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Startup Accounting

Processing Recurring Subscription Payments Cleanly

Written by Harry Prabandham

Curated by Rubric Financial

Last updated

1 / 5

The Recurring Payment Lifecycle

  • Each billing cycle a charge is created from the subscription terms, then authorized and captured through your payment processor.
  • Successful captures settle into your bank account on the processor payout schedule, usually a day or two later.
  • Failed captures enter a retry and dunning path rather than immediately ending the subscription.
  • Every event in this lifecycle should produce a record your accounting system can later match to cash.

About the author

Harry Prabandham

Founder & CEO

Founder and CEO of StartupCFO. MBA from Wharton, MS in Computer Science, and decades of experience building and advising venture-backed startups.

More articles by Harry

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