Find the Real Owner of a Reconciliation Problem

Reconciliation complaints can sit between accounting, operations, and a payment administrator, leaving each person with part of the story.

Use one transaction as a teaching tool. Ask the accounting owner where it begins, how it appears in each system, and what makes them trust a match. This avoids a vague promise about automation and makes the exception visible. The AE can document the sample’s journey and ask whether another team owns a missing step before suggesting any evaluation work.

Ask which records are compared, when exceptions appear, and who spends time resolving them at month end. A fictional travel company may match booking records daily but investigate refunds only after its close.

Avoid saying the product will eliminate exceptions. First establish the source systems and the customer’s definition of a resolved item. Let a controller say, “Our team lives in spreadsheets.” Coach the rep to ask which column starts the manual work.

Offer to review one anonymized workflow and identify the right people for a deeper session.

In a role-play, give the seller a refund that appears differently in two records. Good coaching asks them to trace the identifiers; poor coaching accepts “the system will match it” without evidence. The coach can ask which reference number survives from checkout to the ledger, giving both teams a practical starting point for investigation.