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 processed through Sola 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 processed by Sola, the Merchant Download job treats payments processed via the PaymentSITE (payment page hosted by Sola) 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 Sola, the Cash Receipt and Billing Cash Receipt are created immediately.

In this article:

• Split Merchant Journal Entry Lines
• Credit Card and ACH Payments in the Merchant Download Job
• Convenience Fees Included in the Merchant Download Job
• Payment Activity Status Job

For each batch settled in Sola, the Merchant Download job 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 it can be easily compared to the settled batch in Sola. This Bank Deposit does not need to be cleared on a Bank Reconciliation since the funds pass through this GL Account.

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

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

• For the Journal Entry Line that debits the Bank GL Account, the Description field includes the Journal Entry Name, such as Merchant Funds Transfer Credit Card 2025-05-19 (deposit). Or, Merchant Funds Transfer ACH 2025-05-19 (deposit)
• For the Journal Entry Line that credits the Bank GL Account, the Description field includes the Journal Entry Name, such as Merchant Funds Transfer Credit Card 2025-05-19 (fee withdrawal). Or, Merchant Funds Transfer ACH 2025-05-19 (fee withdrawal).

Sola 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.

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.

Split Merchant Journal Entry Lines

On the Payment Processor screen, if you selected the Split Merchant JELs checkbox to have the Merchant Download job split the Journal Entry Lines (JELs), they will be split out by each transaction. Each JEL will be populated with the associated customer name in the Account field. Additionally, if you have convenience fees enabled, selecting this same checkbox provides the ability to split the Journal Entry Lines (one JEL, per transaction) that posts to the Unapplied A/R GL Account. And again, each JEL will be populated with the associated customer name in the Account field.

When the Split Merchant JELs checkbox is selected, each JEL recorded on the Merchant GL Account will set the Reference field on the Journal Entry (JE) for the Merchant Funds Transfer to the Merchant Batch ID on the transaction. In addition, on the JEL the Merchant Cash Receipt field displays the related Cash Receipt. Also, if Convenience Fees are enabled on the Payment Processor, for each JEL that debits the Unapplied Cash GL Account (or for a Cash Ledger, the Unapplied Revenue GL Account), the Reference field will be set to the Merchant Batch ID on the transaction.

If a batch includes Customer Prepayment Cash Receipts (created through the AR Prepayments feature), the Convenience Fee Journal Entry Lines for those receipts route to the Unapplied Prepayments GL Account instead of the standard Unapplied Cash GL Account. For correct GL routing, ensure these accounts are configured in Default GL Accounts as part of your AR Prepayments setup. See Set Up AR Prepayments.

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, Sola 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.

There’s a Bank Deposit in Accounting Seed for every Sola batch, but only one Journal Entry is created when Sola actually deposits the funds into the bank. So Journal Entries don’t always match 1:1 with batches or Bank Deposits.

When the Merchant Download job runs, two Bank Deposits are created: one for the credit card payments batch and one for the ACH payments batch. Each Bank Deposit has Merchant Journal Entries for the related deposit and fees for the batch (credit card or ACH payments). ACH payments have a two-business-day delay, so the credit card journal entry reflects that deposit, and the ACH batch journal entry is created when the actual funds are deposited.

On the Bank Deposit for ACH payments, the Deposit Reference and Merchant Batch ID fields will display a system generated number (instead of a Sola 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.

Convenience Fees Included in the Merchant Download Job

If Convenience Fees is enabled, they are included in the batch. When the Merchant Download job runs, these fees are displayed as part of the Merchant Funds Transfer Journal Entry record (see screen shot below).

To view the Merchant Funds Transfer Journal Entry record(s), open the Bank deposits list view, then select the Merchant Download Job list view. Select the Merchant Funds Transfer Journal Entry record.

If your Ledger’s Accounting Method is Accrual and Cash and you have configured convenience fees, when the job runs two journal entries are created: one for the accrual ledger (i.e., Accrual and Cash), and one for the Cash ledger. Convenience fees are recorded on the GL Account selected on the Default GL Accounts Page in the Unapplied Revenue GL Account setting.

If a batch includes Customer Prepayment Cash Receipts, the Convenience Fee for those receipts routes to the Unapplied Prepayments GL Account (for Accrual ledgers) or the Unapplied Prepayment Revenue GL Account (for Cash Basis ledgers or Accrual and Cash ledgers) instead of the standard Unapplied Cash GL Account or Unapplied Revenue GL Account. For correct GL routing, ensure these accounts are configured in Default GL Accounts as part of your AR Prepayments setup. See Set Up AR Prepayments.

Payment Activity Status Job

With Sola, 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 Sola, 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.

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