Payment matching connects a transaction in your bank feed to what it actually settles — an invoice you sent or a bill you owe.
The direction of the transaction determines what you're matching against. Money coming in matches to invoices; money going out matches to bills.
What Books matches for you
Some payments arrive already matched, because Mercury originated the payment or was already tracking what it settles.
- Bills paid through Mercury Bill Pay sync into Books matched to the bill.
- Invoice payments received into a Mercury account and tracked in Mercury Invoicing are matched to the invoice. A payment matched in either product shows as matched in both
Everything else you match yourself — payments into or out of a connected external account, invoices and bills you track in Books from another tool, and anything Mercury couldn't match on its own.
Books narrows it down for you either way. When you open a transaction to match it, Books suggests the invoices or bills the payment is likely to settle, based on the date and the amount, and you confirm.
Matching a payment
- Under Books, go to Transactions and open the transaction details panel (>)
- Click the match icon
- Books lists the invoices or bills the payment is likely to settle, based on date and amount, with the closest one already selected
- Adjust the selection, or search for what you're looking for. A single payment can settle more than one invoice or bill
- As you select, Applied and Remaining show how much of the payment you've accounted for. Books confirms when the full amount is applied
- Resolve any difference between the payment and the amount owed
- Confirm the match
Once matched, the transaction's journal entry reflects the invoice or bill's line items, so the detail carries through to your reports.
Note: Payments are matched one transaction at a time.
When the payment and the amount owed don't line up
A full payment marks the invoice or bill as paid.
A partial payment leaves the remainder outstanding. Books allocates the payment proportionally across all the line items rather than settling them in order, so a payment covering half an invoice reduces each line by half. You can leave the remainder outstanding, close the remaining balance, or adjust the invoice or bill.
An overpayment leaves an amount the invoice or bill doesn't account for. Assign the remainder to another ledger account while matching, and the transaction's category updates to reflect it. You can also adjust the original payment amount.
Changing the category of a matched payment
A matched transaction takes its categories from the invoice or bill line items, so change them on the invoice or bill and the transaction follows. Edits that would invalidate the match — changing a line item amount, for example — are blocked while the payment is matched. Unmatch it first.
To recategorize lines across many invoices or bills at once, ask Command.
Unmatching a payment
- Under Books, go your Transactions page, locate your payment and open the transaction details panel (>)
- Click the unmatch icon
- Confirm in the Unmatch Payment dialog
Unmatching reverses the journal entry, restores the outstanding amount on the invoice or bill, and leaves the transaction uncategorized so you can recategorize or rematch it.
Note: Unmatching removes the payment from every invoice or bill linked to that transaction, not just the one you're looking at. If a single payment settled several invoices, all of them are affected.
Payments Books can't see
Matching needs the payment to exist as a transaction in Books.
- Paid into an external account. Connect the account, or import the transaction with a CSV, then match it
- Paid in cash, or by a method Books can't connect to. Create an account in Books for it, add the payment as a transaction, then match
- Dated before your entry start date. The payment isn't in your books. Create a journal entry to clear the corresponding accounts receivable or accounts payable. See Setting your entry start date
Troubleshooting
An invoice paid in Mercury Invoicing shows a banner about matching in Books.
Books applies stricter rules than Invoicing, so a payment matched in Invoicing isn't always settled from a bookkeeping point of view. A few situations need attention on the Books side:
- The payment was received into an account that isn't in your books. Import the transaction into Books and match it there
- The payment is dated before your entry start date, so it isn't in your books. Create a journal entry to clear the corresponding accounts receivable
- The payment is less than the total invoiced. Unmatch it, then rematch in Books so the difference is allocated
- The payment is already applied to other invoices. Unmatch to resolve the conflict, then rematch
An invoice is fully paid in Invoicing but shows as Paid — Needs Action in Books.
The payment transaction is usually already linked to another invoice. Open the transaction, unmatch, then rematch so each invoice is settled by the right amount.
You can't mark an invoice as paid outside Mercury.
If you're using Books, match the payment in Books first. That means the payment has to exist as a transaction in Books, so connect or import the account it landed in.
Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided through Choice Financial Group and Column N.A., Members FDIC.