Posting credit card payments: How to do it right!

13 May 2025

EFT Expertise
Reconciliation

Whether Mastercard, Visa or American Express, whether online or at the cash register in a physical store: customers love paying by card. This also quickly amounts to a lot of transactions. But what happens then behind the scenes in the company’s accounting department? Or rather what should happen there? In other words: what’s the right way to post credit card payments? Let’s find out together.

Content of the article

    At a glance

    • In this article we’re focusing on posting credit card payments from your customers.
    • Thanks to fees, time differences between the transaction and receipt of payment, collective transfers, chargebacks and currency differences, there are a lot of additional challenges to deal with when posting credit card payments.
    • Learn what to do when posting and settling – explained step by step!
    • We’ve also got some valuable tips for how you can resolve the biggest challenges with respect to posting credit card payments.

    Credit card payments: Receipts vs expenditure

    When posting credit card payments, we have to differentiate between posting receipts and expenditure. In restaurants, in retail and in e-commerce, the number of incoming credit card payments at cash registers and in webshops generally exceeds expenditure with the corporate credit card.

    Accordingly, in this article we’ve concentrated on posting these receipts – and on how accounting teams can simplify the work relating to clearing and posting credit card payments.

    Posting credit card payments: Peculiarities and potential sources of error

    When a customer pays by credit card, the payments don’t come from the customer directly, but rather – usually collectively and time-delayed – from the account of a payment provider (also called an acquirer).

    More about cashless payments in general

    Do you want to learn more about how cashless payments actually work? Then you may be interested in this article.

    Read article now

    When your customers pay by credit card, this always results in different records at two different points in time:

    1. the payment receipt from the cash register or webshop
    2. the statement from the payment provider or posting to the bank account
      • The tax “effective” process (business receipt) is only posted once as proceeds when the customer makes the payment.
      • The “claim” is then settled when the money is received into the company’s account.
      • Any fees imposed by the payment provider are posted as expenditure during this settlement.

    Acquirer: strictly speaking not a debtor!

    Note, however, that strictly speaking there are no claims against the acquirer: the acquiring bank is not a debtor, but rather manages the money that is in transit. Which is why accounting departments refer to the corresponding posting accounts not as receivable accounts, but rather as transit or clearing accounts. More on this later.

    Important: Regular reconciliation

    Even though the acquiring bank is not seen as a debtor in the strictest sense, it is nevertheless important to regularly check whether the payment provider’s payment reports (or the payments received to the bank account) match the cash register data for the corresponding payments.

    Clear allocation of individual transactions

    When the payment providers make payments to companies, it is usual practice to send multiple payments or transactions as one collective amount, which then goes into the retail company’s account as a total. In order for all open items to be settled correctly, it’s important, however, to identify the individual payments within this total and allocate them to the right open items.

    Time difference between payment and receipt of payment

    With credit card payments, the customer makes the payment immediately, but the company only gets the money (usually as a total of multiple transactions) a few days or weeks later.

    Alongside the transaction-accurate reconciliation of individual transactions, you have to consider the time discrepancy between clearing and posting – especially if payments and received payments fall within different posting periods.

    Posting fees and commissions

    Another challenge is that credit and debit card payments incur transaction fees, which can be deducted by the payment provider before the payment reaches the company’s account.

    In the case of credit cards, the fee structure is often complex, as this varies depending on the card, bank and payment provider. The challenge lies in correctly reconciling the properly posted net payments after the fees are deducted with the open items.

    Want to learn more about fee composition?

    If you want to learn more about fee composition and your options for optimisation, we can recommend our article on EFT fees.

    Read article now

    Partial payments and chargebacks

    Sometimes only part of a credit card payment is received (e.g. instalments or partial transfers). In such cases, the accounting department has to make sure that the corresponding open item is only partially settled.

    Other challenges and sources of error come in the form of chargebacks, in which payments are disputed or directly reversed. From an accounting perspective, the corresponding proceeds then have to be reversed in these cases.

