Understanding Billing and Transaction Reports

This guide helps partners and merchants reconcile their transaction reports with billing invoices in the gateway. It addresses common questions about discrepancies and provides step-by-step instructions for accurate reconciliation.

Matching Transaction Numbers to the Invoice

Merchants may notice a mismatch between:

• The number of transactions reported in the portal.
• The number of transactions listed on their billing invoice.

Time Zone Differences

• Merchant Portal reports display data based on the merchant’s time zone settings.
• Billing is calculated based on UTC (Universal Time Coordinated).

To ensure accurate reconciliation, reports must be run using UTC time.

💡 Time Zone Tip: If Daylight Saving Time is in effect (e.g., Eastern Daylight Time = UTC -4), adjust accordingly when calculating date ranges.

Time Zones, Transaction Windows, and Billing Accuracy

Understanding how time zones and transaction windows affect billing is crucial for accurate reconciliation.

Merchants with Fixed Operating Hours (e.g., 9 AM – 5 PM)

• These merchants typically process all transactions during a predictable daily window.
• Reports pulled using local time may appear to show a clean 24-hour cycle of business activity.

Merchants with 24/7 or Evening Processing

• These merchants often process transactions late at night or across midnight, which can span multiple UTC days.
• If a transaction occurs at 11:30 PM local time, it may fall on the next day’s invoice in UTC.
• Without adjusting reports to UTC, it can be difficult to track which day the transaction was billed for.

How to Reconcile a Billing Statement with Transaction Reports

Follow these steps to match the transaction count on a billing invoice.

1. Temporarily Change the Merchant’s Time Zone to UTC
   • Go to Settings → Account Information → Time Zone → Universal Time Coordinate (UTC).
2. Open the Billing Statement
   • Navigate to Settings → Billing Statements.
   • Select the relevant invoice and note the Service Date range.
3. Count the Number of Transactions
   • Go to Transaction Reports → Search Transactions.
   • Enter the same Service Date range shown in the billing statement.
   • Click Submit, then Download Transactions.
   • Open the file in Excel or Google Sheets.
   • Filter out rows labeled “settlement” in the type column.
     💡 Excel Tip: Use the “Filter” button under the “Data” tab to add filter dropdowns.
   • Count the remaining rows — this is the transaction count.
4. Count the Number of Settlement Batches
   • Go to Transaction Reports → Transaction Snapshot.
   • Use the same date range.
   • Click Submit.
   • Count the number of settlement batches:
     • Typically, one per day.
     • Some merchants may have two per day if processing both credit card and ACH transactions.
     • Some processors (e.g., TSYS) may generate multiple batches per day, each billable.

5. Add the Counts Together

   Total Transactions + Total Settlement Batches = Billed Transactions

6. Reset the Merchant’s Time Zone

   • Go back to Settings → Account Information.
   • Change the time zone back to the original setting.

Converting a Date Range to UTC

Suppose the merchant wants all activity for April 16 (00:00 to 24:00) in their local time.

If it's currently Daylight Savings Time (EDT = UTC -4), subtract 4 hours:

• Start Time (UTC): April 15, 8:00 PM
• End Time (UTC): April 16, 8:00 PM

This ensures full coverage of the 24-hour window.

Reconciling via API for High-Volume Merchants

If a merchant processes a large volume of transactions and cannot retrieve complete reports through the UI:

• Use the Query API to pull reports in UTC format.
• This ensures consistent data for reconciliation at scale.

Time Zones Behavior in the Partner vs Merchant Portal

Time zones affect how timestamps appear in reports. Here’s how the two portals behave: