Why Are Some Of My Card Transactions Not Reconciled?

We know that managing reconciliation can be a headache, especially when you’re aiming for perfectly clean books. While ITILITE handles the bulk of the work automatically, you might occasionally see "unreconciled" items that require a second look. Let's explore the different reconciliation statuses and how ITILITE empowers you to keep your records accurate.

Table of Contents

• Understanding ITILITE's Reconciliation Logic
  
• Step-by-Step Guide: Downloading Your Reconciliation Report
• Pro-Tips & Guardrails
• Verification & FAQs

Understanding ITILITE's Reconciliation Logic

ITILITE is designed to streamline your financial processes by automatically matching eligible card charges to their corresponding booking records. This "auto-reconciliation" happens when both the booking and payment occur directly on the ITILITE platform, ensuring a smooth and efficient workflow for most of your travel spend.

While ITILITE aims for 100% reconciliation of eligible spend, it's important to understand that there might be some cases of irregular charging, which can take up to 5 days from posting to auto-reconcile.

What is Eligible Platform Spend?

"Eligible platform spend" refers to transactions where your booking was made within ITILITE, and the payment was processed using ITILITE-controlled instruments(except one-time hotel cards for CCAuth bookings). Only these transactions are eligible for automated booking-to-charge matching. This includes:

• Flights booked on ITILITE.
• Hotels prepaid on ITILITE.
• Hotels post-paid using one-time virtual ITILITE cards.
• ITILITE-initiated charges like Service Fees or Folio collection charges.

Before attempting to match a transaction, ITILITE applies a smart pre-filter layer to identify and categorize non-eligible transactions upfront. This helps ensure that only relevant transactions proceed to the reconciliation matching engine.

Reconciliation Status Categories

Every card transaction in ITILITE falls into one of three clear reconciliation statuses, ensuring you always know where each transaction stands:

• Reconciled: These transactions have been automatically matched to a corresponding booking on the ITILITE platform, requiring no further action from you.
• Unreconciled: This status is for spend that seems eligible but could not be automatically matched due to specific discrepancies. These transactions are flagged for your finance team to verify manually. A few reasons for discrepancies are listed below.
• Non-reconcilable: This category includes transactions where the booking or payment occurred outside of ITILITE's direct control. While included in your reports, they are excluded from the auto-reconciliation calculation. For these transactions, use the merchant details available in the report to trace the invoice on external platforms and manually reconcile.

All transactions, regardless of their reconciliation status, are included in your downloadable reconciliation export, providing a complete and audit-ready record. This is available to download any time, and transactions can take up to 5 days to auto-reconcile.

Why are some transactions still unreconciled?

Some transactions may appear as unreconciled temporarily due to standard system processing cycles or internal adjustments. These transactions require manual reconciliation because they involve activities or issues that occur outside ITILITE's direct control. For these, your input ensures accuracy:

• Amount Variance: The charged amount differs from the expected booking amount. For example, if travel credits were partially used, the card was charged only the remaining balance, but the system might compare against the full booking value.
• Date Misalignment: The date when the charge posted differs from the booking or transaction date on record. Card settlement dates can vary from booking dates by several days.
• Split or Partial Settlement: The vendor charged the card in multiple parts rather than a single charge matching the booking amount. Airlines might combine charges for multiple bookings or charge individual legs separately.
• Missing or Inconsistent Booking Reference: The data needed to link the charge to a specific booking is incomplete or doesn't match.
• Off-Platform Airline Charges: When a traveler contacts an airline directly (e.g., to purchase a seat upgrade) after the original ITILITE booking, the airline charges the card directly, bypassing ITILITE.

From the above cases, only charges made by ITILITE will be automatically reconciled within 5 days of posting. 

Transactions Considered 'Not Eligible'

'Not Eligible' transactions are those where ITILITE does not control the settlement or booking source. These are included in your reporting but are excluded from the auto-reconciliation calculation:

• Non-Travel Spend: Transactions identified by Merchant Category Codes (MCC) as non-travel (e.g., software, retail, subscriptions) are marked as 'Not Eligible' with the remark 'Spent outside ITILITE'.
• Rental Car and Toll-Related Charges: Identified by merchant name patterns, these are typically pay-at-pickup charges billed directly by the rental agency and are marked as 'Not Eligible' with the remark 'Rental car spend'.
• Card Not Used on ITILITE: If a card has never been used on the ITILITE platform and was not issued as a one-time virtual card, all transactions on that card are marked as 'Not Eligible'.
• No Matching Booking Record: If no corresponding booking record exists for the card and charge combination, the transaction is marked as 'Not Eligible'.
• Hotel Incidentals: Charges beyond the room booking not covered by the booking card are not eligible for auto-reconciliation.
• Off-Platform Flight Cancellations: Cancellations made directly with the airline, not through ITILITE, are not eligible.

Step-by-Step Guide: Downloading Your Reconciliation Report

To gain a comprehensive overview of all your card transactions and their reconciliation statuses, you can easily download a detailed report from ITILITE.

• From your ITILITE Dashboard, locate and click on the Card section in the sidebar menu. This will take you to your card management area, where you can oversee all card-related activities.

• Within the Card section, navigate to the Transactions tab. Here, you'll find a list of all your company's card transactions, providing a clear view of your spending.
• To access the reconciliation report, click on the Export reconciliation button. This action prepares a detailed report that includes the reconciliation status for each transaction.

• A prompt will appear asking you to select the period for your report. Choose your desired timeframe to ensure the report covers the transactions you need to review.

• Finally, click the Export button to download your comprehensive reconciliation report. This report will provide all the necessary details to understand the status of your card transactions.

Sample Reconciliation Report

Pro-Tips & Guardrails

Verification & FAQs

Once you've downloaded your reconciliation report, you'll see a clear, organized Excel file containing all your card transactions. Each transaction will be accompanied by its specific reconciliation status (Reconciled, Unreconciled, or Non-reconcilable), along with relevant booking or merchant references, giving you a complete picture of your spending.

Q: What are the different reconciliation status categories?
A: ITILITE uses three main categories: Reconciled for automatically matched transactions, Unreconciled for eligible platform spend that requires manual verification due to discrepancies, and Non-reconcilable (External or Off-Platform) for transactions outside ITILITE's control. These statuses provide a clear overview of every transaction.

Q: What does “Unreconciled” signify for a transaction?
A: "Unreconciled" indicates that an eligible platform transaction could not be automatically matched due to specific reasons like amount variances, date misalignments between the charge and booking, split or partial settlements, or missing booking references. These transactions are flagged for your finance team to review and reconcile manually.

Q: How long does it take for a transaction to auto-reconcile?
A: Most eligible transactions are automatically matched within 2 to 5 days of the charge posting. This window allows the system to sync data between vendor settlements and ITILITE’s booking records.