Tmall advertising top-ups, account balances and expenses: how to reconcile them

Identify the product and the account holder

List the store, contracting entity, advertising product, account, payer, service provider and person or agency managing the account. A company can hold several accounts, and a management workspace can be authorized to manage multiple accounts. When money moves between accounts within the same entity and reconciliation scope, do not add the transfer as both a new company top-up and a new advertising expense.

As one specific product example, the Alimama Gravity Cube software and advertising agreement describes prepaid funds, automatic deductions for consumption, and reporting of balances and spending. The Alimama Client Workspace agreement separately describes transfers among authorized accounts and invoice management. These are agreements for particular services; verify the product, contract and period actually used by the business.

Reconcile the cash balance before estimating the expense

Assume a business reviews the cash-funded balance of one advertising account. At the start of the month it holds RMB 1.8 million. The company tops up RMB 6 million. The platform initially debits RMB 5.5 million, then credits RMB 100,000 back to the account to correct one mistaken debit. A further RMB 400,000 is confirmed as permitted and actually refunded to the company's bank. There are no transfers to other accounts or other cash adjustments in this example; promotional credits are tracked separately.

Under these assumptions, net cash deductions are RMB 5.5 million − RMB 0.1 million = RMB 5.4 million, not the RMB 6 million funded that month. The balance bridge is 1.8 + 6.0 − 5.5 + 0.1 − 0.4 = RMB 2.0 million.

If a platform report already presents RMB 5.4 million after the correction, do not deduct the RMB 100,000 again. The RMB 400,000 is a hypothetical refund that actually reached the bank; it does not mean every balance can be withdrawn. Check the applicable product and contract for freezes, permitted refunds and the refund destination. The Alimama marketing ecosystem agreement, for example, has separate provisions for certain agency-funded accounts and refunds; do not apply them to all merchants.

Consumption, invoices and accounting expense need separate checks

For platform consumption, identify when the service was actually provided, the account and product involved, and the settlement entries. Retain links between the original charge and any correction. A correction recorded this month may relate to an earlier service period.

For invoices, check the purchaser, provider, service description, amounts, tax and the underlying service period. Invoice issue, cash top-up and consumption can occur on different dates. Do not add a platform debit and its invoice as if they were two separate expenses. Review the entity's VAT method, permitted input-tax documentation and use independently.

For the accounting expense, apply the business's actual service facts and the accounting system that applies to it. The example's RMB 5.4 million is net cash deducted from the account; it is not automatically the expense in a financial statement. Timing, recoverable tax, agency contracts and other differences may need reconciliation. China's Accounting Law requires accounting to reflect actual transactions and source documents to be reviewed. For corporate income tax, assess the conditions for supporting documents under State Taxation Administration Announcement 2018 No. 28 as applicable.

Keep promotional credits and intermediaries visible

• Track cash and non-cash rights separately. Record the relevant conditions and expiry of vouchers or promotional credits. A free credit, a cash-funded balance and a company's payment are different items.
• Separate merchant and agency accounts. Establish who holds the account, funds it, receives the service, issues an invoice and bears the cost before evaluating agency charges or payments made on another party's behalf. A platform-to-agency statement is not automatically the same as an agency-to-merchant invoice.
• Do not double count allocations across stores. If one underlying advertising charge is later allocated among stores, adding the original charge to all allocations counts the same spending twice. Keep the business's allocation method and its supporting basis distinct from the original platform data.
• Separate currency views. An overseas management report may present another currency, but RMB platform records, actual foreign-exchange conversions and group reporting translations are not the same transaction or difference.

A month-end handoff that another team can follow

For each account, record the opening balance, top-ups, original debits, corrections, actual refunds, closing balance and unresolved differences. Separately list invoices received, evidence still needed, service periods and owners. If the bridge does not agree, check inter-account transfers, items still in transit, refund destinations and whether a platform export already nets corrections before changing the records.

The result lets an operator see how much cash was funded versus how much was consumed, while the finance team can trace the accounting and tax questions to the underlying agreements and evidence. Explore a related business analysis example or use the contact page to learn about CaiGeek.