Recurrence is an observed pattern in a defined source period. It should remain separate from contract frequency, accounting classification, and any decision to renew or cancel.
Describe the observed pattern
For each proposed vendor group, sort the included transactions by date and retain the original descriptors and amounts. Record the number of charges, first and last observed dates, intervals between charges, amount range, credits, and any missing months in the covered source set. Use labels such as apparent monthly cadence or irregular recurring activity. Do not state that a charge is a monthly subscription unless a contract, invoice, receipt, or buyer confirmation supports that fact.
A stable date with changing amounts may reflect usage, seats, taxes, currency, separate products, or adjustments. A stable amount on uneven dates may reflect delayed posting. Two charges in one month may be duplicates, distinct workspaces, add-ons, or a renewal plus usage. Keep those explanations as unresolved candidates until a source supports one. The ledger's job is to preserve the question for the person who can answer it.
Separate vendor identity from product identity
The card descriptor may name a payment processor, reseller, parent company, or shortened legal name rather than the product a team recognizes. Build separate fields for raw descriptor, proposed vendor, product or workspace when supplied, and the source that connects them. Do not use a familiar logo or web search as sufficient evidence that an ambiguous charge belongs to a particular buyer account.
Invoices and receipts can add plan name, billing period, quantity, taxes, currency, and account reference. Vendor exports may add workspace identifiers or supplied renewal dates. Record those facts beside the transaction without overwriting it. If a bill covers several products, keep the total at the invoice level unless the document itself supplies an allocation. Creating an allocation would move beyond factual extraction into a buyer or professional judgment.
Route uncertain rows to review
Use explicit flags for unknown vendor, possible duplicate, conflicting amount, missing invoice, missing owner, supplied date unverified, and cadence inferred. A flag should state the factual reason and point to the affected rows. It should not say wasteful, unnecessary, overpriced, or should cancel. Those are decisions that require business context, contract review, and accountable authority outside the ledger-preparation service.
Reality Contact, LLC prepares this record through Software Spend Record and does not log in to bank, card, accounting, or vendor systems. The buyer supplies the source files, confirms ambiguous identities, records its own keep or review instruction, and assigns the responsible reviewer. No row is financial, accounting, tax, legal, or procurement advice.
Where the service stops
Reality Contact, LLC prepares a factual inventory and document pack but does not provide bookkeeping, accounting, tax, legal, financial, or procurement advice; verify vendors; approve charges; judge necessity; negotiate; cancel; renew; or decide which software the buyer should keep. The buyer confirms source completeness, resolves unknown vendors, supplies renewal dates and responsible owners when known, writes its own keep or review instructions, and hands the ledger to its accountable finance or procurement professional. The service is informational document preparation and does not replace bookkeeping, accounting, tax, legal, financial, procurement, contract, or vendor review by accountable professionals. The buyer controls source completeness, resolves vendor identities, writes every keep or review instruction, and gives the ledger to its responsible finance or procurement professional.
Sources: Zylo SaaS-management plan scope; Spendflo renewal stages and records.