Unidentified payments: how to locate a payment, link it to an account, and clear the debt

In wholesale and online retail, customers often pay for goods by transferring money to a bank account (IBAN) or payment card. When processing bank statements daily, business owners and accountants regularly encounter situations where funds have been received, but the payment description does not include the invoice number, or the payer's surname does not match the customer's details. 

To handle such situations, Torgsoft provides a dedicated Unidentified Payments feature within the Invoice-Based Trading module. This tool allows businesses to record incoming payments to a bank account without immediately linking them to an order, separate the initial recording of bank statements from the subsequent identification of payers, and maintain accurate customer account balances. How can you quickly identify a payer using bank statement details? How should one bank transfer be allocated across several outgoing invoices? Why does a small outstanding balance of a few hryvnias or kopecks remain after linking a payment to an invoice? And what should you do if a payment was recorded under the wrong accounting center or company?

Basic concepts and how the feature works

Accurate accounting of incoming bank transfers in Torgsoft is based on a clear distinction between recording the receipt of funds and allocating those funds to shipment documents.

• Unidentified Payment — a financial document recording the receipt of funds into a bank account or cash register without specifying a particular customer invoice or order at the time of creation.

• Invoice-Based Trading (IBT) — a dedicated Torgsoft module for wholesale and online trading in which the sales process is divided into issuing an invoice, accepting payment (or prepayment), and generating an outgoing invoice for the shipment.

• Payment linking (allocation) — the process of matching an unidentified payment to a specific customer invoice. As a result, the funds are credited as an invoice prepayment or automatically applied to outstanding balances on outgoing invoices.

Why payments become unidentified: common reasons in trading

In retail and wholesale operations, several common situations can cause an incoming bank transfer to be classified as unidentified:

1. Missing invoice number in the payment description. A customer pays for an order through a self-service terminal or mobile banking app and enters only their surname or a general comment (for example, «for goods»), omitting the invoice number.

2. Payment made by a third party. An order was placed by one individual or legal entity, but the bank transfer was received from another person, such as a relative, representative, or business partner.

3. Automatic import of bank statements. When using the additional Bank Statements option (for example, with Privat24 for Business or monobank), all incoming transactions are imported into Torgsoft as unidentified payments for subsequent processing by a manager.

4. Separation of responsibilities within a company. A cashier or accountant records incoming payments from the bank statement at the beginning of the day, while sales managers allocate those payments to their orders later.

5. Payment through online acquiring or a payment terminal. Funds received from acquiring banks (for example, plata by mono or PrivatBank) are credited after the bank deducts its processing fee. As a result, the amount shown in the bank statement differs from the original invoice amount.

How to identify an unidentified payment in Torgsoft

Torgsoft provides several convenient analysis and filtering tools to help locate and identify incoming payments that have not yet been matched to a customer.

Open Document -> Invoice-Based Trading and go to the Customer Payments -> Unidentified Payments table. You can also access this information through Payment -> Bank Account Statements.

In the Unidentified Payments table, pay attention to the following key columns:

• Payment Date and Amount. Show the exact time and amount of the incoming transfer.

• Sender Account Information. Displays the payer's IBAN, EDRPOU code/tax identification number, or payment card number (including for statements from Privat24 business accounts and monobank).

• Description / Payment Purpose. The full text of the payment description provided by the bank.

• City and Employee. Additional information about the payment's geographic origin and the responsible operator.

To find a payment quickly, use the Unidentified Payments table's own date-range filter (which works independently of the general IBT filter), as well as filters for bank account, company, and amount.

Step-by-step instructions: how to link a payment to an invoice or shipment document

Once the payer has been identified, the payment must be linked to the corresponding document in the system.

1. In the Unidentified Payments table, select the row containing the required payment.

2. Click Link Payment to Invoice.

In the Unpaid Invoices window that opens, the software automatically filters invoices that match the payment amount. Adjust the filters if necessary:

• Set the required invoice issue date range.

• Specify the exact outstanding balance range.

• Check the selected Accounting Center and Bank Account.

Select the required invoice and click Select.

