Settlements Guide

Understanding Accrue Pay's Settlement and Reconciliation Process​

What is a Settlement?​

A settlement is a financial process that batches multiple transactions (payments and refunds) into consolidated transfers. This guide explains how settlements work with Accrue Pay and how they affect your business operations.

Settlements are applicable to Accrue Pay options of Pay by Bank and integrations using Pay by Wallet Payments API. Settlements are NOT applicable to Tap to Pay and ACH with Pay by Wallet.

Settlement Options​

Accrue Pay offers two settlement approaches:

1. Net Settlement:

   • Multiple transactions can be netted out so that only the net amount is transferred between banks, reducing the number of individual fund movements
   • Payment transactions are batched into a single daily credit to your merchant account
   • Refund transactions are batched into a single daily debit from your merchant account
   • Settlements occur each weekday

2. Gross Settlement:

   • Each payment or refund is processed individually in real-time against your merchant bank account. This option is not recommended for high-volume retail payments.

Understanding Settlement Periods​

The settlement period is the time between when a customer payment is captured (or a refund is initiated) and when those funds reach the final destination account. This timeline is critical for effective cash flow management.

Accrue supports these settlement methods:

Note: Accrue includes a holding period before settlement to protect against fraud and identity theft.

How the Settlement Process Works​

This section applies only to Standard and Same Day ACH. RTP uses instant settlements.

When a settlement is generated:

For Payments:​

• Only cleared payments are included in the settlement
• All cleared payments are combined into a single credit transfer to your merchant account
• Pending payments are excluded

For Refunds:​

• Only initiated refunds are included in the settlement
• All initiated refunds are combined into a single debit transfer from your merchant account
• After this transfer, funds are distributed to each customer's account

Accrue recommends daily settlements but can support more frequent reconciliation based on your needs.

Handling Failed Transactions​

Settlement Reports​

Settlement reports are available in CSV format and include:

1. Summary Information for the entire settlement
2. Individual transaction details for each payment or refund

Sample Settlement Report​

settlementId,captureCount,captureTotal,captureFeeTotal,creditTotal,refundCount,refundTotal,refundFeeTotal,debitTotal,type,paymentId,paymentIntentId,refundId,userId,amount,settledAmount,feeAmount
d384b7ef-744d-446f-acfe-f3fde2dfbf46,2,1100,206,894,0,0,0,0,Payment,dfcfab0c-b600-40cf-ba44-9e2c3886b048,1af34308-b87e-42ea-8863-cd2ca5ab81e0,,4f7c9c1d-c92d-4979-90e9-6058460db99a,700,596,104
d384b7ef-744d-446f-acfe-f3fde2dfbf46,2,1100,206,894,0,0,0,0,Payment,0d940119-a839-49b4-bef5-cd49368de613,2885d9ee-5508-4e51-9153-9c4b686eca73,,606eec0e-e0f5-4f64-b277-1f9b54f7d195,400,298,102

Report Field Definitions​

Settlement Summary Fields:

Individual Transaction Fields:

Accounting System Integration​

Accrue settlement reports are designed to integrate with standard accounting and reconciliation systems. For merchants with specific reconciliation requirements, Accrue's API allows for custom integration with your existing financial systems.

Optimizing your settlement process can significantly improve cash flow and financial operations. Contact your Accrue representative to customize settlement options for your business needs.