Introduction
Welcome to SettleWise documentation
SettleWise is a payment reconciliation application built for businesses that handle deposits, multi-phase payments, and seasonal billing — wedding planners, fishing outfitters, sports leagues, event venues, and similar service businesses.
It answers three questions fast: what got paid, what's still open, and why.
How SettleWise Works
The core workflow follows a loop:
- Create invoices — single-phase (one payment) or two-phase (deposit + final payment with separate due dates)
- Receive payments — from manual entry, email parsing, or Stripe payment links
- Validate and allocate — confirm the payment, assign it to a register (bank account), and let the system allocate it to invoices (oldest due date first)
- Handle exceptions — overpayments become credits automatically; cancellations become rollovers (credit for next season) or refunds (money back)
- Sync to QuickBooks — invoices, payments, credit memos, and customers sync automatically
Every step maintains a full audit trail: payment → allocation → invoice status → credit (when applicable).
Core Concepts
| Concept | What it means |
|---|---|
| Two-phase payment | Split an invoice into deposit (Phase 1) and final payment (Phase 2) with separate due dates. The deposit percentage is configurable in settings. |
| Register | A bank account or cash drawer where payments are deposited. Every payment must be assigned to a register. |
| Credit | Available balance from overpayments or credit memos. Applied automatically to new invoices (oldest credit first). |
| Rollover | Converting a deposit into credit for a future season instead of refunding the money. The original invoice stays as paid; a credit memo creates the credit. |
| Credit memo | The document that records a credit operation — refund, rollover, write-off, or balance transfer. Syncs to QuickBooks as a CreditMemo. |
| FIFO allocation | Payments and credits are allocated to invoices ordered by due date (oldest first), and credits are consumed oldest first. |
What You Can Do
- Reconcile payments with confidence — match payments to invoices, handle partial payments, multi-invoice payments, and overpayments with automatic allocation
- Track every dollar — follow the chain from payment → allocation → invoice status → credit with full traceability
- Handle credits and exceptions — refunds, rollovers, write-offs, and balance transfers without losing track of what happened
- See customer balances — available credits, outstanding debt, and net balance at a glance
- Use the AI assistant — create invoices, process refunds, investigate unknown payments, and generate reports using natural language in English or Spanish
- Sync with QuickBooks — invoices, payments, customers, products, and credit memos sync automatically in real-time
Who is This For?
| Role | How you'll use SettleWise |
|---|---|
| Business owners | See what's paid and what needs follow-up. Use the AI assistant for quick operations. |
| Accounting teams | Reconcile faster with clean allocation, traceability, and accurate QuickBooks sync. |
| Sales teams | Create invoices, track customer balances, and process cash sales. |
| Administrators | Configure payment terms, manage users and permissions, set up integrations. |
Quick Navigation
| I want to... | Go to |
|---|---|
| Set up my account | Quick Start Guide |
| Create my first invoice | Create and Send an Invoice |
| Understand how invoices work | Invoices |
| Manage payments | Payments |
| Handle a cancellation or refund | Cancel and Refund |
| Use the AI assistant | AI Assistant Overview |
| Connect QuickBooks | QuickBooks Integration |
| Look up a command | Common Phrases |