How to reconcile Amazon settlement payouts with your P&L using AI
To reconcile Amazon settlements with your P&L, the assistant needs your order-based and cash-based P&L side by side and the purchase months each settlement pays, and Nova's MCP connector gives Claude, ChatGPT and other assistants that from Seller Central. Through Nova, the assistant shows order, cash and the gap for every P&L line, explains it as timing, fees or exchange rates, and lists what next month inherits.
Updated
ClaudeWhy doesn't July's P&L match my settlements?
July's order-based net profit is $32,000, and cash-based $36,900. The gap is mostly timing: $44,000 of earlier orders posted in July, $31,000 of July's orders post later, and $1,000 is not posted yet. Fees read $4,200 higher in cash for the same reason.
The playbook
Every step calls a Nova tool that reads your live Amazon data, so paste this into Claude, ChatGPT or any assistant connected to Nova's MCP server. Put in the month you are closing.
This needs an assistant connected to Nova. Start the 14-day free trial, then connect your assistant.
Use Nova to tie my Amazon order-based P&L to my settlements for the month I am closing. Month: the last complete month. If I name another, use that. The current month is incomplete on both sides. 1. Read the bridge. Call Nova's query_pnl_bridge with from and to set to the month, view "month". Show each line (product sales, other sales, sales deductions, VAT, net sales, cost of goods, Amazon fees, FBM cost, PPC spend, DSP cost, net profit) for order, cash and bridge. Costs and fees are negative, so a positive bridge on a cost line means the cash reading spent less. 2. Explain the sales gap. From sales.order, give what was posted the same month, later, earlier, and not yet. From sales.cash, give what came from the same month, earlier months and later months, and any lines the order report does not know. Then fxGap and valuationGap. 3. Explain the fee gap. From fees.order, give estimated against actualWhenPosted and estimationGap. From fees.cash, give what came from earlier months. 4. Read the settlements. Call Nova's query_pnl_bridge with view "settlement" for the month. For each settlement give its dates, currency, cash sales, and byPurchaseMonth: the purchase months it pays. A settlement with postings across two months appears in both, so say that. 5. Check one settlement if I name it. Call Nova's query_pnl_bridge with settlementId. Say it should tie to Amazon's settlement report, with the payout itself left out. 6. Read cash per marketplace if the gap is large. Call Nova's query_pnl_bridge with marketplaces set to one marketplace at a time, or query_metrics with basis "cash" and groupBy "marketplace", netSales and netProfit. 7. Check costs. Call Nova's query_metrics for the month with netProfit. If cogsNotice appears, say what share of units has no cost before you quote net profit. 8. Report for the finance team: one table of order, cash and bridge, then three short paragraphs: why sales differ, why fees differ, what the next month will inherit from this one. Then a list of anything unposted or unknown, with amounts. Rules: amounts are in the organization's primary currency, and cashSalesLocal is in the settlement's own. A null figure is unknown, never zero. Do not call this reconciled with my bank: Nova ties to settlements, and the bank is mine to check. Relay every notice Nova returns. You cannot change anything on my account.
How Nova customers use this
Real requests from Nova customers, names removed.
“Recreate a settlement summary for one month, check whether the cash-basis P&L ties to it, and find which settlements fall in the month.”
What the assistant did
It compared cash-basis sales and fees with the seller's summary, then listed the settlements counted in each month to explain the gap.
Nova tools used (3)
list_accountsquery_metricsquery_pnl_bridge
“Commission audit: compare order-date product sales with settlement-posted product sales per month, to see which basis the accounting used.”
What the assistant did
It compared both bases per month, then listed each settlement with its dates and sales.
Nova tools used (3)
list_accountsquery_pnl_bridgequery_metrics
“The month's Amazon fees and ad costs by marketplace, split between two seller accounts, to provision the close and build the journal entry.”
What the assistant did
It split the figures per account and marketplace, following the group's existing method.
Nova tools used (2)
list_accountsquery_metrics
“Reconcile net sales to net profit line by line, so a quarterly P&L by SKU ties out exactly.”
What the assistant did
It checked how each line is defined, then rebuilt the P&L by SKU.
Nova tools used (2)
describe_metricquery_metrics
Why doesn't my Amazon P&L match my settlements?
