Amounts: Major & Minor Units

All amounts in the reconciliation reports are shown in major units by default. This means the value you see is in the main currency unit: dollars, euros, rand, naira, yen, etc. Some reports also include a _minor_units column with the raw integer value for exact arithmetic.

What Are Major and Minor Units?

Every currency has a major unit (what you spend) and a minor unit (the smallest subdivision):

• USD: major unit = dollar, minor unit = cent (1 dollar = 100 cents)
• EUR: major unit = euro, minor unit = cent (1 euro = 100 cents)
• ZAR: major unit = rand, minor unit = cent (1 rand = 100 cents)
• NGN: major unit = naira, minor unit = kobo (1 naira = 100 kobo)
• JPY: major unit = yen, no minor unit (1 yen = 1 yen)
• BHD: major unit = dinar, minor unit = fils (1 dinar = 1000 fils)

Payment systems internally store amounts as integers in the minor unit to avoid floating-point rounding errors. NjiaPay converts these to major units for readability in reports, but also provides the raw minor-unit value when precision matters.

Conversion Table

The conversion from minor to major units depends on the currency's exponent (number of decimal places). Most currencies use 2, but some use 0 or 3:

The formula is:

major_units = minor_units / divisor

Examples by Currency

USD (2 decimals, divisor 100)

EUR (2 decimals, divisor 100)

ZAR (2 decimals, divisor 100)

NGN (2 decimals, divisor 100)

JPY (0 decimals, divisor 1)

Japanese yen has no subdivision. A minor unit of 500 is simply ¥500. The amount and amount_minor_units columns will always be the same value.

BHD (3 decimals, divisor 1000)

Bahraini dinar (and Kuwaiti dinar, Jordanian dinar, Omani rial) use three decimal places. A minor unit of 1500 is BHD 1.500, not BHD 15.00.

When to Use Minor Units vs. Major Units

Use major units (amount, njia_amount, psp_gross_amount, etc.) when:

• Displaying values to humans
• Quick visual inspection of transactions
• Preparing reports for stakeholders

Use minor units (_minor_units columns) when:

• Doing exact arithmetic in spreadsheets (SUMIFS, pivot tables, comparisons)
• Comparing amounts programmatically (avoids floating-point issues like 10.00 != 9.999999999)
• Building automated reconciliation workflows

How This Affects Break Flags

The break_gross_amount flag in the Successful Payments report compares NjiaPay's amount against the PSP's gross amount. This comparison is done in minor units internally, so floating-point rounding does not cause false breaks.

If you see break_gross_amount = True, it means the actual integer amounts disagree, not just a rounding artifact.

Full Currency List

NjiaPay supports the following currencies in reconciliation. The divisor column shows how minor units convert to major units.