When processing accounts payable payments from a batch, you can select EFT as the payment method to create a file for upload to the bank, based on the file format you specified in Company Settings.
Vendor payables are otherwise generated and paid in a very similar manner as if vendors are paid by printed checks. An additional transaction filter is automatically applied where vendors that do not have banking information already defined will not have payables generated for payment. And there is no Payment Start number used for electronic payments.
The Payment Account defaults from the EFT Clearing account specified in Company Settings – Special Accounts, instead of directly to a bank account, so that a single consolidated transaction can later be posted to the bank. This will make bank reconciliation easier, as the EFT submission total appears on the bank statement rather than individual vendor payment amounts. But you can choose a bank account as the Payment Account, which will post each vendor payment there if that is the desired result.
When the Post button is clicked, you confirm that you want to pay these transactions. Then you will receive a screen to select EFT settings.
GL Account – If you chose an EFT clearing account as the Payment Account, this will be editable and allow you to choose from any bank account that has EFT settings configured. If you chose the bank account as the Payment Account, it will be displayed here and cannot be changed.
EFT Settings – A list of EFT configurations defined on the selected bank account. This affects the EFT file name and contents.
Process on – The date that it written to the EFT file for processing. This defaults to the Batch Date value, but can be changed if required.
Next, you will be asked where to save the payment file. The file name will default from the next sequence number on the bank EFT settings, but it can be edited to something different. Once saved, it can then be uploaded to the bank. No checks will be printed.
An EFT Payment Remittance report can be printed or emailed to vendors, with the paid transactions listed so each vendor has a record of what has been paid.
When the Remittance report is completed, and the Payment Account was the EFT Clearing account, a prompt appears asking to transfer payments from EFT Clearing to the Bank account. At this point, the GL transactions created from posting has not yet updated the GL bank account.
Choosing Yes will create a GL Transaction entry that debits the EFT clearing account and credits the Bank account, resetting the clearing account to zero.
Choosing No will not create a GL transaction, and you would need to do this manually when you want to update the bank account balance.
Now the Accounts Payable batch is complete and the Status is set to Closed.