Frequently Asked Questions
Common Questions About Residual Auditing
Straight answers about audits, platform intelligence, data protection, pricing, and methodology.
Getting Started
What the platform audits, who it is for, and what to expect from your first run.
- What is residual auditing?
- Residual auditing reconciles your processor's monthly residual report against your Schedule A and ISO agreement. It compares expected vs. actual residual on every line item and flags material variance, rates that don't match your contract, fee categories that map differently, or configuration drift worth reviewing.
- What file formats does Residual Genius accept?
- CSV and Excel exports from common processor layouts (CardConnect has a locked fast path; Fiserv-rail, TSYS-rail, Worldpay-style, and unfamiliar columns use AI-assisted mapping). No reformatting required.
- How long does an audit take?
- 5 to 10 minutes for typical files. Large portfolios with tens of thousands of rows may take 30 to 60 minutes or longer. Processing runs in the background and we will email you when your audit is complete.
- Is the first audit really free?
- Yes. Create a free account and audit your first residual report. No upfront payment, then $147/mo Agent unless you cancel before your first charge.
- Who is Residual Genius for?
- Individual agents and ISO operations teams in payment processing who manage merchant portfolios and need monthly reconciliation against their Schedule A, without rebuilding spreadsheets every month.
Intelligence & Learning
How the platform analyzes patterns, remembers feedback, and keeps AI in bounds.
- What makes Residual Genius an intelligent audit platform?
- It combines processor and layout detection, AI-assisted mapping for unfamiliar columns, deterministic contract math, and pattern analysis across merchants and fee types. Intelligence helps interpret messy source data, connect related exceptions, and surface behavior worth reviewing, while every dollar calculation stays anchored to your uploaded report and Schedule A rather than an AI estimate.
- Does Residual Genius learn from my team's feedback?
- Yes. When your team confirms, dismisses, or marks a finding unsure, Residual Genius records an organization-scoped learning signal with the processor and finding context. Repeated review decisions become structured operational memory instead of disappearing after each audit. Thin samples and stale evidence are not treated as reliable learning.
- Can learning change my audit results or hide findings?
- No. Learning is deliberately separated from financial authority. It cannot change expected or actual dollars, move audit thresholds, suppress findings, or rewrite contract terms. Every finding remains visible, one organization's feedback cannot become another organization's contract truth, and recoverability still requires human confirmation against the contract.
Data Security & Integrity
The controls that protect access, encryption, and the audit evidence chain.
- How do you keep other customers from seeing my data?
- Residual Genius uses strict tenant isolation: every upload, Schedule A, reconciliation row, and audit result is tied to your organization. Role-based access control, server-side organization authorization, and database row-level security on configured tables work together to prevent one customer from reading another customer's workspace. Access is limited to authorized members of your organization and explicitly authorized platform administrators.
- How is my data encrypted and protected?
- Traffic between your browser and Residual Genius is encrypted in transit with HTTPS/TLS. Files and database records are protected at rest by standard cloud-platform encryption from Supabase and Vercel, and authentication is handled through Supabase Auth without storing passwords in plain text. Stripe processes billing, so Residual Genius does not receive or store your raw card number.
- How does Residual Genius protect audit data integrity?
- Uploaded sources receive SHA-256 fingerprints and processing artifacts carry content checksums, creating a verifiable evidence chain from source file to audit result. Financial values are calculated deterministically from stored source rows and Schedule A rates, with row-level source and rate lineage showing where each result came from. When the platform cannot establish authoritative terms, it marks the item for review instead of filling the gap with AI-guessed dollars.
Methodology & Trust
Who built the platform, how the math works, and what makes the approach different.
- What should I know about Residual Genius as a company?
- Residual Genius is a new platform. We do not publish unverified customer counts, fabricated testimonials, or logo walls. Audit results come from the reports and Schedule A files you upload, and the claims we make reflect product behavior we can support.
- Who built Residual Genius?
- Residual Genius was built by operators with 20 years in payment processing and real ISO residual reconciliation experience. The workflow follows how agents actually audit: upload the report, match the Schedule A, quantify variance, and document findings.
- How does the audit methodology work?
- Expected residual is calculated by applying the revenue share in your Schedule A to net income on each line item, not by using generic industry benchmarks. You review flagged variance and confirm it against your contract before anything is treated as recoverable.
- How is Residual Genius different from a processor portal or spreadsheet?
- Processor portals show what was paid, while spreadsheets move rows around. Residual Genius tests whether the residual paid matches your contract for every merchant and fee line, then groups recurring patterns so you can see portfolio-wide issues instead of isolated cells.