When the payment link is confirmed, Torgsoft performs the following actions:

1. An invoice prepayment is created for the selected invoice in the amount of the unidentified payment.

2. If outgoing invoices (goods shipments) have already been created for that invoice, the system automatically allocates the received amount to unpaid outgoing invoices, starting with the earliest one by date.

3. If the payment amount covers the outstanding balances on the outgoing invoices, their status automatically changes to Fully Paid, and they are closed.

4. If there are no outgoing invoices for a particular invoice and an overpayment occurs, the amount may remain as an overpayment on that invoice. For example, if the invoice amount is UAH 100 and an unidentified payment of UAH 150 is received, the invoice will simply show an overpayment of UAH 50. These UAH 50 cannot be automatically transferred to other invoices or outgoing invoices.

Practical answers to business owners' questions: resolving complex situations

Why does an outstanding balance of a few hryvnias or kopecks remain on an invoice or outgoing invoice after linking a payment?

 Cause. This is most often related to bank processing fees (acquiring fees) deducted from online payments or bank transfers. For example, a customer pays UAH 1,000 for an order through a website, but the bank credits only UAH 985 to the bank account after deducting a 1.5% fee. If the statement is imported without accounting for the acquiring fee, Torgsoft creates an unidentified payment of UAH 985. After linking it to the UAH 1,000 invoice, an outstanding balance of UAH 15 remains on the order.

 How to record it correctly. In the program settings (Settings -> Parameters -> Additional Functions -> Bank Account Statements), check the Account for Acquiring Fees When Creating a Payment setting. When enabled, Torgsoft automatically creates a financial document for the customer's full payment amount (UAH 1,000) and a separate financial expense document for the bank fee (UAH 15) under the Acquiring expense category. 

If a payment is entered or edited manually in the Unidentified Payment window, make sure the bank account's commission settings are correct, or clear the Do Not Account for Acquiring Fees checkbox if this is a direct IBAN transfer without a fee.

How do you allocate a single unidentified payment when goods under one invoice were shipped using several outgoing invoices?

 Cause. The customer made one large bank transfer for an invoice, but the goods were shipped in several batches covered by 2–3 outgoing invoices.

 How to record it correctly. There is no need to split the unidentified payment manually. When linking it to the main invoice, Torgsoft uses an automatic sequential allocation algorithm: the system first settles the outstanding balance on the earliest outgoing invoice, then applies the remaining amount to the second outgoing invoice, and so on. If the outgoing invoices were created after the payment was recorded, use Allocate Prepayment on the Invoice Prepayment tab so that the system can allocate the existing balance to the new shipment documents.

Why is an unidentified payment linked to an invoice but shown under the wrong store in the «Daily Cash Register Report»?

 Cause. In retail chains with multiple stores (accounting centers) and a shared bank account, the bank statement is imported under the accounting center where the operator was working when the statements were retrieved. As a result, the unidentified payment's financial document initially appears in Store No. 1's cash register report.

 How to record it correctly. Current versions of Torgsoft include an automatic adjustment mechanism: when an unidentified bank transfer is linked to an invoice, the accounting center of the payment's financial document automatically changes to the Invoice Accounting Center. If the linked payment still appears under a different cash register, check the bank account details (Settings -> Retail Network -> Bank Account) to verify that cash registers and companies are correctly assigned to their respective accounting centers.

What should you do if an invoice is issued in a foreign currency (USD/EUR), but the unidentified payment is received in Ukrainian hryvnias (UAH)?

 Cause. The customer received an invoice in a foreign currency, but payment is made to a UAH bank account at the National Bank of Ukraine exchange rate or the company's agreed exchange rate.

 How to record it correctly. Torgsoft supports linking unidentified UAH payments to invoices issued in foreign currencies. When linking the payment, the UAH transfer amount is converted into the invoice currency using the current exchange rate or the rate recorded on the invoice itself (if the Fix Exchange Rate for Payment option is enabled). If a minor discrepancy of a few kopecks occurs after conversion due to exchange-rate rounding, it can be corrected using the amount adjustment button or by settling the remaining balance through the appropriate balance adjustment transaction.