Balancing your Stripe Suspense Account

Scenarios:

You are an existing Enrolmy user.
You are currently using Stripe to take credit/debit card payments.
Your Enrolmy account is integrated with Xero.
You are currently reconciling Stripe payments using the Suspense Account method.
You want to understand the balance of your Stripe Suspense Account.

Optional:

You want to balance your Stripe Suspense Account to $0.00 because you are switching to the Stripe Transactions Bank Account method.

This document assumes the following:

You are a proficient user of Xero.
You understand how the Stripe Suspense Account process works.
You have been diligently following the Stripe Suspense Account’s process when coding your Credit/debit Card payments.
- If you have not been accurately following this process, this will affect the accuracy of the information you receive from Xero as described in this help guide.
You understand how to find the transactional report on the Stripe Suspense Account in Xero.

Optional

For those transitioning from Stripe Suspense Account to Stripe Transactions Bank Account method.

You have read the Transitioning from Using the Stripe Suspense Account to Using the Stripe Transactions Bank Account in Xero

The Help Guide below provides specific examples (with scenarios) on Balancing Your Stripe Suspense Account.

Balancing Your Stripe Suspense Account

There are three scenarios where you would see a zero balance on your Stripe Suspense Account at the end of the month.

This document uses 10 May 2022 as the month for referencing any examples.

Background

All Credit/Debit Card payments taken on Enrolmy for that month have flowed through to the Stripe Credit Card Suspense Account.
Throughout the month Enrolmy has been recording all Credit/Debit Card Fees from Stripe as pending journal items in Xero.
On the last day of the month, Enrolmy tells Xero to post the journal, and all the fees for that month will reflect in the Credit Card Suspense Account.

Scenario

SCENARIO 1

You haven’t received any Credit/Debit Card payments for a period of time before the end of the month (Stripe has paid out all credit card payments transacted in May 2022 within May 2022).

You would have received all payouts from Stripe which you have coded to the Credit Card Suspense Account. This means Stripe is not holding any money on your behalf, hence the Stripe Suspense Account will have a zero balance at the end of the month.
If SCENARIO 1 does not balance to $0.00, an error in Xero coding has occurred in the previous month. You will need to review Xero to check the Credit Card Suspense Account transactions to find where the coding error occurred.

SCENARIO 2

You have stopped taking Credit/Debit Card payments more than 4 days before the end of the month (Stripe has paid out all credit card payments transacted in May 2022 within May 2022).

If you stopped taking credit/debit card payments prior to 4 days before the end of the month (May 2022), then it will be the same as SCENARIO 1 above. This means that once the Xero journal for fees is posted (on 31 May 2022) the Credit Card Suspense Account should balance to $0.00.
If you took your last credit/debit card payment within the 4 days prior to the end of the month (May 2022), then it will be the same as SCENARIO 3 below. This means that once the Xero journal for fees is posted (on 31 May 2022), the Credit Card Suspense Account will still have a balance as Stripe currently holds your money which will be paid out at the beginning of the following month (June 2022).

SCENARIO 3

You have transitioned to the Stripe Transactions Bank Account method.

You have switched to the Stripe Transactions Bank Account method on 1 June 2022.
You have taken credit/debit card payments up to the last day of the month before the switch to using the Stripe Transactions Bank Account (more specifically up to 31 May 2022)
Enrolmy will journal the fees to the Credit Card Suspense Account on the last day of the month (31 May 2022)
If payments were taken in the last few days of the month (28 May 2022 to 31 May 2022) and have not been paid out yet then there will be a balance in the Credit Card Suspense Account for the money you expect to receive from Stripe.
When the expected payout is received, you will code it to the Credit Card Suspense Account which should result in a zero ($0.00) balance.
If SCENARIO 3 does not balance to $0.00, an error in Xero coding has occurred in a previous month (for example, any time between January 2022 to May 2022). You will need to review Xero to review the Credit Card Suspense Account transactions to find where the coding error occurred.

Important Note When Transitioning to the Stripe Transactions Bank Account

If you receive a Stripe payout that combines funds from days across both months (May and June 2022)

Payments and fees for the days in the month where you are using the Credit Card Suspense Account (for the month of May 2022) will show in the Credit Card Suspense Account and will not appear in the Stripe Transactions Bank Account.
This means that when you reconcile the payment from Stripe you will be required to manually split that Payout.
- May 2022 payments will be reconciled to the Credit Card Suspense Account.
- June 2022 payments will be a transfer from the Stripe Transactions Bank Account.
You will need to work out how much is received as a transfer from the Stripe Transactions Bank Account and how much should be reconciled to the Credit Card Suspense Account.

Your Accountant

Enrolmy recommends, as with all financial processes or changes in Xero, that you work closely with your accountant. Ensuring that you and your accountant are clear on the methodology behind the Credit Card Suspense Account and/or the Stripe Transactions Bank Account is vital. Correct administration of credit/debit card payment management is vital to accurate record keeping.

Congratulations! You now know how to balance your Stripe Suspense Account in Xero.

Last Updated: 09 Nov 2023