Merchant Download Automation Job

AR Automation is available to all customers operating in US Dollars. To activate this feature, please send an email to licensing@accountingseed.com.

Overview

Payments that process through Cardknox occur outside of Accounting Seed. Therefore, the related transactions must be routinely retrieved and converted into records in Accounting Seed. The Merchant Download job on the Automated Jobs screen must be set up to retrieve these transactions and create the required source documents. At the end of the day, all payments processed are settled in a batch.

In a batch of payments that are processed by Cardknox, the Merchant Download job treats payments processed via the PaymentSITE (payment page hosted by Cardknox) and those processed in Accounting Seed a little differently.

• For payments that are processed via the PaymentSITE, the job:
  
  • • Creates Cash Receipts and Billing Cash Receipts to associate them to the respective Billing.
    • Creates “stub” Payment Methods and Payment Activity records, which are associated to the Cash Receipts.
• For payments processed in Accounting Seed (using the Create Payment or Receive Payment screens), although the payments are processed by Cardknox, the Cash Receipt and Billing Cash Receipt are created immediately.

Do you want to learn about:

• Credit Card and ACH Payments in the Merchant Download Job
• Convenience Fees included in the Merchant Download Job

For each batch that is settled in Cardknox, the Merchant Download job then automatically creates a Bank Deposit record for the Merchant Bank GL Account and associates all the Cash Receipts in the related batch. The Bank Deposit serves as a grouping mechanism so that it can be easily compared to the settled batch in Cardknox. This Bank Deposit will not need to be cleared on a Bank Reconciliation since the funds pass through this GL Account.

Note: A Bank Deposit record will only be created in Accounting Seed when the Cardknox payment batch is closed (settled) and there are no pending payments. In other words, all payments in the batch have reached a status such as Success, Error, Void, or Declined.

Note: Click here to view the above image in full screen.

Note: Click here to view the above image in full screen. 

Finally, the Merchant Download job creates the Journal Entry that can be accessed directly from the Merchant Funds Transfer field on the Bank Deposit.

Note: Click here to view the above image in full screen. 

The Merchant Download job will automatically include the description on Journal Entry Lines that post to the Bank GL Account that is on the Payment Processor. The Description field will automatically be updated with the following information. 

• For the Journal Entry Line that will debit the Bank GL Account, the Description field will include the Journal Entry Name (such as Merchant Funds Transfer 2023-07-19) and the word "deposit." 
• For the Journal Entry Line that will credit the Bank GL Account, the Description field will include the Journal Entry Name (such as Merchant Funds Transfer 2023-07-19) and the words "fee withdrawal."

Cardknox sends two bank transactions for each batch:

• The first is a deposit for the gross amount of the batch. This will match the Journal Entry Line that debits the Bank GL Account. 
• The second is the fee withdrawal bank transaction that maps to the Journal Entry Line that credits the Bank GL Account.

Note: Click here to view the above image in full screen. 

When these bank transactions come in, they can be matched (auto-matched if the Enable Global Automated Match checkbox is selected in the BDC-Bank Settings screen) to the Journal Entry Lines. Once matched, they will automatically clear on the Bank Reconciliation.

Note: The Payment Activity Status job is included when the Merchant Download Automation job runs. 

Return to top

Credit Card and ACH Payments in the Merchant Download Job

If you accept both credit card and ACH payments, and your customers pay using both of these payment methods on the same day, Cardknox will create one batch for credit card payments and a different batch for ACH payments. In the sample screen below there is a batch number for the two ACH payments and a separate batch number for the credit card payment.

Note: ACH payments are denoted with the Check icon in the Account # column.

Note: Click here to view the above image in full screen. 

Each batch will align with a single Bank Deposit and a single set of Merchant Journal Entries for the deposit and fees. When the Merchant Download job runs, two Bank Deposits will be created (one for the credit card payments batch and one for the ACH payments batch). Each Bank Deposit will have Merchant Journal Entries for just the deposit and fees that are related to the respective batch (credit card or ACH payments).

On the Bank Deposit for ACH payments, the Deposit Reference and Merchant Batch ID fields will display a system generated number (instead of a Cardknox reference number and batch number). Additionally, the Reference field on the related Journal Entry (Merchant Funds Transfer) will include the same system generated number. This is for system purposes only and does not need to be tracked.

Note: Click here to view the above image in full screen. 

Convenience Fees included in the Merchant Download Job

If you enabled Convenience Fees, they will be included in the batch. When the Merchant Download job runs, these fees will display as a part of the Merchant Transfer Fund Journal Entry record (as in the sample screen below).

The Merchant Transfer Fund Journal Entry record(s) can be located by displaying the Bank Deposits list view, and selecting the Merchant Download Job list view. Then, from the list view, select the appropriate Merchant Transfer Fund Journal Entry record.

Note: The credit GL Account number will be the one that you added to the Payment Processor as the Convenience Fees GL Account.  

Note: Click here to view the above image in full screen. 

Payment Activity Status Job

With Cardknox, the Payment Activity Status job is included when the Merchant Download Automation job runs, so that the latest Payment Activity information is available when viewing the Payment Activities screen. When this job runs, if the Status on a “Pending” ACH payment changes to “Chargeback,’ the Status on the related Payment Activity record will be updated to “Error,” and the related Cash Receipt in Accounting Seed will be voided after the normal nightly job process completes. If the Status on an ACH payment changes from “Pending” to “Settled,” the Status on the related Payment Activity record will be updated to “Success.” Additionally, if a payment has been voided in Cardknox, the Status on the Payment Activity record will be updated to “Void,” and the related Cash Receipt will be voided (after the normal nightly job process) with a Void Description of “Voided by the Merchant Download job.”

When a Payment Activity record is created as part of the Merchant Download Automation job, the Payment Date field on the record will automatically populate with the date the payment was made.

Return to top

____________________

Winter '25 Preview 1 Release

Release Notes and Schedule

• A Bank Deposit record will only be created in Accounting Seed when the Cardknox payment batch is closed (settled) and there are no pending payments.
• Payment Status will be updated accordingly for ACH payments and voids. 

____________________

Spring '24 Release

Release Notes and Schedule

With Cardknox as your Payment Processor, Convenience Fees can be included on payments that are processed in Accounting Seed.