Role-Separated Seller Payout Flow for AmMall Bookkeeping

01 — Context

A marketplace ready to pay sellers, with no system to do it.

Marketplaces collect payments from buyers and later distribute earnings to sellers. As the platform prepared to support seller payouts, the operations team needed a reliable way to calculate payouts, approve payments, and track financial records.

However, no internal system existed to manage this process.

02 — Problem

Without a dedicated system, every payout was a financial risk.

• Payout calculations could not be verified easily.
• Payment records were difficult to track.
• Financial oversight across roles was unclear.

This created potential operational risk and financial control issues.

03 — Research

Four insights from finance & treasury practice.

With zero research budget, I conducted a small-scale qualitative study with three participants ranging from treasury staff to a finance director, paired with secondary research on financial statement fundamentals and bookkeeping practice. The goal: to better understand how financial management actually works inside an operating team — who touches money, who approves it, and what records are kept — before designing a payout system that finance professionals would trust.

Method — 3 semi-structured interviews (treasury staff, finance manager, finance director) · desk research on financial statements, internal controls, and audit trails · synthesized into the four insights below.

01Financial workflows rely on role separation

"Treasury executes payments, while approval is handled by other financial roles."

Implication — Approval, payment execution, and financial review should be handled by different roles.

02Payments must leave a clear record

"Treasury records transaction details such as name, date, amount, and payment status."

Implication — The system should include payment logs and proof of payment.

03Different roles need different financial views

"Finance staff verify transaction accuracy, while leadership focuses on cash flow and risks."

Implication — The system should support both detailed transaction views and summary dashboards.

04Financial systems must scale with transaction volume

"With large transaction volumes, systems store detailed records while reports show summarized totals."

Implication — Automate payout calculations while allowing drill-down into transaction details.

04 — Goals

01Business goal

Ensure seller payouts follow clear financial control and audit requirements.

02User goal

Allow finance teams to verify payouts, execute payments, and review records in a clear workflow.

03Design goal

Use visual hierarchy for quick scanning and design a clear payout workflow with next-step guidance for each role.

04Development goal

Automate payout calculations and support role-based actions. Ensure backend data matches the financial logic shown in the UI according to product document.

05 — Principles

Three principles guided every screen.

06 — Solution

A four-stage workflow, end to end.

1. Stage 01
   AutomationSystem
   System automatically generates payout batches based on sellers' schedule.
2. Stage 02
   AuthorizationManager
   Manager reviews and approves payouts.
3. Stage 03
   ExecutionTreasury
   Treasury executes bank transfers and logs payment receipts.
4. Stage 04
   OversightAccountant
   Accountants review financial records and reconciliation.

The workflow separates approval, execution, and financial oversight — supporting internal financial controls.

07 — Impact

What the platform can now do.

08 — Future

Where the system grows next.

01Role-based access control

Due to the current team size, page access permissions are not yet strictly separated. However, the product already defines clear role boundaries (manager, treasury, accountant), allowing role-based access control to be implemented easily as the team grows.

02Payout automation

After validating the workflow, payout approvals can gradually be automated to improve efficiency.

03Scalable financial data management

After discussing with engineers, it is feasible that as transaction volumes increase, detailed transaction records can be archived while summary-level views remain accessible — maintaining both data transparency and system performance.

Designing financial systems is not only about interfaces, but about structuring workflows that reduce risk, support accountability, and scale with the business.