, you may be generating invoices with your PayPal account, having payments collected by PayPal, and keeping your balance in PayPal. In this scenario, everything is streamlined into one system. In most cases, however, it’s not that straightforward. Sales could originate in one system (e.g., WooCommerce), payments flow through another (e.g., PayPal), and balances ultimately settle in a bank or balance account.
Common Financial Data Flow Scenarios
This table illustrates a few examples of common financial data flow scenarios we commonly encounter:
| Sales Source | Payments Source | Balance Source |
|---|---|---|
| Shopify | Shopify | Bank Institution |
| Shopify | PayPal | Bank Institution |
| Square | Square | Square |
| Woocommerce | PayPal | Bank Institution |
| Woocommerce | PayPal | PayPal |
| Woocommerce | Stripe | Bank Institution |
| Walmart | Walmart | Bank Institution |
| Shopify | Sezzle | Bank Institution |
This table merely scratches the surface of the complexity and breadth of options that exist. Therefore, it is critical to understand your flow of financial data to ensure you are capturing all financial data and tracking sales, payments, and balances properly.
Contact support@bookkeep.com if you are interested in learning more or need help understanding your financial data flow.