Depletion allowance reconciliation, without the spreadsheet marathon

Depletion Reconciler takes a distributor's depletion allowance invoice and a Tradeparency DA export, and gives back every deal line filled in, in Tradeparency order, with a check that the totals actually match.

What is a depletion allowance?

In the beverage alcohol business, a depletion allowance (often called a DA, and sometimes a billback) is money a supplier pays a distributor for each case the distributor sells to retailers at a promoted price. A brand might offer, for example, $3.00 back on every case sold to stores on a 10-case deal. Each month the distributor bills the supplier for those allowances, case by case and deal by deal.

A "depletion" is simply a case leaving the distributor's warehouse for a store, which is why the same word shows up in depletion reports and depletion data. It is not the same thing as the oil and gas depletion allowance in the tax code.

Why reconciling depletion allowances takes so long

Before a supplier pays a depletion allowance invoice, someone has to check it. For many brands that means an area manager keying case totals into Tradeparency, deal line by deal line, until Tradeparency's calculated total can be compared with what the distributor billed. The work is slow for reasons that have nothing to do with how skilled the person doing it is:

• The invoices are huge. One month from one distributor can run to thousands of rows, one per store, product and promotion.
• Every distributor formats it differently, and the same distributor can change its layout from one month to the next.
• Names and rates don't line up. The invoice may call a product "Tea" while Tradeparency calls it "Iced Tea", or show a rate a few cents off the deal on file.
• Variety packs, loose cans and duplicate deals each need their own handling, or cases get counted twice.
• Mistakes hide in the totals. One mistyped price on a distributor's sheet can quietly throw the whole bill off.

How Depletion Reconciler works

Drop in the Tradeparency DA export for a distributor, then that distributor's invoice. The tool reads the invoice by what each column means rather than where it sits, adds up the cases for every product, price and allowance, and lines each total up against the matching Tradeparency deal line, in the same order you key them in.

• A totals check shows what the invoice says, what Tradeparency will calculate, and exactly which invoice rows explain any difference.
• It never guesses. When a match is genuinely ambiguous, it asks you once instead of filling in a number that might be wrong.
• It learns. Put an unusual product on the right line once and it is remembered every month for that distributor.
• It is private by design. Invoices are read inside your browser. Nothing from the file is uploaded or stored.

Who it is for

Area managers, trade marketing teams and finance staff at beer, wine and spirits suppliers who reconcile distributor depletion allowance invoices every month, especially brands that manage their deals in Tradeparency.

Who builds it

Depletion Reconciler is designed and developed by UNIVERSOLE APP STUDIOS. Our team builds it alongside the people who reconcile these invoices, and every rule in it comes from a real invoice.

Tradeparency is a trademark of its owner. Depletion Reconciler is an independent tool and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Tradeparency or Andavi Solutions.