    Exchange rate fluctuations with currency differences

    Currency differences can arise when credit cards are used for payments in a foreign currency. The bank or the payment provider converts the amount into the local currency, but the rate can fluctuate. This can lead to small discrepancies between the amount that is actually transferred and the original invoice amount.

    The accounting department has to handle and post the currency differences correctly, in order to settle the open items correctly. The corresponding differences have to be taken into account either as exchange rate gains or losses.

    Why is correct reconciliation of credit card payments so important?

    Incorrect entries in the context of receipts from credit card payments are generally caused by the peculiarities and sources of error mentioned above.

    Whether it’s about accounting transparency, safeguarding company liquidity or minimising risks relating to audits and tax inspections: here are the most important reasons why it’s so important to reconcile credit card transactions correctly …

    Transparency

    As acquirers often transfer multiple payments in one go, it can be time-consuming to allocate individual sales to the correct credits. Some companies only reconcile the payments as a total for convenience.

    But if credit card payments are reconciled with transaction accuracy, the company will always have a clear view of things and can also quickly and easily verify that entries are correct in retrospect (e.g. during audits).

    Liquidity controls

    If credit card payments are not settled with transaction accuracy, missing payments can go unnoticed. If they are posted twice, they can distort profit and loss statements. In both cases, this has an impact on the company’s liquidity.

    Audits and tax inspections

    In terms of orderly accounting principles, companies are legally obliged to keep an accurate record of transactions as well as profits and losses.

    But if fees haven’t been identified correctly, for example, the actual profit shown will be wrong. This can quickly lead to problems when the annual accounts are inspected.

    The same goes for missed refunds or chargebacks: if chargebacks aren’t recorded correctly, a claim will remain, although the money is never actually received. This can artificially inflate turnover and thus lead to problems during a tax inspection.

    How to post and reconcile credit card transactions

    As already mentioned, customer credit card payments are only credited to the company’s bank account later on and as a combined amount. Because the actual payment process with the credit card and the later credit happen at different times, an accounting department is usually working with two “interim accounts” – a cash-in-transit account and a clearing account.

    The three steps for posting a credit card payment of 1,000 euros.

    1

    Posting the sales

    When customers make a purchase, the amounts of the credit card payments are first posted on the debit side in a cash-in-transit account. The sale proceeds and the (owed) VAT are posted on the credit side.

    In brief:
    Posting the sales proceeds → claims are recorded in the cash-in-transit account (cash-in-transit account as proceeds).

    2

    Reconciliation, clearing and transfer of entries

    To ensure correct reconciliation of the future payment received by the bank based on the acquirer’s payment reports with the individual sales (cash register or webshop data), the second step involves clearing the collective entry from the acquirer and transferring it from the cash-in-transit account to a clearing account (minus the fees and other charges).

    In brief:
    Reconciling the payment report with the recorded sales (clearing) → transfer from cash-in-transit account to clearing account minus charges (clearing account to cash-in-transit account)

    3

    Posting the payment received by the bank

    In the third step, the payment received by the bank is then reconciled with the clearing account and posted – and the claim is settled.

    In brief:
    Posting of the sum received by the bank and settlement of the claim (received payment to clearing account)

    Example: the posting steps for credit card payments

    To use an example that is both simple and practical, we’re assuming the following starting point: different purchases are made by credit card (e.g. Mastercard) in your company over three consecutive days.

    • 01 March: €100 (brutto)
    • 02 March: €50 (brutto)
    • 03 March: €150 (brutto)

    We’re also assuming that the payment providers charge you fees of 2% per transaction.

