Profit and Loss (P&L) statements are essential documents for understanding a merchant’s financial health, revenue stability, and expense structure. In MCA and small-business funding workflows, these statements give funders a clear picture of cash flow and profitability.
However, manually receiving and sorting P&L statements from brokers or merchants can create bottlenecks. Attachments arrive in varied formats, with inconsistent naming conventions, and often missing key months or details.
Heron automates intake for profit and loss statements. The platform captures incoming submissions from email inboxes, portals, or API connections, identifies P&L documents instantly, and organizes them for scrubbing and analysis.
By centralizing intake, Heron eliminates the manual steps of downloading, renaming, and uploading files. Each statement flows directly into the underwriting pipeline, complete and ready for processing.
Automated intake transforms P&L handling from a fragmented manual process into a streamlined, auditable, and scalable workflow. Brokers and funders benefit from faster document readiness, lower error rates, and improved collaboration across teams.
Use Cases
- Capture emailed submissions: Heron ingests emails sent to addresses like submissions@ or underwriting@ and extracts P&L attachments automatically.
- Ingest portal uploads: Brokers uploading financials through partner portals or web forms feed directly into Heron’s intake queue.
- Detect document type: The system identifies P&L statements among multiple attachments, separating them from other files such as bank statements or IDs.
- Tag and organize files: Each P&L document is labeled by merchant name, date range, and broker, making retrieval simple.
- Validate completeness: Heron checks if the P&L covers full reporting periods and flags missing months or partial data.
- Route for next step: Once captured, the system sends the file to the scrubbing phase or automatically triggers a missing-info request if needed.
These use cases show how Heron converts manual inbox monitoring into a structured, automated process that accelerates deal readiness.
Operational Impact
Automating intake for profit and loss statements removes a high-volume, repetitive burden from operations teams. Instead of tracking attachments or chasing missing files, teams receive complete, categorized documents already connected to the right merchant record.
Key operational improvements include:
- Turnaround time: P&L statements reach underwriters faster, reducing delays in deal processing.
- Touches per submission: Intake happens automatically with no need for human downloads or uploads.
- Accuracy: Fewer misplaced files or mislabeled attachments.
- Compliance: All intake actions are logged, preserving audit trails.
- Scalability: Handles large submission spikes without requiring more staff.
Heron ensures every P&L statement enters the pipeline cleanly and predictably, building trust in data accuracy across departments.
Data Capture and Routing
Heron’s intake automation follows a structured, transparent flow designed to keep data moving efficiently.
- File detection: Heron identifies P&L statements using document recognition and metadata scanning.
- Auto-assignment: Files are assigned to the right merchant or broker folder automatically based on context.
- Metadata tagging: Each statement receives tags for merchant name, fiscal period, and document type.
- Duplicate suppression: If a P&L is re-sent, Heron detects it and prevents redundant entries.
- Validation checks: Missing pages, unclear totals, or incomplete months trigger flags before underwriting.
- Pipeline routing: Validated files move to scrubbing, while flagged ones route to a missing-info queue.
This structured approach ensures all documents are captured, categorized, and processed with zero ambiguity.
Integration and Configuration
Heron’s intake process adapts to each organization’s unique systems and policies.
- Inbox forwarding: Mailboxes like underwriting@ or subs@ can be connected to Heron for automated ingestion.
- Portal integration: Submissions through custom portals or web forms are synced instantly.
- API intake: Partner systems can push data directly into Heron for seamless intake.
- CRM mapping: Each document links to the correct record automatically in Salesforce, HubSpot, or other systems.
- File structure preservation: Documents are stored in consistent formats for easy retrieval.
- Security and access: Role-based permissions control who can view or manage intake files.
Once configured, Heron operates silently in the background, keeping every document accounted for and properly routed.
Quality Assurance and Governance
A strong intake process must maintain accuracy and accountability. Heron’s quality assurance features make sure every file received meets standards before it moves forward.
- Completeness verification: Confirms that P&L statements cover full reporting periods.
- File integrity checks: Detects corrupted or unreadable PDFs.
- Audit logging: Every step, from receipt to routing, is timestamped for traceability.
- Exception reporting: Incomplete or unclear documents generate real-time notifications for operations staff.
- Broker feedback: Missing-info templates automatically request re-uploads with correct data.
- Continuous monitoring: Dashboards show current queue status, flagged items, and turnaround times.
This governance ensures no document slips through and that all underwriting starts with reliable financial data.
Analytics and Reporting
Heron’s intake data supports deeper visibility and operational analytics.
- Volume tracking: Reports show how many P&Ls are received daily, weekly, and monthly.
- Completion rates: Monitors what percentage of incoming submissions are complete.
- Source analysis: Identifies which brokers or partners consistently send incomplete or late documents.
- Efficiency metrics: Measures average time from submission to availability in underwriting.
- Trend visualization: Helps teams predict high-volume periods and allocate resources efficiently.
- Error resolution data: Tracks reasons for missing-info requests to guide training and process refinement.
By connecting intake data to analytics, Heron helps teams identify where processes can improve and quantify their automation gains.
Benefits of Using Heron for Intake of Profit and Loss Statements
- Speed: Files move from the inbox to underwriting in seconds.
- Accuracy: Auto-tagging and validation prevent misplaced or incomplete statements.
- Visibility: Dashboards provide clear oversight of every incoming document.
- Scalability: Handles thousands of statements per day without increasing workload.
- Compliance: All actions are logged, creating an audit-ready trail.
Heron’s intake automation eliminates the friction between brokers, funders, and underwriters, enabling faster, cleaner, and more transparent document handling.
FAQs About Intake for Profit and Loss Statements
How does Heron detect profit and loss statements automatically?
Heron uses file recognition and text analysis to detect document titles, keywords, and data structures associated with P&L statements. It can differentiate between similar financial documents like balance sheets or bank statements.
Can incomplete statements be flagged during intake?
Yes. Heron runs completeness checks to confirm that all reporting periods are covered. Missing months or partial uploads trigger automatic missing-info requests.
Does Heron integrate with our CRM or LOS?
Absolutely. Heron connects directly to major CRM systems and loan origination platforms through APIs, ensuring every document syncs with the correct deal record.
What if a broker resends the same statement?
Duplicate detection prevents redundant uploads. The system identifies matching documents and links them to existing records rather than creating new entries.
How does Heron maintain data security during intake?
Heron uses encrypted storage, role-based access controls, and full audit logs to protect sensitive financial data. All documents are handled in compliance with SOC 2 standards.
