How Synder Helps Pawp Achieve Granular QuickBooks Reporting for Stripe Subscriptions

Pawp: Expert vet advice is always just a tap away

Pawp has been changing the game for pet care with its 24/7 digital health clinic and telehealth service since 2020, giving pet owners instant access to licensed vets anytime, anywhere. Named the best online pet care service by Business Insider, their app provides unlimited, round-the-clock veterinary consultations via video and text, ensuring that expert advice is always within reach. Whether pets are sick, healthy, or somewhere in between, Pawp’s team of compassionate vets and nurses delivers personalized care tailored to each pet’s unique needs. 

The challenge of tackling Stripe subscriptions manually

Pawp offers monthly and yearly subscriptions, using Stripe and PayPal as their payment platforms and QuickBooks Online as their accounting system.

‘We’ve been on QuickBooks Online since the very beginning and it’s been a pleasant journey overall. As someone with an accounting background, I can say that I’ve felt very comfortable using it for the past three years. They have the very essential features that I need for my day-to-day workflows.’ — Tony ElTen, Financial officer at Pawp

When Pawp introduced yearly subscriptions, they had to become more aware of accrual and cash flow-based accounting. Unlike monthly subscriptions, yearly plans bring unique accounting challenges, like handling subscription modifications and processing invoices. Pawp initially tried to manage subscription billing manually, but as the business grew, the volume became harder to manage.

‘Before automation, I used to do monthly manual revenue recognition. Once the PayPal statement and Stripe statement were generated, I reconciled these manually to an Excel sheet. Then, according to this Excel sheet, I made the necessary journal entries in QuickBooks.’ — Tony ElTen, Financial officer at Pawp

‘It was just the natural next move for us to just automate those invoices and have a 1-to-1 mapping between what is in Stripe and what is in QuickBooks.’ — Andrew Malek, Founder and CTO at Pawp

Determined to find a solution, Pawp looked for an automated system to simplify revenue recognition and landed on Synder, a QuickBooks Solution Provider offering seamless data sync from Stripe to QuickBooks with automated GAAP-compliant revenue recognition for subscriptions processed through Stripe. This integration enabled QuickBooks Online to again serve as a single source of truth for all of Pawp’s subscription and accounting data.

What Pawp gained with Synder-QuickBooks Online integration

Synder offers some of the best and most detailed data sync from Stripe in the industry. The synchronization may work on the cash basis, just bringing data from Stripe to QuickBooks Online. However, subscription-based businesses also need the proper revenue recognition in place. That’s why Synder RevRec, an add-on for revenue recognition, ticked all the boxes for Pawp.

Automated sync of subscription changes from Stripe to QuickBooks

Any modifications to Pawp’s subscriptions in Stripe—refunds, chargebacks, cancellations, upgrades, and more—are automatically detected, included in the recognition schedule, and recorded in QuickBooks Online. For example, if a user requests a refund in the middle of the subscription, Synder automatically picks up these changes from Stripe and reflects them in QuickBooks.

Syncing and matching invoices from multiple platforms

Pawp offers two payment options to their customers: Stripe and PayPal. Synder syncs and matches invoices from both platforms. With various billing periods, Synder accurately identifies and recognizes these invoices, saving both the financial officer and CTO a ton of manual work.

Recognising revenue when earned

According to GAAP principles, Pawp needs to recognize revenue when the services are provided, not when the money is paid. Synder RevRec lets them do this with a straight-line revenue recognition method, meaning they are able to recognize equal portions of revenue from annual subscriptions each month. Invoices go into a deferred revenue account on the balance sheet and are recognized as earned revenue in their profit and loss over time.

Granular QuickBooks reporting tailored to their needs

QuickBooks Online is a great tool for detailed reporting, offering a granular profit and loss view, and Synder can enhance this experience for retailers with multiple storefronts. Thanks to Synder’s mapping functionality, Pawp was able to map the accounts and items from QuickBooks Online to those in Stripe. 

This has allowed for flexible and more transparent reporting in QuickBooks so that Pawp can track income by categories. For example, they can see several products paid for via Stripe in their Profit and Loss and understand how much they earn per product each month. 

In its turn, their balance sheet reflects deferred revenue for subscriptions, showing how much they’ve been paid but should not yet recognize as income.

Conclusion: Scaling efficiently with Synder and QuickBooks Online

Synder connects Stripe and QuickBooks Online for Pawp and seamlessly syncs data from one platform to another. Synder’s revenue recognition add-on ensures the company has proper GAAP-compliant bookkeeping for long-term subscriptions. The tech stack of Stripe, QuickBooks Online and Synder allows for complete automation of the revenue recognition process, saving Pawp the time and manpower to reinvest into other aspects of the business, expanding and bettering their offerings.

‘As a consumer company, it’s really important to be able to automate revenue recognition and set up the right integrations between Stripe and QuickBooks. This is definitely something we don’t want to do manually at scale. Being able to automate with Synder became a must.’ — Andrew Malek, Founder and CTO at Pawp

With QuickBooks being their main financial data source, Pawp benefits from detailed reports that fit their needs. As Pawp continues to grow, they remain confident in their revenue recognition process—thanks to the integration between Synder RevRec and QuickBooks that will put them in a place to sustain growth for many years to come.

Automate revenue recognition for your SaaS business with Synder

Tired of manual revenue recognition processes? Try Synder’s 15-day free trial and explore seamless Stripe and QuickBooks Online integration. Connect with our team and see how Synder RevRec can simplify your revenue recognition for subscriptions processed through Stripe. Find the perfect solution with Synder RevRec!