    On 05 March, a collective transfer of €294 goes into your company’s account. €6 is the fee that goes to the payment providers. According to the payment providers’ documents (settlement files), the individual amounts are as follows:

    • 01 March: €100 – €2 = €98
    • 02 March: €50 – €1 = €49
    • 03 March: €150 – €3 = €147
    • Total: €294

    1

    1. Posting the sales (recording claims in the cash-in-transit account)

    On the respective sales days, you first record the claims in a cash-in-transit account. Because you have sold the goods, but not yet received the money from the payment providers. Each sale is recorded individually in the cash-in-transit account:

    • 01 March:
      Cash-in-transit account acquirer €100 (debit side)
      in sales revenue €84.03 (credit side)
      in VAT €15.97 (credit side)
    • 02 March:
      Cash-in-transit account acquirer €50 (debit side)
      in sales revenue €42.02 (credit side)
      in VAT €7.98 (credit side)
    • 03 March:
      Cash-in-transit account acquirer €150 (debit side)
      in sales revenue €126.05 (credit side)
      in VAT €23.95 (credit side)

    → Result: On 03 February, the cash-in-transit account has a total balance of €300 (€100 + €50 + €150) on the debit side.

    2

    Reconciling and clearing the collective entry (based on the settlement files)

    In this step, if reconciling manually, you first need to download the payment report (also called settlement files) from your acquirer (often in CSV or PDF format).

    If reconciling manually, you then start to reconcile the data in the report with the cash register transactions recorded in the cash-in-transit account. This ensures that all card payments recorded at the cash register are also actually received from the acquirer.

    Assuming that the payment providers retain the incurred fees directly, the following information should be there in the case of our example:

    • 01 March: €100 gross – €2 fee = €98
    • 02 March: €50 gross – €1 fee = €49
    • 03 March: €150 gross – €3 fee = €147
    • Payout amount: €294

    Check whether this data matches the cash register transactions entered in your cash-in-transit account. If it does, the cash-in-transit account is transferred to the new clearing account, taking the incurred fees into consideration.

    The corresponding posting entry then reads:

    • Clearing account credit card payments €294 (debit side)
      Expenditure for payments €6 (debit side)
      to cash-in-transit account acquirer €300 (credit side)

    → Explanation:

    • Cash-in-transit account: €294 — the amount you’re expecting from the acquirer.
    • Expenditure: €6 — the withheld fees.
    • Clearing account: €300 — the original total amount of the cash register transactions

    3

    Posting the collective payment to the bank account

    If the collective payment goes into the company account on 05 March, you post the actual money received to the bank account and settle the clearing account at the same time. The corresponding posting entry then reads:

    Bank €294 (debit side)
    to clearing account credit card payments €294 (credit side)

    → Results:

    • The cash-in-transit account was already settled when reconciling with the payment report (€0).
    • The clearing account is also settled to €0 with thee money received.
    • The bank shows the correct received payment of €294.

    This workflow ensures that your claims are settled correctly and all fees for credit card payments are posted properly. At the same time, you always have an overview of open items and expected payments.

    Far more than three payments?
    No desire to reconcile manually?

    Admittedly: accounting departments are usually confronted with far more than three credit card transactions. In fact, transaction-accurate reconciliation can quickly become a mammoth, almost insurmountable task for retailers and restaurants.

    However, there are reliable software solutions that will relieve as much pressure as possible from accounting departments – they automate card payment reconciliation and bring transparency to payment structures – e.g. Matchbox from treibauf.

    This software not only reconciles up to 99.99% of payments automatically, but also exports the corresponding posting entries to your accounting software or ERP.

    Get to know Matchbox now

    What do you do with discrepancies?

    If the payment report from the acquirer doesn’t match the recorded cash register transactions, this usually means a laborious search for the cause of the discrepancy. Here are a few tips for common causes:

    • Undocumented fees: perhaps the payment provider has deducted a special fee.
    • Chargebacks: a customer has disputed a payment. This has to be checked again and posted.
    • False entries: a sale was posted twice or not at all.

    There may of course be other causes for discrepancies between the payment report and the cash book. Reconciliation software can also help your accounting team save valuable time here.

    The three biggest challenges when posting credit card payments – and the best solutions for them.

    As already mentioned above, credit card payments involve a multitude of challenges for accounting departments Here are practical solutions to the most important ones.

    Collective transfers and a lack of transparency

    Payment providers generally bundle all the payments made in a day and only transfer a collective amount (minus the withheld fees). So there is no clear allocation of individual sales.

