Cash application that keeps your receivables accurate.
The money has arrived. Now you need to know what it paid. Steinfin identifies incoming customer payments, matches them to the right customer and invoices, flags anything unclear and keeps your accounts receivable picture accurate.
Cash application is the work of matching money received from customers to the invoices it is paying. When it is done, each invoice shows the right status and each customer's balance is correct.
It sounds simple. It usually is, until one of these happens:
One payment covers several invoicesThe reference is missing or vagueThe amount does not matchRemittance advice arrives separatelyTwo customers have similar namesOnly part of an invoice is paidA deduction has been taken
Steinfin works through the matching, checks anything unclear and flags what needs your decision.
When a payment is not matched, your records do not know it arrived. The invoice stays overdue, the reminder still goes out, and a customer who has paid gets chased.
Payment not matched
Your bank+ £8,400$10,500€9,850C$14,300from Kestrel Supplies
Invoice 1048£8,400$10,500€9,850C$14,300
Overdue 12 days
Reminder goes out tomorrow. The customer has already paid.
Payment matched
Payment matched
Your bank+ £8,400$10,500€9,850C$14,300from Kestrel Supplies
Invoice 1048£8,400$10,500€9,850C$14,300
Paid
No reminder. The overdue report is correct.
When payments are not applied correctly
Invoices can still appear overdue
Customers can be chased after paying
Overdue reports become inaccurate
Cash forecasts become less reliable
Teams lose time investigating payments
Disputes can start unnecessarily
Unapplied cash builds up
How cash application works
From payment received to invoice updated.
Every payment goes through the same checks. Most match cleanly. The ones that do not are sorted by what went wrong, because each needs a different next step. Choose an outcome to see what happens.
1Payment arrives
2Identify the payer
3Read the reference or remittance
4Find the open invoices
5Match the amount
Received£5,000$6,250€5,850C$8,500
Open invoice£5,000$6,250€5,850C$8,500
DifferenceNone
What Steinfin does
Mark the invoice as paid and update the account.
Needs your input
No
Received£6,000$7,500€7,000C$10,200
Open invoice£10,000$12,500€11,700C$17,000
Difference£4,000$5,000€4,700C$6,800 remaining
What Steinfin does
Apply what was paid and track the balance still owed, so the invoice is neither wrongly shown as paid nor as fully overdue.
Needs your input
Only if it was not expected
Received£4,500$5,650€5,250C$7,650
Open invoice£4,250$5,300€4,950C$7,250
Difference£250$350€300C$400 extra
What Steinfin does
Hold the extra as unapplied and flag it to you. Nothing is refunded or moved to another invoice without your say.
Needs your input
Yes
Received£2,950$3,700€3,450C$5,000
Open invoice£3,200$4,000€3,750C$5,450
Difference£250$300€300C$450 short
What Steinfin does
Apply what was paid, flag the difference, check the remittance for a reason and route it through your agreed process.
Needs your input
Usually
Received£2,000$2,500€2,300C$3,350
Open invoiceNone found
DifferenceUnknown
What Steinfin does
Hold it as unapplied, investigate using the amount, date and customer history, then ask the customer or you.
A payment that does not line up with an invoice is an exception. We work out why, and only confirm the allocation once we are sure.
The amount differs
Lower than the invoice total
Higher than the invoice total
A deduction has been taken
It may relate to a credit note
The split is unclear
One payment, several invoices
One invoice, several payments
The payer is unclear
Reference missing
Payer name differs from the customer
Remittance advice missing
Could belong to another account
ExceptionExample
Received from Horizon Group£7,950$9,950€9,300C$13,500
Open invoices on the account
INV-3987£5,000$6,250€5,850C$8,500
INV-4011£3,200$4,000€3,750C$5,450
Total open£8,200$10,250€9,600C$13,950
Difference£250$300€300C$450 short
Next action
Check the remittance for a deduction, then bring it to you if there is no agreed reason.
Unapplied cash
The cash is in the bank. The records do not know what it paid.
Unapplied cash is money that has arrived but has not yet been matched to the invoice it belongs to. Until it is, your receivables do not tell the full story: balances look higher than they are, and the wrong accounts can end up being chased.
Unapplied paymentsExample
£12,450$15,550€14,550C$21,150Reference unclearNeeds match
Remittance advice is a message from the customer listing the invoices a payment covers. It is often the quickest way to match a payment correctly, and we use it wherever it exists.
Remittance adviceFrom ABC Trading Ltd
INV-1041£5,000$6,250€5,850C$8,500
INV-1048£4,250$5,300€4,950C$7,250
INV-1052£3,200$4,000€3,750C$5,450
Total paid£12,450$15,550€14,550C$21,200
Where it comes from
Email from the customer
The customer's supplier portal
The payment reference itself
An attached document
Notes in your accounting records
Partial, short and over
When the amount is not what the invoice says.
Partial paymentInvoice INV-2210 for £10,000$12,500€11,700C$17,000. Customer pays £6,000$7,500€7,000C$10,200.
A deductionA disputeA creditAn agreed adjustmentAn error
We identify the difference, look for the reason and route it through your agreed process. We never approve a deduction ourselves. If it turns into a query, see invoice dispute management.
Overpayment
Open balance£4,250$5,300€4,950C$7,250
Paid£4,500$5,650€5,250C$7,650
Extra£250$350€300C$400
What happens
Held as unappliedFlagged to youYou decide
We spot the extra and bring it to the right person on your side. We do not refund it or move it to another invoice unless you tell us how you want it handled.
Splits
One payment, many invoices. One invoice, many payments.
This is why cash application is more than checking that money arrived. The same amount of cash can mean very different things for your invoices.
