When it comes to financial management, many entrepreneurs immediately focus on expense control. And, although this is essential, does merely managing costs ensure the financial health of the business? There is another equally relevant aspect: to ensure that what was sold is being effectively received
Inconsistencies in payments: a problem more common than it seems
Recently, a franchisee in the footwear sector reported an unexpected situation. When reviewing your operations, realized that not all sales made were being deposited into the company's account. But how was this possible? Although the transactions are recorded in the point of sale system, the values did not appear in the card payment report. The task of manually checking the large volume of daily transactions was unfeasible, taking her to seek a technological solution
The response came with the implementation of a card reconciliation software, that automatically identified recurring discrepancies between what was sold and what actually entered the bank account. It was discovered that some sales, although registered in the store's system, were not included in the acquirers' reports, what it meant values that simply stopped being paid
After eliminating the possibility of internal problems, thoroughly reviewing the store's operations with the card machine receipts in hand, the franchisee found that the problem was due to operational failures of the acquirer
Cases like this are more common than one might think. To get an idea, between 2022 and 2023, a F360, through its card reconciliation functionality, helped clients recover R$159 million in amounts that, in another way, they could have been lost
Automation: the key to avoiding financial losses
In addition to identifying sales that were not paid, reconciliation systems also detect undue charges on the applied fees, that may diverge from the values negotiated with the card brands. This represents another source of significant losses for retailers
In retail, where the sales volume is high, performing manual reconciliation is almost impossible. The technology, in this context, becomes a great ally, allowing discrepancies to be identified quickly and values not to be lost amid the complexity of the financial flow. Even seemingly small inconsistencies, how 0,1% of sales, can result in significant losses over time. There are cases of retailers who recovered thousands of reais by correcting flaws detected using software
Although credit and debit cards are considered secure payment methods, the retailer needs to be attentive to all stages of the process. This includes not only the verification of sales made, but also of the applied rates. Franchisors, for example, they often negotiate special conditions with the brands for their networks, but it is crucial to check if the agreed values are being charged correctly on a daily basis
Automating financial reconciliation is an essential strategy. Small daily mistakes, if ignored, they can accumulate and cause a significant impact on the year-end closing. Imagine a poorly calculated rate applied to each installment of an installment sale: without a tool to identify these discrepancies, the retailer would hardly notice the problem, but the impact on revenue would be real
Therefore, don't let money slip away due to reconciliation failures. In retail, every penny makes a difference, and ensuring that all sales are properly received is essential for the sustainability of the business
