Financial Data Flow
Understanding your Financial Data Flow is Critical
Today’s commerce environment offers countless platforms for generating sales and an equally wide range of systems to process the resulting payments. Knowing how this financial data flows—from the initial sale to the final balance in a bank or clearing account—is critical for accurate accounting and reporting.
At Bookkeep, we define financial data flow as the journey of a transaction from the point of sale, through payment processing, to the final balance, typically net of fees. Depending on your setup, sales, payments, and balances may all remain on a single platform or be spread across multiple systems.
For example, you might create invoices in PayPal, collect payments through PayPal, and hold your balance in PayPal, keeping everything in one place. More often, however, the process is more complex. Sales might originate in one platform (e.g., WooCommerce), payments process through another (e.g., PayPal), and final balances settle in a separate bank 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 |
| BigCommerce | Square | Bank Institution |
| Woocommerce | PayPal | Bank Institution |
| Woocommerce | Stripe | Bank Institution |
| Walmart | Walmart | Bank Institution |
| Shopify | Sezzle | Bank Institution |
These examples only scratch the surface of the many possible combinations. Understanding your specific financial data flow is vital to ensure all transactions are captured accurately and that sales, payments, and balances are properly tracked.
For assistance in mapping or reconciling your financial data flow, contact [email protected].