One payment, three invoices
Payment received£14,250$17,800€16,650C$24,250
Invoice 1042£5,000$6,250€5,850C$8,500
Invoice 1051£4,250$5,300€4,950C$7,250
Invoice 1057£5,000$6,250€5,850C$8,500
Total applied£14,250$17,800€16,650C$24,250
One invoice, three payments
Invoice 1063£12,000$15,000€14,050C$20,400
Payment 1: £4,000$5,000€4,700C$6,800
£8,000$10,000€9,350C$13,600 left
Payment 2: £3,000$3,750€3,500C$5,100
£5,000$6,250€5,850C$8,500 left
Payment 3: £5,000$6,250€5,850C$8,500
Paid
How we find a match
Evidence first, then a decision.
A match is only confirmed when the evidence supports it. The more pieces line up, the surer we can be.
Amount matches an open invoicePossible
Payer name matches the customerLikely
Reference or remittance names the invoiceConfirmed
We also use open balances, payment dates and anything the customer has told us.
People review the unclear ones
Our systems help organise straightforward matches. Anything ambiguous is checked by a person, because we would rather flag a payment than force a match that makes the numbers look tidy.
Similar company names
Incomplete references
Amounts that do not line up
Unexplained deductions
Several invoices it could belong to
What you can see
Every payment, and where it has got to.
Payments received, what has been matched, what is partly matched, what is still unapplied and what needs your input, with the amount remaining and the history on each.
We work from your records. We never touch the money.
Your accounting system holds your invoices and payment records. We work from that information, together with remittance advice from your customers, to keep payments matched and receivables current. Customers keep paying into your own account, exactly as they do now.
What we work from
Invoice and payment records in your accounting system
Remittance advice from customers
Payment details you share with us
Access you grant, and can revoke at any time
What we never do
Move money or control your bank account
Issue refunds
Create credit notes or change invoices
Approve deductions
Write off balances
When one of these might be needed, we flag it and bring it to you.
Why it helps everything else
Accurate matching keeps the rest of accounts receivable honest.
Every other part of accounts receivable depends on knowing what has been paid. When payments are applied correctly and promptly, the rest of the work gets easier and more accurate.
Payments matched
Overdue reports stay accuratePaid customers stop being chasedFollow-up targets genuinely unpaid invoicesPromise tracking stays meaningfulCash visibility improvesCustomer conversations are accurate
Cash matching sits in Steinfin's Scale plan. The monthly fee depends on the size of your ledger, the number of payments and how much exception work is involved, and it is agreed before we start.
Find out what your overdue list is really telling you.
The free AR health check looks at your overdue invoices and where cash is being held up. It can also show signs of matching problems, such as invoices still overdue after the customer says they have paid, or payments sitting unapplied. No cost, no obligation.
It is the work of matching money received from customers to the invoices it is paying, so each invoice shows the right status and each customer account shows the right balance. The money has already arrived. Cash application answers the question: what did this payment pay?
Why is cash application important?
If a payment is not matched, the invoice can still show as unpaid. The customer may be chased after paying, overdue reports become unreliable, and time goes into investigating payments later. Accurate matching keeps the rest of accounts receivable honest.
What is unapplied cash?
Money that has arrived but has not yet been matched to the invoice or invoices it belongs to. The cash is in the bank, but the receivables records do not yet show what it paid.
How do you match a payment to an invoice?
We use the evidence available: the invoice number in the payment reference, remittance advice from the customer, the customer name, the amount, open balances on the account and the payment date. Straightforward matches are quick. Anything unclear gets checked by a person rather than forced into a match.
What happens if a payment covers multiple invoices?
We split it across the invoices it is paying, usually using the remittance advice or reference, and check that the amounts add up. If they do not, the difference is flagged as an exception.
What happens if a customer only pays part of an invoice?
We apply the amount paid and track the balance still owed. The invoice is not marked as paid, and it is not shown as fully overdue either. If the part payment was unexpected, we flag it.
What happens when the payment reference is missing?
We look at the amount, the date, the payer name and the open invoices on likely accounts, and check for remittance advice. If we still cannot be sure, the payment is held as unapplied and we ask the customer or you, rather than guessing.
Can Steinfin handle short payments?
We identify them, apply what was paid, flag the difference and look for the reason. Whether a deduction is accepted is your decision, and it goes through the process you have agreed with us.
Can Steinfin issue refunds or credit notes?
No. We never move money, issue refunds, create credit notes, approve deductions or write off balances. We flag when one of those may be needed and bring it to you. Your team makes and carries out the decision.
What is the difference between cash application and reconciliation?
Cash application matches customer payments to receivables invoices. Bank or accounting reconciliation is the wider bookkeeping task of confirming that your records agree with your bank. That wider task stays with your bookkeeper or accountant.
What is the difference between cash application and cash collection?
Cash collection gets the customer to pay. Cash application makes sure the payment is matched correctly once it arrives. Cash collection asks whether the customer has paid; cash application asks what the payment paid.
Can Steinfin work with Xero, QuickBooks and Sage?
Yes. Your accounting system holds your invoices and payment records. We work from that information, plus remittance advice from customers, to keep payments matched and receivables current.
Do you need access to our bank account?
We do not need to control your bank account and we never move money. Customers keep paying into your own account. We work from the payment information your accounting system already holds and from remittance advice, using access you grant and can revoke.
How much does outsourced cash application cost?
Cash matching is part of the Scale plan, which is priced to the size of your ledger, the number of payments and how much exception work is involved. We quote once we understand your setup. See the pricing page for how the plans work.
Know exactly what every payment paid.
Start with a free AR health check. We will show you where your receivables records and your cash are out of step.
