Ask any finance leader or controller where their company’s cash is, and they’ll give you an answer. But ask them exactly how cash is moving in real-time, and things get complicated fast.
For fintechs, marketplaces, and high-volume businesses, cash flow isn’t just about deposits and withdrawals—it’s a complex network of transactions moving through multiple processors, banks, and payment systems. Delays, chargebacks, and unexpected adjustments create blind spots that leave finance teams scrambling to reconcile their books, often days or weeks after the fact.
Most finance teams still rely on spreadsheets, manual reconciliations, and disconnected systems to track movement. That means slow close cycles, inaccurate reporting, and unnecessary fire drills to chase down discrepancies.
Finance leaders need to shift from reactive reconciliation to proactive cash management. This article explains how.
A real-world example: tech-enabled platform processing thousands of daily transactions
One Ledge customer, a two-sided marketplace, was running into operational challenges due to the everyday practical demands of running the business.
Prior to using Ledge’s automated reconciliation solution, customer support teams frequently needed to check whether checks had been cashed, which required contacting the finance team.
This process caused delays of up to 3 days per request, impacting the time it took customer teams to answer questions.
Since not everyone on the finance team had access to the company’s bank accounts, the finance team had to manually search bank records for each inquiry, sometimes escalating the request to another team member.
Each month, the finance team was spending close to 48 hours on payment investigations, with each investigation taking up to 40 minutes. Finance teams would typically need to wait for answers from teammates in different timezones and conduct manual bank account searches to answer questions.
In addition, the reconciliation process was entirely manual and error prone. There was a high volume of unreconciled transactions, with duplicate payments and missing deposits going undetected for weeks. Late penalties became a recurring issue.
Inefficiencies from manual processes directly impacted customers’ experiences. Automation—and real-time cash visibility—were non-negotiable in order for the business to achieve its scalability objectives.
Ledge’s API integration introduced real-time payment status tracking to the company. Results included:
- 95% decrease to payment inquiry workload
- Improved transparency for everyone on the team
- The ability to scale the finance team’s impact without increasing headcount
- 12 hours saved each week
- Faster answers, happier customers
Key steps to shift from reactive reconciliation to proactive cash management
A real-time cash visibility system transforms financial operations by providing continuous tracking, automated reconciliation, and instant anomaly detection.
Here’s how it works:
- Reconcile every transaction in real-time across all data sources – Transactions are matched instantly as they occur, eliminating the need for end-of-month reconciliation crunches.
- Track expected vs. actual balances so nothing falls through the cracks – Finance teams receive instant alerts when balances don’t align with expected payments, allowing them to proactively investigate discrepancies.
- Identify exceptions instantly before they become costly issues – Instead of waiting days or weeks to identify missing deposits, duplicate payments, or chargebacks, finance teams can intervene in real-time.
- Provide a clear audit trail to simplify compliance and reporting – Every transaction is logged with a transparent data trail, making audits and other reporting more efficient and stress-free.
- Reduce reliance on spreadsheets and manual tracking – By centralizing all cash movement in one automated system, finance teams free themselves from time-consuming, error-prone manual work.
With real-time cash visibility, finance teams transition from reactive troubleshooting to proactive financial management, reducing operational bottlenecks and improving financial accuracy.
Final thoughts
For high-volume businesses, the ability to see cash movement as it happens isn’t just a convenience—it’s a necessity. By implementing these steps, finance teams can gain control over their cash flows, reduce time spent on reconciliations, and proactively manage financial risks.
Real-time cash visibility gives your finance function the power to move faster, work smarter, and support business growth without unnecessary friction.
