Chase in your books

Your Chase operating account is a cash account, an asset on the balance sheet. Most of the company's money moves through it: customer payments and payouts coming in, payroll, rent, card payments and vendor bills going out.

Most deposits settle something you already recorded. When you invoiced the $12,500, the books recorded the revenue and a receivable. The wire that arrives later only clears that receivable, so it shouldn't touch revenue at all.

This one arrives $25 short because an intermediary bank took a fee. The entry debits cash for the $12,475 that landed and bank fees for $25, and credits accounts receivable for the full $12,500. The customer owes nothing more, and cash matches the statement. Outgoing payments work the same way in reverse: paying a vendor bill clears accounts payable instead of adding a new expense.

Reconcile the account to the statement's ending balance to the cent. Whatever's left over has to be a named item, like a check that hasn't cleared. An item that's been outstanding for months deserves a call to whoever was paid.

Then read the accounts receivable aging. Once every payment is matched to its invoice, the customers left on it really do still owe you.

Reconciliation is how the books prove their cash figure. Stripe and Shopify payouts land here, and each should be split into its parts before it's matched.