Reconciling site invoices in Excel means exporting visit data, matching every line to the budget by hand, and emailing sites about differences, often for every invoice, every month. Cloudbyz CTFM, a Salesforce-native clinical trial financial management system, reconciles site invoices inside the system against the contracted budget, completed visits, limits per unit and payee rules, so teams only review exceptions. It is used by large pharma, global multinationals, biotechs, CROs and device companies.
How reconciliation works today
- Export completed visits from the CTMS or EDC.
- Open the site budget, often a separate spreadsheet per site and version.
- Match every invoice line to a visit, procedure or cost by hand.
- Check rates against the latest amendment and limits against the agreement.
- Email the site about differences, wait, and repeat.
- Copy the agreed amounts into the finance system.
Every step is manual, every spreadsheet is a new version, and none of it leaves a reliable record of who decided what.
Why it matters
- Audit trail. Under US GAAP, clinical trial costs are expensed as incurred (ASC 730), and auditors expect a supportable basis for what was paid and accrued (G-Squared CFO). Spreadsheets edited by several people rarely provide one.
- Correct invoices. Site payment terms often run from receipt of a correct invoice (Applied Clinical Trials), so slow reconciliation delays payment.
- Electronic records. Where FDA-required records are kept electronically, 21 CFR Part 11 expects audit trails and controlled signatures.
Excel versus Cloudbyz CTFM
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Step
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In Excel
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In Cloudbyz CTFM
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Visit data
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Exported and pasted
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Shared from CTMS and EDC on the same platform
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Budget and rates
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Separate files per site and version
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One budget record with versions
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Line matching
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By hand
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Each line checked against the proforma
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Limits and payees
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Looked up in the agreement
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Applied from configured rules
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Exceptions
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Found by scanning
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Flagged with the reason
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Record
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Email and file versions
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Full audit trail
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What changes by department
- Finance: review exceptions instead of every line; reconciliation status visible in dashboards.
- Clinical operations: no more exporting visit lists for finance.
- Sites: fewer queries, faster payment, status visible in the portal.
- QA and audit: every decision traceable.
How Cloudbyz CTFM does it
Cloudbyz CTFM builds the proforma, what each site should be paid, from completed visits, contracted rates, non-procedure cost limits and payee rules, and compares every invoice line with it. Exceptions are routed for approval, and built-in dashboards show reconciliation and payments from payee and site through to paid status. Book a demo or visit cloudbyz.com.
