E-commerce payment gateways can quickly turn clean books into a tangled mess — especially as platforms, apps, and payment options continue to evolve. For many bookkeepers, gateways like PayPal and Stripe create confusion, long reconciliation times, and unnecessary frustration.

In this updated, practical session, Connie Smith and Teresa Slack shares current, real-world workflows for managing today’s most common e-commerce payment gateways with confidence and efficiency. You’ll gain a clear understanding of how payment gateways interact with e-commerce sales platforms, why timing differences and fees create discrepancies, and how small process changes can dramatically reduce cleanup time.

Connie and Teresa will walk through best practices for reconciling gateways such as PayPal and Stripe, explain how to properly use clearing accounts to simplify your bookkeeping, and show how these methods support faster, more accurate reconciliations. Time permitting, the session will also touch on managing additional tools like Sezzle, Shop, and Klarna, helping you better navigate the growing e-commerce payment ecosystem.

This session is designed to help bookkeepers feel confident, efficient, and well-equipped to support e-commerce clients — without the chaos.

After participating in this session, attendees will be able to:

• Understand how payment gateways work alongside e-commerce sales platforms
• Apply streamlined workflows for PayPal, Stripe, and similar gateways
• Reconcile payment gateways accurately and with less effort
• Use clearing accounts to reduce errors and speed up reconciliations