Need to tame “mystery money,” fix a payment that’s tied to the wrong invoice, or undo a hasty approval?
This consolidated guide covers every cash-management workflow in OctopusPro: importing unknown payments from a CSV file, matching or bulk-matching them to invoices, approving or rejecting them with dual control, and safely unassigning (rather than deleting) a payment that was linked to the wrong job. Together, these tools keep A/R accurate, protect audit trails, and prevent you from double-charging customers or under-paying fieldworkers.

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What counts as an “unknown” payment?

Most “unknown” rows arrive when you import a CSV that wasn’t created by a live-connected gateway:

CSV source	Why it lands in Unknown Payments
Bank-transfer file exported from your online banking portal	No invoice or customer ID in the flat file
Legacy card deposits processed before you linked Stripe/Square to OctopusPro	Back-loading historical revenue
External POS or non-integrated gateway (e.g., PayPal Here, local EFTPOS)	You upload the batch so OctopusPro becomes the single source of truth
Bulk EFT covering many invoices	One deposit, multiple jobs, no one-to-one references

All imported lines stay in Finance › Invoices › Unknown Payments until you match them to a customer and invoice.

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Why clear the queue quickly?

• Accurate A/R & P/L — unmatched cash inflates revenue or receivables
• Faster fieldworker pay-runs — cleared invoices feed payroll rules
• No duplicate requests — prevents “You still owe us” emails
• Audit compliance — time-stamped matches satisfy audit standards

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Assigning unknown payments

1. Locate & filter

Open Finance → Invoices → Payment Reconciliation → Unapproved. Filter by amount, date, reference, or “No Customer Linked.”

2. Match a single line

1. … Actions → Add to Invoice
2. Choose the invoice → Save. Status flips to Unapproved (or Approved if you have permission).

3. Auto-match engine

OctopusPro pre-suggests links using amount, customer, reference, and date proximity, similar to Stripe & Xero auto-reconciliation.

3 Auto-match engine

OctopusPro uses an AI-assisted matching algorithm—modelled on the automatic-reconciliation rules in QuickBooks Online and Xero—to suggest the most likely invoice for every imported payment. It scores potential links by comparing amount, outstanding balance, customer name, keyword patterns in the reference line (e.g., “INV-31621”), bank account, and transaction date-proximity.

• Unapproved by default – even when the algorithm finds a 100 % match, the row stays in the Unapproved tab until an authorised admin clicks Approve.

  

• Multiple possible matches? The grid shows a blue badge such as “2 matches”. Click the badge to review each candidate invoice, pick the right one, then hit Approve.
• Wrong suggestion? Open the … Actions menu and choose Reassign Invoice to link the payment to a different invoice, or Unlink Invoice to send it back to Unknown/Unlinked for later handling.

This keep-it-pending approach protects your ledgers from false positives while still cutting manual matching time by up to 90 %.

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Row actions menu explained

Action	Use when	Result
Approve	Match confirmed	Moves to Approved; invoice balance updates
Reject	Duplicate / wrong currency	Sends to Ignored; audit trail kept
Edit Payment	Wrong amount or method	Inline edit; rev-history logged
Add Reconciliation Note	Explain split payments	Time-stamped memo
Open Invoice	Check line items	Opens in new tab
Assign Invoice	Assign payment to an invoice	Links payment
Reassign Invoice	Deposit belongs elsewhere	Relinks payment
Unlink Invoice	Will cover several invoices or become credit	Sends back to Unknown/Unlinked
Email Receipt	Customer asks for proof	Emails PDF
Delete Record	Uploaded in error	Permanently removes (admin-only)

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Handling “No Customer Linked” rows

If neither the customer nor invoice can be guessed, the grid shows No Customer Linked. Edit the payment to attach a customer, then Assign Invoice. The entry stays Unapproved until both steps are done, preventing bogus revenue.

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Dual-control & fieldworker notes

• Fieldworkers can add any tender type (card, cash, EFT, cheque) once you grant Display booking billing amount to fieldworkers permission.
• If Keep payments pending until reconciled by an authorised user is ON, offline entries remain Unapproved until a second user approves them — standard dual-control best practice.

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Removing an incorrectly matched payment (unassign vs. delete)

Deleting a payment destroys audit evidence and can unbalance ledgers. Unassigning keeps data intact:

1. Finance → Invoices → Payments Reconciliation → Approved or Unapproved.
2. Locate the payment → … Actions → Unlink Invoice (or Reassign Invoice to link straight to the right job).
3. If already approved, click Reject first to reverse approval; then Unlink.
4. The payment returns to Unknown/Unlinked for proper reassignment.

Why unassign, not delete?

• Prevents data loss — payment still exists for re-linking
• Keeps audit trail whole — auditors see original capture + correction
• Maintains financial accuracy — balances stay correct; no write-offs

Deleting should be reserved for duplicate or erroneous imports only.

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Best-practice checklist

1. Import & clear daily to avoid month-end surprises.
2. Use bank-reference patterns (“INV-####”) for auto-matches.
3. Never delete real money; unassign or reassign instead.
4. Enable Card Account Updater in Stripe/Square to cut declines on stored cards.

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FAQs

Q	A
Do I need an invoice before matching?	Yes; generate one manually if the job isn’t closed.
Can I split one deposit across many invoices?	Yes — use Bulk Assign or the split-payment tool, like Xero’s multi-invoice match.
What if I chose the wrong invoice?	Use Unlink to return it to Unknown, or Reassign to switch invoices.
What happens after deletion?	The payment vanishes forever — use only for duplicated imports.
Does card failure log?	Yes; OctopusPro stores the gateway error and suggests alternate payment. Stripe’s Card Account Updater reduces future declines.

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