Define each event

Identify when an order is placed, accepted, fulfilled, invoiced and paid. Different reports may use different events legitimately, but their labels must make that clear. A mismatch between dashboards can arise from timing rather than an error.

Build a simple reconciliation

Start with the relevant sales or invoice total and explain unpaid amounts, refunds, timing differences and other adjustments. Ask finance to confirm the appropriate treatment. Keep unexplained differences visible until an owner resolves them instead of forcing the totals to match through manual changes.

Review recurring exceptions

Investigate repeated missing payments, delayed invoices or duplicated records. The reconciliation process can reveal operational problems affecting customer experience and cash. It should produce actions that improve the flow, not merely a corrected spreadsheet each month. Keep the reconciliation at a level that supports investigation. A single unexplained monthly adjustment may make totals agree, but order-level or customer-level detail is often needed to identify the process that produced the difference. Keep supporting records for adjustments so future reviewers can reproduce the bridge and distinguish ordinary timing differences from unresolved collection or order issues.

Imagine this

Illustrative operating example

A hypothetical dashboard shows $100,000 in invoiced sales while $70,000 has been collected. If $25,000 remains unpaid and $5,000 was refunded, the bridge explains the difference. The business should still assess the collectability and status of the unpaid balance.

Make it practical.

Use this checklist as you read. Checks are not stored.

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