Reconcile SME Finances

Objective

Turn fragmented payment, order, invoice, and ledger exports into a traceable monthly reconciliation and accountant handoff pack.

Workflow

1. Confirm the entity, accounting period, base currency, business model, channels, tax status if known, and the intended recipient of the output.
2. Inventory source files and preserve each source row. Never overwrite the originals.
3. Normalize data to the schema in references/input-schema.md.
4. Separate money direction from sign conventions. Represent receipts as positive and payments as negative in the normalized file.
5. Deduplicate exact and probable duplicates using source, transaction ID, date, amount, counterparty, and reference.
6. Match transactions to orders, refunds, invoices, receivables, payables, platform settlements, and transfers using references/reconciliation-rules.md.
7. Run scripts/reconcile_transactions.py for a deterministic summary and exception list when a normalized CSV is available.
8. Classify unmatched items as missing-order, missing-invoice, unidentified-counterparty, possible-duplicate, timing-difference, internal-transfer, or needs-accountant-review.
9. Produce the monthly handoff package and management summary.

Data Integrity

• Preserve original transaction IDs, source file names, and row numbers.
• Never silently discard a transaction.
• Keep gross sales, platform fees, refunds, and net settlements separate when the source provides them.
• Do not net receipts and payments merely because the amounts match.
• Distinguish a suspected match from a confirmed match.
• Record every manual assumption in an assumptions table.
• Mask personal IDs and unnecessary sensitive data in shared outputs.

Required Outputs

1. Source inventory and completeness assessment.
2. Normalized transaction ledger.
3. Channel totals for receipts, payments, refunds, fees, and net cash movement.
4. Reconciliation summary by status.
5. Exception list with owner and evidence needed.
6. Invoice exception list and receivable/payable follow-up list when those inputs exist.
7. Accountant handoff memo describing sources, assumptions, unresolved items, and material changes.
8. Owner-friendly operating summary that is clearly labelled as management information, not statutory accounts.

Resource Routing

• Read references/input-schema.md before normalizing files.
• Read references/reconciliation-rules.md before matching or classifying transactions.
• Copy assets/accountant-handoff-template.md for the monthly memo.
• Use scripts/reconcile_transactions.py --help for deterministic summaries.

Boundaries

Do not file taxes, issue invoices, alter bank records, or make final accounting classifications that require a licensed accountant. Flag transactions involving owners, related parties, loans, capital, payroll, overseas payments, crypto assets, large cash movements, or unclear tax treatment for professional review.