Finance and Accounting · Daily operations · 9 min read

Supplier payment runs and payment holds

Prepare a payment proposal, approve it, release it to the bank and record the bank's answer, with holds that stop individual bills.

Before you begin

• The supplier bills are posted, in the company currency (AED), and the suppliers have a bank account on file.
• The bank account you pay from is in use on the payment date and has a ledger account.
• Three roles are involved: payment.prepare (prepare, submit, hold, cancel), payment.approve (approve, send back, lift holds, download the bank file) and payment.release (release, record the bank's answer). The preparer never approves or releases the same proposal.
• If the policy Separate release is on (the default), the releaser is neither the preparer nor the approver. If it is off, the approver may release. Changing the policy needs account.manage.
• A releaser must be an authorised signer of the bank account if signers are listed.

Prepare

1. Open Finance > Payables > Payment proposals and press New proposal.
2. Enter the Name, choose Pay from, the Payment date, the Method (bank transfer, cheque, cash or other) and optionally Include everything due by a date.
3. Save. Bills that are held, wholly disputed or already in another live proposal are left out. Each line shows what is owing and To pay, which is the outstanding amount less the disputed part and retention.
4. Adjust lines: change To pay or Priority (1 first, 2, 3), use Add bills or Remove, or Hold this bill with a reason.
5. Press Submit for approval. Every supplier must have a bank account on file, otherwise hold the bill or add the account.

Approve

1. A different user with payment.approve opens the proposal. Check the summary and the Pays to details (shown masked).
2. Press Approve, or Send back to the preparer with what needs changing.

Approval fixes the bank file and records its fingerprint. Only people who approve or release can Download bank file.

Release

1. A third user with payment.release presses Release to the bank.
2. Payments are booked together. Each bill is paid and the proposal becomes Released.

Worked example. An approved proposal holds bills of AED 4,000.00 and AED 6,000.00 for two suppliers. Release debits each payable and credits the bank for the same amounts. Both bills show Paid.

If the supplier's bank account changed, or a bill was part-paid after approval, release pays nothing: the approval is withdrawn, the affected lines are held and the proposal returns to pending for a fresh independent approval.

Record the bank's answer

1. After release, press Record the bank's answer.
2. Mark each bill Accepted, Rejected or Unknown. A rejection needs the bank's reason.

A rejected line reverses its payment, so the bill is open and can go into a new proposal.

Place and lift a payment hold

1. Open Finance > Payables > Payment holds and press Place a hold. Choose the scope (one bill or a whole supplier), the bill or supplier and the reason.
2. A bill on hold cannot be paid or proposed. Payment due shows why.
3. A user with payment.approve presses Release (lift this hold) and gives a reason. The person who placed it cannot lift it unless they also hold the approve right.

What happens next

Released proposals leave a payment per bill, ready to match on the bank statement. See Import and reconcile bank statements.

Good to know

• Only a draft can be edited. Send an approved or pending proposal back first.
• A draft or pending proposal can be cancelled with a reason. A released one is with the bank; record the answer instead.
• The bank file is a generic header, detail and trailer CSV, not ISO 20022.
• Foreign-currency bills must be settled outside proposals.