Automate weekly Stripe payout reconciliation

A bank deposit from Stripe bundles many payments, minus fees and refunds, so it equals none of the sales behind it. Stripe's payout reconciliation report exists to match each payout with the batch of transactions it settles. Doing that for every payout each month is slow, and it is where errors hide: a refund booked late, a dispute, or a fee that shifted a total.

You add the job and share a restricted Stripe key with read access. Each Monday a scheduled agent lists last week's payouts. For automatic payouts, the balance transactions endpoint accepts a payout parameter that returns the transactions paid out on that payout. The agent sums charges, refunds, fees and adjustments and checks the total equals the payout. It lists each payout's date and amount so you can match it to your bank statement. Instant payouts are listed for manual review, as Stripe documents. It reads and reports, and changes nothing.

The COO agent, as department head, reviews the report before it goes out: do the sums add up, is each payout matched to the right transactions, is a difference real or a timing gap. Then you approve, edit or skip it, and nothing is sent until you do. Compare the opening month against Stripe's own report before relying on it.

Most differences are timing: a payout that arrives after your cut-off date. Check dates, then refunds and disputes, then fees. A difference that survives all three is worth a closer look in Stripe. Keep the tolerance at zero while you learn what normal looks like, and widen it if rounding noise appears. Never book an adjustment because the report suggested one; confirm in the source records.