Voucher reconciliation should be a repeatable month-end check, not an afternoon spent forcing unrelated totals to match.
VoucherGrid records the voucher event. Stripe records the payment, fee and payout. Xero records the accounting entries and the bank deposit.
Those are different views of the same commercial activity. They should reconcile, but they should not be collapsed into one number.
This article is a reconciliation checklist for discussion with your accountant, not an active VoucherGrid-to-Xero setup guide. Xero activation and journal delivery, complete accounting totals and journal exports are currently held. Your accountant should confirm the chart of accounts, tax treatment and recognition policy using the available source records.
Why the numbers look different
Suppose a buyer purchases a $150 voucher online.
VoucherGrid records $150 of voucher value issued.
Stripe records the gross payment, deducts the applicable processing fee and later includes the net amount in a payout.
The bank receives the payout—not necessarily on the same date as the original sale and not necessarily as a one-to-one deposit.
Trying to reconcile the bank deposit directly to the gross voucher sale ignores the fee and payout timing. A payment-clearing account gives each amount somewhere to live until the payout reaches the bank.
Account purposes to agree with your accountant
A typical setup distinguishes several account purposes.
Payment clearing
The gross online payment, processing fee, refunds and later payout can pass through a Stripe clearing account. Its closing balance should represent explainable unsettled activity rather than missing voucher revenue.
Gift voucher contract liability
Advance consideration for an unresolved voucher may be recorded in one or more liability accounts until the promised goods or services are transferred or another recognition conclusion is reached.
Do not assume one universal account code or even one universal current/non-current classification. Use the chart and presentation agreed with the accountant.
Revenue accounts
Redemption or other recognition events move the applicable amount from the liability into the appropriate revenue and tax accounts. Businesses with taxable, GST-free or mixed supplies may need more than one mapping.
Payment-processing expense
Stripe fees should be visible as expenses or costs under the business's chosen accounting policy—not treated as missing voucher value.
Four common event shapes
Online voucher sale
The payment enters the clearing workflow and the unresolved voucher value enters the contract-liability workflow. For a qualifying Division 100 voucher, the issue itself is not a taxable supply under the assumptions used in the merchant's configuration.
Redemption
The redeemed amount reduces the voucher balance. The accounting entry uses the saved transaction and supply evidence to move the applicable amount into revenue and GST accounts.
Refund or void
The reversal follows the original event evidence. A refund should not be reclassified using today's GST status or a newly changed default.
Expiry or other recognition event
VoucherGrid identifies the remaining value and supporting history. The accountant's approved policy determines whether and when revenue or an increasing GST adjustment is recognised.
The month-end checklist
01 · Check current accounting availability
Xero activation and journal delivery are currently held. Existing connection and journal history remains in Settings → Connections. Reconnecting, changing mappings or replaying journals will not clear the hold.
Retained history is not proof that new delivery is active or that accounting totals are complete.
02 · Reconcile the voucher liability
Outstanding voucher liability is currently held in VoucherGrid. Available operational balances are distinct from accounting liability. Ask your accountant to reconcile the source voucher, payment and supply records to the applicable ledger accounts; do not assume the two totals must be identical.
If they differ, investigate:
- a manual journal;
- an imported opening balance;
- a redemption or refund recorded in only one system;
- a held accounting event;
- a prior-period correction; or
- historical evidence that was deliberately left incomplete rather than guessed.
The objective is an explained difference or an approved correction—not a forced match.
03 · Reconcile Stripe clearing to Stripe and the bank
The clearing balance should agree to explainable unsettled payments, fees, refunds and payouts.
Use the Stripe payout detail and bank feed rather than comparing one bank deposit with one voucher sale. A payout can contain several charges and adjustments from different dates.
04 · Review fees and refunds
Check that processing fees are recorded separately and that refunds link back to their originating payments and vouchers.
Original card-processing fees may not be returned by the provider. Use the actual Stripe statement and the merchant's pricing agreement rather than a hard-coded fee assumption.
05 · Review GST evidence where applicable
GST reporting begins with the merchant's verified registration profile.
For registered merchants, review the saved voucher category and supply allocation used by each event. Qualifying Division 100 vouchers, specific-supply vouchers, GST-free services and mixed redemptions can follow different workflows.
For merchants that are not registered, operational voucher records remain useful. Current accounting holds apply regardless of registration; verified GST registration does not enable the held outputs.
06 · Attach the evidence
Retain available operational exports and original payment, invoice and ledger evidence with the month-end workpaper. Historical VoucherGrid exports retain their original results; they are not newly validated accounting totals.
The useful test is simple: can another person open the period later and understand why the voucher liability and clearing balances changed?
Common differences and where to look
| Difference | Likely place to investigate |
|---|---|
| Operational voucher balance differs from ledger liability | Different scope or recognition basis; review original payment, supply and opening-balance evidence with the accountant |
| Stripe clearing does not match unsettled payouts | Missing fee, refund timing, payout cutoff or manual bank coding |
| Source tax evidence differs from Xero | Tax-profile date, voucher category, invoice attribution or unsupported historical evidence; VoucherGrid BAS output is held |
| Refund amount differs from original sale | Provider fee treatment, partial refund or reversal posted against the wrong evidence |
How VoucherGrid supports the workflow
VoucherGrid keeps operational voucher balances and event history available for review, subject to your plan and permissions.
Xero and QuickBooks activation and journal delivery remain held, as do Voucher revenue summary, Outstanding voucher liability, Quarterly BAS voucher activity, Breakage recognition log and Journal entries import. No connection repair or plan upgrade clears those holds.
VoucherGrid does not choose the merchant's chart of accounts or accounting policy. It reduces the amount of history the accountant has to reconstruct.
Bottom line
A clean reconciliation separates four things:
- voucher value issued;
- outstanding customer obligation;
- payment-provider fees and payout timing; and
- revenue and GST recognised under the approved policy.
Keep those records distinct, link them with references and review exceptions rather than hiding them. Month-end then becomes a controlled check instead of an archaeological dig.
