Reconciliation of payments and invoices

Purpose

1. Automate the matching and reconciliation of payments received (bank, online gateways) with invoices issued, reducing manual errors, and ensuring accurate records for legal billing compliance, reconciliation with client trust accounts, audit readiness, allocation of payments to correct accounts/cases, and detection of discrepancies or missed payments for legal firms operating in Administrative Law.

Trigger Conditions

1. New payment notification received from payment gateway or bank feed.

2. New invoice issued and logged in invoice management system.

3. Scheduled periodic check (e.g., daily, weekly) for unreconciled transactions.

4. Incoming client communication referencing payment or invoice details.

5. Update or correction posted to invoice or payment record.

Platform Variants

1. QuickBooks Online

• API: Create and retrieve transactions; sync payments with invoices (`/payments`, `/invoices`).
  
• Sample: Configure a periodic trigger to fetch new payments, auto-match to open invoices.
  

2. Xero

• API: Payments endpoint and Invoice endpoint (`POST /payments`, `GET /invoices`).
  
• Sample: Set trigger on new payment, cross-reference with open invoices by reference number.
  

3. FreshBooks

• Integration: Payments API (`GET /payments`, `PUT /invoices`).
  
• Sample: Fetch all new payments, scan for matching invoice numbers, update status.
  

4. Zoho Books

• API: Get Payments and Invoices (`/payments`, `/invoices`).
  
• Sample: On payment event, find corresponding invoice, mark as paid if matched.
  

5. Stripe

• API: Webhook for `invoice.payment_succeeded`; Invoice API (`GET /invoices`).
  
• Sample: Webhook triggers payment event, system looks up and reconciles invoice.
  

6. PayPal

• API: Webhooks for payment (`PAYMENT.SALE.COMPLETED`), Invoice Lookup.
  
• Sample: On payment completion, search invoices by client email/reference.
  

7. Sage Intacct

• API: Bill and Payment Object endpoints.
  
• Sample: Scheduled job checks for unreconciled payments and auto-matches.
  

8. Salesforce (using Accounting Seed or FinancialForce)

• API: Trigger on new transaction record, update invoice custom object accordingly.
  
• Sample: Use process builder to match payments to open invoices under related accounts.
  

9. Bill.com

• API: Payment API (`List Payments`, `Update Invoices`).
  
• Sample: On payment completion, update corresponding invoice to reflect status.
  

10. NetSuite

• SuiteTalk Web Services: Use `get`/`update` on invoices and payments records.
  
• Sample: Scheduled process cross-checks payments with outstanding invoices.
  

11. MYOB

• API: Payments and Invoices endpoints.
  
• Sample: Retrieve recent payments via API, check and update invoice statuses.
  

12. SAP (SAP Business One/SAP S/4HANA)

• API: Service Layer (`Payments` entity), BAPI for invoice/payment reconciliation.
  
• Sample: Poll payment objects, match and reconcile on business partner code.
  

13. Microsoft Dynamics 365

• API: Data entities for Customer Payments and Invoices.
  
• Sample: Flow triggers on payment entry, scans and matches to corresponding invoice.
  

14. Oracle ERP Cloud

• REST API: Receivables Invoices and Receipts endpoints.
  
• Sample: Integrate automated process to reconcile open receivables.
  

15. Pleo

• API: Fetch recent card transactions, allocate via reference to invoice records.
  
• Sample: Scheduler downloads transactions and flags potential invoice matches.
  

16. Square

• API: Payment Webhooks + Invoice API.
  
• Sample: Payment successful webhook triggers invoice status update.
  

17. Plaid

• API: Transactions endpoint for bank reconciliation.
  
• Sample: Pull recent bank deposits, match to invoice metadata in records.
  

18. Wise (formerly TransferWise)

• API: Webhook on inbound payment, lookup invoice reference in metadata.
  
• Sample: Payment event triggers invoice search and reconciliation.
  

19. Clio Manage (Legal Practice Software)

• API: Payments endpoint (`/api/v4/payments`) and billing APIs.
  
• Sample: New payment logged, find matching bill by matter and mark reconciled.
  

20. TrustBooks

• API: Payments logging and reconciliation end-points.
  
• Sample: Automatically tie deposits/transactions to case-specific invoices.
  

Benefits

1. Reduces human error, mismatches and omission in reconciliation.

2. Improves cash flow tracking for law firms.

3. Saves administrative effort; enables focus on client work.

4. Provides audit-ready, real-time and accurate financial records.

5. Alerts to missed or overpaid invoices and compliance issues.

6. Supports robust trust accounting for legal regulatory purposes.