    Additionally, the payment providers’ payment reports don’t always contain all the details and an exact breakdown of the fees.

    Solutions

    • Ask your payment providers for detailed payment reports that contain all the specifics of the transactions and the fees.
    • Use split postings in your accounting software. This allows you to divide collective payments into the individual claims to settle them cleanly.
    • Use automation software for settlement: reconciliation software interfaces like Matchbox from treibauf import the detailed payment reports, perform transaction-accurate reconciliation with the claims recorded at the cash register, automatically create the matching posting entries – and automatically export these to your accounting system. This saves you many hours of work.

    Discrepancies due to fees/commissions or reversals

    If the collective payment differs from the claims at the cash register, there may be several causes: the most frequent are new or unknown payment fees and chargebacks.

    Solutions

    • It’s important to have a clear record of the different types of fees from the various payment providers: ideally you should create separate fee accounts (e.g. “Fees for payment providers”) and post the fees immediately when the collective payment arrives.
    • Monitor your chargebacks: each chargeback should be posted immediately as a reduction of the original claim to avoid discrepancies.
    • Reconcile regularly: bank statements and payment reports should be reconciled at least weekly, so that differences are spotted early.
    • In reconciliation software solutions, both the different fees for the various payment providers and the chargebacks are incorporated into the automated transaction-based reconciliation. For you this means: two sources of error eliminated!

    Time difference between payment and receipt of payment

    Credit card payments are generally only credited after several days. This means that the transactions and the received payments occur at different times.

    Solutions

    • Post sales directly to a cash-in-transit account, so that received payments can be settled correctly later on.
    • Document the cycles of your payment runs – and try to match the payment providers’ payout intervals to your posting periods.
    • Use accrual accounting: at the end of the month, create an entry to show any outstanding payments in the balance sheet – thus keeping your accounts clean.
    • Another advantage of solutions that automate transaction-accurate reconciliation of credit card payments, is that you’re only left with a small number of payments that aren’t matched automatically. Open received payments can be identified much faster as a result.

    How Matchbox makes it easier to reconcile and post credit card payments

    Anyone wanting to avoid the headache of correct posting and transaction-accurate settlement of credit card payments, should definitely consider a supplementary software interface.

    Matchbox from treibauf is a reliable and user-friendly solution in equal measure. Automated reconciliation and posting of corresponding entries not only causes far fewer errors.

    Full focus on the exceptions!

    The few special cases (generally between 0.01% and 0.02%) that can’t be reconciled and posted automatically, finally get the amount of attention they deserve.

    Easily reconcile large transaction volumes with transaction accuracy

    For companies with thousands of transactions a day (e.g. in e-commerce), intelligent automation like this actually makes transaction-accurate payment reconciliation a realistic option for accounting departments.

    Nicolas Schwotzer

    Nicolas is the Chief Product Owner, a member of the treibauf Executive Board and founded our company more than 25 years ago. Thanks to this wealth of experience, he is one of the most important experts in reconciliation software and POS integration.

    Recent posts
    POS Integration
    Success Story

    How Bizerba has halved its costs for terminal connection

    5 June 2025 – Why has Bizerba been using Pepper since 2021 to connect POS terminals to its own scales and cash register systems? Because the costs quickly cancel each other out! Read this article to find out exactly how that works. Continue reading

    Reconciliation
    Success Story

    Why BESTSECRET is now even better prepared for detailed questions

    15 May 2025 – Reconciling and posting cashless payments with transaction accuracy is clearly an advantage when it comes to detailed questions, e.g. in the context of audits. Learn how the exclusive shopping community BESTSECRET has now optimised the reconciliation of cashless payments with transaction accuracy! Continue reading

    EFT Expertise

    2024 Retailer Survey on Cashless Payments in Switzerland: The Main Results!

    25 November 2024 – In Switzerland the proportion of cashless payments has been steadily increasing for years. This is by no means only due to the growing significance of e-commerce, but is also apparent when looking at physical stores in isolation. What makes paying easier and more convenient for consumers, means additional costs for ... Continue reading