Methodology
This is the path we follow on an application pack destined for a payment gateway platform. It is a financial audit of papers, not a software scan and not a mock credit decision.
01
We start with a call. You name the entity, the gateway you intend to apply to, and the papers you already hold. We tell you what is enough to begin a reading and what would only create a second cycle. Full statements are not requested on that call. We do not accept a folder of unrelated group accounts “in case they help.”
02
Current-account statements for the trading entity are laid out by month. We mark cropped pages, missing months, and credits that cannot be tied to a named payer. If the entity changed banks, both series are read as one timeline, with a sentence that says so.
03
Payout reports from a prior gateway, acquirer, or marketplace are mapped to the bank. Fees, refunds, chargebacks, and withheld reserves are separated so sales are not confused with what actually landed. Months that cannot be matched are left unmatched and explained, not forced to foot.
04
Chargeback counts are read against the reports you can evidence, not against a ratio remembered from a dashboard. Rolling reserves still held by a prior processor are named so a quiet current account is not mistaken for missing volume.
05
We check that the SSM extract, directors, and signatory match the accounts being submitted. We do not give legal opinions on shareholding. We do mark a beneficial-ownership chart that stops at a holding company with no natural persons named.
06
You receive a dated memo: inconsistencies, unexplained spikes, papers still missing, and a send-or-wait note when you have booked a readiness pass. The memo is yours. We do not send it to the gateway unless a later engagement says so in writing.
It is not a penetration test of a payment platform, not a certification, and not a substitute for your accountant. It will not make a thin history look thick. It will make a thick folder readable.
