Monthly Ledger - Admin Operations Guide

Published by Give.Gives · Updated April 2, 2026

Monthly Ledger - Admin Operations Guide

1. Purpose and Business Context

Monthly Ledger is the natural-month transaction ledger used to explain how the month's money was built.

This page is not the payout workspace itself. It is the underlying month-based financial detail view that supports:

• settlement review

• finance investigation

• order-level reconciliation

• tax review

If Operations Workspace answers:
“What needs to be paid for the closed month?”

then Monthly Ledger answers:
“How was that month calculated, transaction by transaction?”

2. What the Ledger Is

In this system, the ledger is the finance source-of-truth layer for month-based amounts.

Each ledger entry records a month-scoped financial event derived from order and order-event data.

At the simplest level:

• each paid order creates a positive ledger entry

• each refund creates a negative ledger entry

• dispute-related effects and reversals are also reflected in the broader ledger architecture

The monthly ledger page focuses on the natural-month transaction rows and lets operations inspect the financial build-up behind settlement and tax reporting.

3. How the Monthly Ledger Is Calculated

The monthly ledger is built from ledger entries generated from order and payment events.

For each row, the system tracks values such as:

• signed amount

• tax amount

• product amount

• platform amount

• merchant amount

• organization amount

• campaign amount

• reserved charity amount

Important refund rule

Ledger rows are recorded according to the month when the financial event actually occurs.

That means:

• a sale is recorded in the month of the charge

• a refund is recorded in the month of the refund

The system does not go back and rewrite an already-closed month's ledger just because a later refund happens.

Example:

• a sale happens in March for $100

• a refund happens in April for $50

Then:

• the March ledger keeps the original +$100 sale effect

• the April ledger records the -$50 refund effect

Operationally, this means:

• March settlement remains $100

• April settlement automatically absorbs the $50 refund reduction

This is one of the most important rules for understanding month-to-month settlement differences.

That means a single transaction can be understood as a split across:

• platform revenue

• brand-side share

• charitable routing destination

• tax

This is why the ledger matters so much: it is the explainable breakdown behind the platform's financial structure.

4. Why There Is No Current-Month Settlement Here

The page itself can show natural-month data, but payout workflow still follows closed-month settlement logic.

The current month is not used for payout settlement because:

• it is still changing

• more charges or refunds can still happen

• the month is not operationally final

So if the team is asking about payout execution, the monthly ledger should be used to inspect the closed month, not to settle the current one.

In practice:

• the current month may be useful as a live reference

• the previous closed month is the one used for actual settlement workflow

5. What You See on the Page

The Monthly Ledger page provides:

• year filter

• month filter

• entry type filter

• order search

• merchant filter for admins

It also shows summary totals:

• Charge Total

• Refund Total

• Tax Total

• Net Total

Below that, each ledger row shows:

• type and date

• signed amount

• tax

• product amount

• platform amount

• merchant amount

• organization amount

• campaign amount

• reserved charity amount

• item, merchant, venue, and order details

[Placeholder: Screenshot of the Monthly Ledger page with summary cards and ledger table]

6. How to Read a Ledger Row

For each row:

Entry Type

This tells you whether the row is a positive charge flow or a negative refund flow.

Amount

This is the signed movement for that row.

Tax

This shows the tax amount associated with the row.

Product Amount

This is the item-side amount excluding tax.

Platform / Merchant / Organization / Campaign / Reserved Charity

These columns show how the row's value is distributed across the platform's financial routing model.

This is especially useful when finance, operations, or support needs to explain:

• where the money went

• why a month total changed

• whether a Campaign or Organization received the charitable portion

Item / Merchant / Venue

This section helps tie the row back to the real order and selling location.

Use this when investigating order-level issues or checking whether routing matched the expected venue context.

7. Why the Ledger Matters Operationally

The ledger matters because settlement is not manually typed in by finance.

Settlement amounts are derived from ledger data.

That means if a number looks wrong in payout review, operations should not guess. The correct response is to inspect the ledger and identify:

• whether the month includes the expected charges

• whether refunds changed the total

• whether the charitable routing went to Organization, Campaign, or Reserved Charity

• whether tax values are consistent with the order data

The ledger is the explanation layer behind the settlement month.

It is also the reason why later refunds affect later months instead of reopening older settled months.

8. Standard Workflow for Using Monthly Ledger

Step 1: Select the Month

Choose the year and month you need to review.

For normal payout operations, this should usually be the latest closed month.

Step 2: Apply Filters

Use filters to narrow the view:

• by month

• by merchant

• by order code or Stripe ID

• by entry type

This is especially useful when finance wants to investigate a single order or a single merchant.

Step 3: Review Summary Totals

Check the month-level totals for:

• charges

• refunds

• tax

• net

If the summary looks unexpected, move into the rows and inspect the drivers.

Step 4: Review Individual Rows

Inspect the row splits to understand:

• who received value

• whether the row is positive or negative

• whether the transaction belongs to the expected merchant and venue

• whether the tax code and category context look reasonable

Step 5: Use Details When Needed

Open row details when finance or operations needs deeper context such as:

• order code

• item title

• venue state

• tax code

• Stripe references

This is the correct page to use when someone asks:
“Can you show me how this month total was built?”

9. Relationship Between Monthly Ledger and Operations Workspace

The two pages should be understood together:

Monthly Ledger

Used to explain and inspect the month's transaction-level financial construction.

Operations Workspace

Used to process closed-month payout workflow, download reports, and mark payouts as paid.

Operationally:

• use Monthly Ledger to understand the month

• use Operations Workspace to execute the closed-month payout process

10. Why This Connects to Financial Transparency

Give.Gives follows a strict financial transparency model.

The system is designed so that payout confirmation and impact settlement visibility are not treated casually.

Because public transparency depends on accurate payout records, the monthly ledger must remain explainable and settlement review must be based on real ledger data, not assumptions.

That is why the ledger exists:

• to make month totals explainable

• to make payout logic auditable

• to support tax reporting and finance review

11. Tax Reporting Relationship

The tax report exported from Operations Workspace is built on tax-oriented month data derived from the same underlying finance logic.

The monthly ledger helps operations and finance understand:

• which transactions are in the month

• how tax was recorded

• how refunds affect totals

• what happened before the tax workbook is exported

In practice:

• use Monthly Ledger to inspect the month

• use Operations Workspace to export the tax workbook for finance filing support

12. Day-to-Day Operations Suggestions

• Use Monthly Ledger whenever a month total needs explanation.

• Do not use payout intuition alone; verify the month through ledger rows.

• Investigate strange totals through charges, refunds, and routing columns before escalating.

• Use the ledger before final payout confirmation if any amount looks unusual.

• Treat the ledger as the month-detail reference behind settlement and tax reporting.