Closing the month on hundreds of merchant balances in different currencies

A marketplace that pays hundreds of sellers in several currencies has hundreds of balances that must tie at month-end. The close is not hard because the arithmetic is hard. It is hard because three records have to agree and each one is kept by a different party.

Three records, one answer

1. Your ledger. What you believe each merchant is owed, per currency.
2. The settlement provider's statement. What the provider says it holds and has paid, per currency.
3. The bank or wallet balance. What actually sits in the account at the cut-off.

If all three tie, you close. If two tie and one does not, the break is in the third. Most work in a close is finding which record moved after the others were cut.

Design the ledger so the close is boring

• One line per merchant per currency. Do not net a Swedish seller's crowns against zloty from another market. Net inside a currency only.
• Store the original currency and the converted amount. If a payout was converted, keep both numbers and the rate used.
• Give every movement an ID that the provider also carries. Matching on amount and date alone breaks the first time two payouts are the same size.
• Separate fees from principal. A fee is revenue. A payout is a liability being discharged. Mix them and the tie-out fails by the fee total.

The close checklist

1. Fix the cut-off timestamp and time zone for every currency account.
2. Pull the provider statement per currency for the same cut-off.
3. Tie opening balance plus movements to closing balance on each statement.
4. Match each movement ID to your ledger. List the unmatched ones.
5. Classify breaks: timing (in flight at cut-off), fee, rounding, or error.
6. Revalue foreign-currency balances with the rate policy your auditor has agreed.
7. Post adjustments, with a note for each break older than one cycle.
8. Sign off the per-currency tie-out and archive the statements.

Step 5 is where a weekend matters. A payout started on Friday evening can be in flight at a Saturday-night cut-off in one currency and settled in another. Write the cut-off rule down so the same case is treated the same way every month.

What changes when sellers are paid in their own currency

Paying a seller in Swedish crowns, zloty or Czech crowns, rather than in euros converted by the seller's bank, adds one balance per currency to your close. It removes a different problem: the seller's bank no longer decides the conversion rate on your payout. Modality holds balances in 36 account currencies, including SEK, PLN and CZK, with 630 direct pairs between them, so each seller balance can sit in its own currency. See paying merchants in SEK, PLN and CZK.

For the platform view, see how Modality works for marketplaces and platforms. For what an in-flight payout looks like from the sending side, see why cross-border B2B payments get stuck or returned.

Questions to ask your settlement provider before the first close

• Is there a statement per currency, and does it carry my reference on each line?
• What is the cut-off for each currency account, and in which time zone?
• Can I export movements with stable IDs, not only totals?
• How do you report a payout that is in flight at the cut-off?

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Modality coverage sheet, July 2026 (36 account currencies, including SEK, PLN, CZK; 630 direct pairs).