Reading a settlement file against the funnel
Settlement is the unfashionable source of truth. A morning with one acquirer file will show which ‘successful checkouts’ never became money.
Settlement files are unglamorous and slightly late. They are also the only document in this work that represents money the acquirer believes moved. A conversion funnel that never meets that file is a story the app is telling itself.
When we sit with a sample week, we look for four mismatches. Authorised events with no capture line. Capture lines with no in-app order. Refunds that the app still counts as conversion because the original success event was never reversed. Partial captures on orders the app considers whole.
Presentment delay matters in Malaysia as elsewhere: a Friday capture may settle after the weekend. If your weekly conversion meeting is Monday morning and your settlement import is Tuesday, you will invent a crisis every week. Align the windows before you align the blame.
You do not need a full audit to try this once. Export seven days. Truncate PAN. Sit with whoever owns finance. The first unexplained line is usually enough to justify a longer reading.