When it comes to understanding redemption activity for financial purposes, one of the most powerful reports available in Awardco is the Redemption Point Source (FIFO) report. It connects each redemption back to the source of the points used, making it especially helpful for tax review, audit support, and deeper redemption analysis.
This report is especially valuable for admins, payroll teams, and finance partners who need to determine which redemptions may be taxable during a given pay period. Admins can filter the report by pay period, budget, budget taxability, recognition program, cost center, and metadata to isolate the exact redemptions they want to review.
While Awardco cannot provide tax advice, we can provide the data your organization needs to review redemptions more confidently and reconcile them more accurately. This is also a great place to give a quick shoutout to our partnership with Deloitte as a trusted resource for audit, consulting, tax, and advisory support.
📑 Why this report matters
This report is especially helpful for admins, payroll teams, and finance partners who need to determine which redemptions may be taxable during a given pay period. Admins can filter by budget, budget taxability, recognition program, cost center, and metadata to isolate the exact redemption activity they want to review.
It is also a great report for engagement analysis. Admins can use it to understand which point sources are driving redemption behavior, which programs are creating the most activity, and how redemption trends may influence future strategy and budget planning.
🧠 What you can learn from it
With this report, admins can answer questions like:
- Which recognition programs are leading to the most redemptions?
- Which budgets or cost centers are tied to taxable redemption activity?
- How quickly are employees redeeming points after they are awarded?
- Which point sources are the most active across the organization?
That insight can help your organization make more informed decisions around tax handling, program effectiveness, resource allocation, and ROI.
📝 How to access the report
Getting to the report is simple:
- Go to Admin
- Select Insights
- Select Reports
- Click Redemption Point Source (FIFO) in the left navigation
If you do not see the report, your role may need access to the Points report group and the specific Redemption Point Source (FIFO) report permission.
💸 Best way to run it for financial review
Before running the report, apply filters to narrow your data. If you leave filters blank, they default to Select All.
For financial or payroll review, these are the most useful filters to start with:
- Time Frame – Use the pay period or reconciliation window you need to review.
- Budget Taxable – Separate taxable and non-taxable point sources.
- Budget – Isolate the funding source you want to analyze.
- Recognition Program – Review redemption activity from a specific program.
- Cost Center – Great for organizations that reconcile by department or cost center.
- From Metadata / To Metadata – Refine by recognition giver or redemption recipient based on your metadata setup.
Once your filters are set, click Run Report. If needed, you can export the report as a CSV, save your filter setup as a Saved View, star it as your default, or schedule it for recurring email delivery.
☝️ Pro tips and hacks
Here are a few ways to get even more value out of this report:
1. Use Base Total for finance and payroll
For most organizations, Base Total is the safest and most accurate field to use for tax and net spend reconciliation. It includes item price, shipping, tax, and customs in the company’s base currency, and returns appear as negative values so totals net correctly.
2. Use UTC when reconciling across reports
UTC is the recommended time zone for reconciliation with other Awardco reports, so using it can help reduce confusion when comparing totals.
3. Customize your export before downloading
Use the column selector before exporting so your CSV only includes the fields your payroll, HR, or finance team actually needs.
4. Use the chart to spot trends quickly
The Points Spend Summarized by Point Source chart can be grouped by Point Source, Recognition Program, Budget, or Cost Center to give you a faster view of redemption trends.
5. Export the chart for audits or internal decks
You can export the visualization as a PNG if you want to include it in a payroll review, audit support file, or internal presentation.
6. Pair it with other reports for deeper reconciliation
If you need more context, use this report alongside Points Redeemed and Point Transactions for a more complete view of redemption detail, point movement, and source tracing.
🙋 FAQ
Why does Point Source sometimes say “Unknown”?
“Unknown” appears when the system cannot confidently classify the original funding source into a newer named category. This usually happens with older data or edge-case transactions. These are still valid redemptions and should still be included in your totals.
Which column should finance use for tax reconciliation?
For most organizations, Base Total is the best column to use. It reflects true net order cost in the company’s base currency and includes returns as negative values.
What is the difference between Base Total and User Total?
Base Total is the cost in the company’s primary currency and is best for company-wide reconciliation. User Total is the same cost shown in the employee’s local currency, which is especially useful in multi-country or PPP environments.
Why are Total Points whole numbers while money shows decimals?
Points are shown as simple whole-number values for employees, but Awardco tracks the actual financial value with decimals for accounting accuracy. Because of taxes, buffers, conversion, and rounding, it is normal to see cents in the monetary columns.
Why don’t Total Points and monetary totals match perfectly?
Because points are simplified for the user experience, while the monetary fields reflect the true financial cost. For finance-related reporting, always rely on Base Total and User Total instead of Total Points.
Common discrepancies to watch for
If your numbers do not look exactly how you expected, here are a few common reasons:
- This report only includes processed orders. Pending, partially processed, or canceled orders will not appear.
- A single redemption can create multiple rows because the source data is one row per redemption-source pair.
- Order Type = Return is not the same thing as Point Source = Return. One describes the transaction type, and the other describes where the funding came from.
- Different cost center or metadata filters can materially change totals, so make sure all teams reviewing the report are using the same filter logic.
✅ Final takeaway
If your organization needs a better way to review redemptions for taxation, auditing, or engagement analysis, the Redemption Point Source (FIFO) report is one of the best places to start. It gives admins better visibility into where redeemed points came from, which redemptions may be taxable, and how redemption behavior is trending across the organization.
Have questions about how to interpret your data or choose the right filters for your use case? Reach out to your CSM or TCSM team for help!
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