Start with three numbers, not one balance
An IB working with several brokers can have a profitable month and still struggle to explain the cash arriving in a bank account. Commission may be calculated in one period, approved in another, and paid after a minimum threshold. A dashboard total alone cannot explain those transitions.
Record expected commission only when you have the agreement and eligible activity needed to calculate it. Reported commission is the amount on a broker statement. Received commission is the external payment you can match to a bank, wallet or payment record. If you do not know the expected amount, leave it blank. Zero would incorrectly imply that nothing was earned.
Build one close packet per broker and period
Preserve the original statement before editing a spreadsheet. Label the legal entity, partner account, statement currency, date range and timezone. Two reports named September can cover different cutoffs. Include the agreement version and any written changes to rates, tiers or eligible instruments.
Use a stable source record ID for each imported row. Re-importing the same statement should not double your income. If a broker later corrects a row, keep a correction trail instead of silently replacing the original.
- Original statement and export timestamp
- Broker entity, partner account and reporting cutoff
- Agreement version and applicable rate schedule
- Payment references, fees and currency
- Explanation, owner and next action for each open difference
A worked example: $1,250 reported does not mean $1,250 in the bank
Consider a fictional USD statement with $1,250 expected, $1,250 reported, $1,200 received and $10 of confirmed payment fees. The entitlement difference is $0. The unexplained settlement balance is $40: $1,250 minus $1,200 minus $10. This example assumes the fees are withheld from the reported commission and are not already deducted elsewhere.
Do not label the $40 as overdue without a contractual due date. It could be awaiting payment, carried into another period or affected by a payment threshold. Likewise, a negative settlement balance needs an explanation: it may represent a prior-period payment, an advance or a duplicate receipt.
If statement and payment currencies differ, reconcile each currency separately first. Record the actual conversion rate and conversion fee when supported by payment evidence. Adding USD and EUR amounts into one unlabeled total creates a new discrepancy rather than solving one.
Investigate differences in a repeatable order
Check scope before checking arithmetic. Confirm the account population, date boundaries, settlement currency and whether canceled or ineligible activity is included. Then check rate versions, tier thresholds, rebates, fees and previous corrections. Send a broker a small set of source references and a specific question rather than an unexplained total.
Keep an operational status such as awaiting evidence, timing difference, confirmed correction or resolved. An internal review status is not an audit opinion. Even an independently recalculated amount cannot prove that a source contains every eligible trade.
Try the workflow with a sample statement
IBDock lets you preview a canonical CSV, Excel or JSON statement, compare supplied expected amounts with reported commission, and inspect the settlement gap. The Agreements tab separately calculates an expectation from entered terms and eligible monthly activity. The public preview accepts USD sample data and does not derive or verify eligibility from raw trades. Files stay in your tab and disappear on refresh.
Start with two anonymized records and validate the totals against your own spreadsheet before increasing the volume. The goal of a first trial is a clear, explainable close—not a claim that every broker balance has been verified.
Put the method to work.
Try the sample workspace. No broker password required.
Open the statement templates ↗Sources and scope
Editorial scope: product reporting guidance with fictional examples. No paid broker placement, investment recommendation or independent audit claim. Product capabilities are described as of the update date shown above.
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