Payouts and Reconciliation

In this article, we will explain what is a 'Payout' and when it happens, what is the concept of 'Payout delay', and how to reconcile your transactions.

Payouts

Payouts are the transfers Adyen makes to your bank account for the transactions you have processed minus the transaction processing fees. 

Payouts are done in 'Batches' and each batch pays out the funds for certain transactions, based on the 'Payout delay' allocated to your account (see below for 'Payout delay').

Generally, payouts are done every workday as long as there are transactions to be paid out.

Payout delay

Whenever you process a transaction, the funds initially are held within an Adyen account opened for you after your successful KYC application. This is necessary due to several reasons: depending on the payment method, it might take longer for Adyen to receive the funds (usually with certain 'alternative payment methods', not with major card brands); Adyen to have funds available in case of a chargeback or need for refund and others.

The duration for which they are held in your Adyen account depends on the Risk score Adyen has allocated to you throughout the KYC process. This Risk score is determined by various factors including the type of business, the types of transactions you will process and many others. 

The following table shows an example payout schedule with a daily payout frequency and a payout delay of two days.

Reconciliation

When it comes to Reconciliation, you have 2 reports at your disposal through the 'Essentials' platform designed to show you:

• all transactions processed in a month and the associated processing fees
• batch details - for which transactions you are getting paid out

Interactive Payments Accounting Report

This report can be generated on a monthly basis and shows all transactions (including tokenizations) done throughout the month. Moreover, it shows how one transaction changes its status in the 'payment lifecycle'. The report shows how initially the transaction was 'Received' and 'Authorised'. A bit later, the transaction changes the status to 'SentForSettle'. At this stage, funds are confirmed - the card schemes, issuing bank, and processor have confirmed the transaction and the funds are being transferred from the card-holder bank to Adyen. Later, the transaction changes its status to 'Settled' - this is when you will receive the amount for this transaction. Bear in mind that if the transaction was done at the end of the month, the 'Settled' status for this transaction will be visible in the report for next month. Furthermore, at this stage, the corresponding fees are deducted.

Settlement Detail Report

This report shows information about the 'batches'. A 'batch' is basically a payout from Adyen to your bank account for a group of 'Settled' transactions. The report for a batch shows all the transactions for which Adyen is transferring the funds to you minus the processing costs. This way, you can cross-check the report with the Interactive Payment accounting report.

In the screenshots above we can see the 'lifecycle' of a transaction and how it changes its status. Let's give a bit more context to the screenshots.

In the Payments accounting report we see when the transaction was initiated 'Received' and 'Authorised'. The status 'Authorised' indicates that all parties (card schemes, issuing bank) have confirmed the transaction, but funds are not transferred yet. The status 'SentForSettle' indicates that the funds are collected by Adyen from the issuing bank.

Since the transaction was done early in the month, the payout happens in the same month and we see in the report that on the 23rd the status changes to 'Settled' which indicates that the funds from this transaction are ready to be paid out to you based on your payout schedule.

In the Settlement detail report for the respective batch, we see this transaction along with all others and the total of the withheld transaction fees, and the total of the batch payout.