How ad spend is calculated and reported

Finaloop's Ads page gives you one place for both the financial and performance side of your advertising, using data pulled directly from your connected ad platforms.

By connecting directly to your ad platforms, Finaloop automatically pulls:

Everything is reconciled end-to-end, so your books, platform balances, and performance dashboards stay aligned without spreadsheets or manual tracking. With the Ads page, you can:

Finaloop currently integrates with:

Amazon Ads provides full campaign metrics from a certain date onward. For earlier dates, the Ads page shows spend only, and a tooltip on the affected metrics tells you the date for your account.

Finaloop connects directly to your ad accounts and automatically syncs all relevant financial and performance data.

We sync the entire ad payable lifecycle:

On the accrual method, your reports reflect what you actually owe, not just what has been charged so far.

Finaloop continuously compares platform balances with your books to keep them aligned.

In addition to accounting accuracy, you get detailed platform metrics such as:

Each of these metrics is explained under Ads page overview.

Your accounting method decides how ad spend reaches your books. On the accrual method, ad spend is recorded as ads run, and what you owe sits in a payable account until the platform charges you. On the cash method, ad spend is recorded when the platform charges your bank or card or when you pay an invoice or bill.

Here's how money flows between your business and your ad platform on the accrual method, and how Finaloop tracks each step.

Ad spend is recorded as soon as ads run, even before the ad platform charges your bank or card, so your books reflect what you owe in real time.

When the ad platform bills your bank account or card, the charge is matched against the accrued spend.

If they issue a refund (for overcharges or adjustments), it's recorded and reconciled automatically.

Credits include:

Credits reduce the amount you owe and are tracked separately for full visibility.

Finaloop tracks all of these components together so your ads payable balance stays in line with your ad platforms (the source of truth).

On the accrual method, under Liabilities → Current Liabilities → Accounts payable (A/P) on your Balance Sheet, you'll find an Ads platform payable account for each platform, such as Ads platform payable - Meta Ads.

It includes:

On your P&L, under Paid online ads, you'll see:

This makes it easy to understand your true advertising costs for any period.

① Ads credit rows, ② Paid online ads rows by account, ③ the Unidentified account row.

In certain cases, you may see an additional Unidentified account row in your P&L, such as Paid online ads - Meta Ads - Unidentified account. This happens when we see ad-related transactions in your bank or credit card that we can't match to the data we sync from the ad platform.

This can happen if there are timing differences, a campaign that wasn't connected, or a miscategorized bank transaction. In this case, we automatically add an adjustment so your ad spend is accurately reflected in your P&L and fully reconciled with your source of truth.

We review these adjustments both during the month and again at month-end to keep your advertising expenses complete and accurate. If the amount on this row looks high, check that every ad account you use is connected under Ads → Ad account settings, then email [email protected] with the month and amount.

Click Ads in the left menu to view your advertising data provided by your ad platforms.

The Overview tab gives you a high-level snapshot of your ad activity and performance, with summary metrics such as:

You can also:

This view is ideal for executive-level reporting and quick health checks.

An Action required button appears next to an account whenever we need something from you, for example if we need you to grant us a role in your ad account. Click it to open the Ads missions drawer and see what's needed. You'll also see a corresponding mission (a task where we ask you for information we need) in My missions.

① Action required banner, ② Action required button.

View performance metrics at the campaign level:

This helps you evaluate which campaigns are driving results.

Drill down further into ad set performance to understand:

See a consolidated view of spend and performance across all ad accounts.

See each connected ad account and use Connect or Disconnect to choose which ones Finaloop syncs. Disconnecting an account stops future syncing and removes all historical data related to that account from your books.

Across these views, you can:

Ad platforms focus on performance and accounting systems focus on charges. Finaloop brings both together.

With the Ads page, you can see:

This gives finance and marketing teams a shared, accurate view of advertising performance.

If you have questions about your ad spend or connecting your ad accounts, contact our support team through chat or at [email protected]. Margins customers can reach us at [email protected].