They count different days. The order basis puts every amount on the day the order was purchased. The cash basis puts it on the day Amazon posted the money, released postings only. So a month's orders post partly that month and partly later, while the month's cash holds earlier orders.
What is a P&L bridge?
query_pnl_bridge sets the two P&Ls of a month side by side for each line, from product sales to net profit, with bridge as cash minus order. Then it splits the sales by timing on both sides, and gives the exchange rate gap. Fees get the same split, estimated at the order against actually released.
Cash sales above order sales
What it usually means
Earlier months' orders posted this month
Check next
fromEarlierMonths
Order sales above cash sales
What it usually means
This month's orders post next month
Check next
postedLater
A large unposted amount
What it usually means
Orders not settled yet
Check next
The same line next month
estimationGap on fees
What it usually means
Amazon charged differently from the estimate
Check next
actualWhenPosted, per month
fxGap not zero
What it usually means
The same sale at two exchange rates
Check next
cashSalesLocal per settlement
Lines the order report does not know
What it usually means
Postings with no matching order
Check next
fromUnmatchedLines, soldToAmazon, withoutItems
PPC spend bridge at zero
What it usually means
Ads read the same on both sides
Check next
Nothing to do
Which orders does each settlement pay?
With view "settlement", there is one row per settlement with released postings in the month: its dates, currency, cash sales and byPurchaseMonth, the purchase months it pays. A settlement is the released postings under one id, with the payout itself left out, so it ties to Amazon's settlement report.
Should finance report on order or cash?
Each answers its own question. Order shows how the commercial month went. Cash ties to what Amazon settled. query_metrics with basis set to cash gives the cash reading per product or marketplace, and the default stays order.
Example with made-up figures
A month-end close, worked through
Product sales
Order
$100,000
Cash
$112,000
Bridge
+$12,000
Sales deductions
Order
-$6,000
Cash
-$6,400
Bridge
-$400
Net sales
Order
$94,000
Cash
$105,600
Bridge
+$11,600
Cost of goods
Order
-$22,000
Cash
-$24,500
Bridge
-$2,500
Amazon fees
Order
-$31,000
Cash
-$35,200
Bridge
-$4,200
PPC spend
Order
-$9,000
Cash
-$9,000
Bridge
$0
Net profit
Order
$32,000
Cash
$36,900
Bridge
+$4,900
Of the $100,000 of orders, $68,000 posted the same month, $31,000 will post later and $1,000 is not posted yet. The $112,000 of cash holds that $68,000 and $44,000 from earlier months. So the $12,000 gap is timing: $44,000 in, less $31,000 and $1,000 still to come. Next month inherits the $31,000.
Can I do this from the settlement report in a spreadsheet?
You can, settlement by settlement, matching each line to its order month by hand, with your costs added on top. It is how most teams start. With Nova the assistant reads both bases and the match already made, for any month.
What this cannot tell you
- The bridge reads Seller Central accounts only. On Vendor Central, what Amazon pays is read from remittances.
- Cash means released postings. A deferred posting is a reserve, not cash.
- The payout itself is left out of a settlement, and Nova does not read your bank.
- Amounts are in the organization's primary currency.
- The current month is incomplete on both sides.
- Nova does not post journal entries or replace your accounting tool.
- The cash reading has to be enabled for your account. If it is not, the tool says so instead of answering on the other basis.
For the steps by hand, see how to reconcile payouts. For the P&L itself, see the Amazon P&L.
Questions sellers ask
How do I reconcile Amazon settlement payouts with my P&L?
Set the order-based and cash-based month side by side, split the gap into what posted earlier, later or not yet, then check which purchase months each settlement pays. The playbook does this per line, and per settlement.
Does a settlement tie to the cent?
A settlement in Nova is the released postings under one settlement id, with the payout itself left out, so its sum ties to the settlement report.
Does Nova connect to my bank or accounting tool?
No. Nova ties to Amazon's settlements. Your bank and your books stay yours to check.
Does this cover multiple currencies?
Amounts come back in your organization's primary currency, with each settlement's own currency beside it, and the bridge gives the exchange rate gap.
Does this work for Vendor Central?
No. The bridge reads Seller Central accounts. On Vendor Central, what Amazon pays is read from remittances, in the Vendor Central prompts.
Does this change anything?
No. Every tool in this playbook only reads. The connection uses OAuth, per account, and you can revoke it at any time.