Monthly automatic payments (ACH / EFT)

When you look at the cost of processing invoices why not set the system up to automatically pay reoccurring invoices each month by electronic payment. Costs of payment by check range from $1.25 to $2 per check! ACH is often free.

Most banks do not charge for ACH transactions, transactions can be set up online (again most banks) and transactions can be set to repeat monthly.

CLICK HERE for setting up recurring AP Invoices.

Known in eAutomate as EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer)

For a vendor you intend to pay electronically, you are required to have the following information; Account Type (required), Account number (required) Routing number (required), Contact name (required), Phone, Email (required) and BCC

From eAutomate toolbar click vendors, select the vendor for which you want to set up, click edit to open the edit vendor window.

Click the EFT tab, check pay by EFT to activate the EFT fields. To allow e-automate to create a pre-note from the accounts payable window, select ‘pending pre-note’. If you have already verified you can select active as of date and enter the appropriate date.

Complete the following fields:

Account Type (required)

Account number (required)

Routing number (required)

Contact name (required)

Phone

Email (required)

BCC

Click OK to save

More Instructions direct from eAuto:

You can use e-automate to create the files necessary for your financial institution to process vendor payments electronically. In order for you to create the files for EFT transactions, you must first verify with your financial institution that they offer the service of paying vendors electronically. If your vendor does not support EFT for you, you cannot use e-automate’s EFT functionality or open an account with an institution that supports EFT transactions.

Before you can begin processing EFT transactions, you must first get the necessary information to create an EFT file for electronic payment from your financial institution. This information is used on the cashbook account and is used repeatedly when you create EFT files.

Once you have checked with your financial institution and have entered the appropriate information in e-automate on the cashbook account, you can turn on EFT options. EFT options are part of the company-wide e-automate accounts payable options. When EFT options are enabled, you can configure the vendors with which you want to use EFT. If you decide to use EFT with a particular vendor, you still can opt to pay a specific transaction with a check or other payment form during the Pay Vendors activity. You can also disable EFT for a vendor should you decide to stop paying by EFT.

Once you have configured your vendors, you must create pre-notes for your financial institution. A pre-note is an electronic file containing all the information to perform an electronic funds transfer. The file is used to verify that you have the necessary information to actually complete an electronic funds transfer. The pre-note file serves as a test file to ensure the EFT file is in order and can actually function.

You use the Pay Vendors window to create pre-notes. If you have activated all the necessary EFT components (system options, cashbook accounts, and vendors), when you create EFT payments in the Pay Vendors window, e-automate also creates pre-notes. If there are no actual EFT payments, the system still creates the pre-notes.

After the specified number of days have passed, e-automate makes the vendor active for EFT transactions. The time lapse between the sending of the pre-note and the activated date allows you to verify that the necessary information is in the pre-note file. During the days before activation for a vendor, you deliver the pre-note file to your EFT-capable financial institution and verify its functionality. Some financial institutions include a debit record in the EFT file, while others do not. If you have problems with your EFT file, you should verify whether or not you include the debit record in the EFT. The flag to include or exclude is found in the Edit Cashbook Account window, on the EFT tab.

Configuring a Cashbook Account for EFT

1.     Contact a financial institution and ensure that they offer EFT services.
   

2.     From the financial institution, obtain the following field values:
   

· Immediate destination: Routing number (required)

· Destination name: Name of financial institution.

· Immediate origin: 10-digit number assigned from financial institution when approved to originate ACH files. Sometimes includes federal tax ID. (required)

· Origin name: Name of company as listed on statements from company’s financial institution.

· Company ID: 10-digit number assigned to financial institution to create ACH files, same as Immediate origin. (required)

· Company name: Name of company as listed on statements…..same as “Origin name”

1.     Determine from your financial institution whether or not your EFT file should contain an account debit record.
   

2.     Determine from which account you intend to draw funds electronically.
   

3.     From the Accounting menu, select Cashbook Accounts to display the Cashbook Accounts window.
   

4.     Select the account you intend to use in conjunction with EFT transactions and click [Edit] to open the Edit Cashbook Account window.
   

5.     Click the EFT tab to bring it forward.
   

6.     To use this account with EFT transactions, check Use EFT payments.
   

7.     Complete the following fields with values outlined by your financial institution, as defined above:
   

· Immediate destination (required)

· Destination name

· Immediate origin (required)

· Origin name

· Company ID (required)

· Company name

1. If your financial institution required the debit record, check the Include account debit record in the EFT file checkbox.
   

2. Click [OK] to save your changes.
   

Turning on EFT Options

1.     From the e-automate Tools menu, select Options to open the Options window.
   

2.     In the left pane, click on Accounts Payable to display the accounts payable options.
   

3.     Click [EFT Options] to open the EFT Options window.
   

4.     Complete the following fields as appropriate.
   

· Use EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer): When checked, your e-automate system can create electronic funds transfer files. These files are then delivered to your financial institution, which initiates the transfer described in your EFT file.

· Wait XX days after sending pre-note to activate vendor for EFT: Identify the number of days the e-automate system should wait to activate the vendor’s EFT capability, after sending a pre-note. ACH rules state that you cannot send EFT payments before six banking days have elapsed following a pre-notification.

· EFT file output location: The place on your local computer or network in which e-automate stores the EFT files created.
Note: You must have write access to this directory. Use the […] button to browse for a file location.

· Cashbook account: The cashbook account you want used for EFT transactions.
Note: If you have not configured any cashbook accounts for EFT, none are available. You must configure your cashbook account first.

1.     Click [OK] to save your company EFT settings.
   

2.     Click [OK] to save your company settings and close the Options window.
   

3.     Acknowledge the Attention Required window by clicking [OK]. You must restart e-automate before the EFT settings are in place.
   

4.     Restart e-automate.
   

Configuring a Vendor for EFT

Creating a Pre-notification File

1.     From the Accounting menu, select Accounts Payable > Pay Vendors to open the Pay Vendors window.
   

2.     Verify the list of vendors to pay is empty. If the list is not empty, select each vendor on the list and click [Remove]. Repeat until all vendors are deleted.
   

   Note: You can use the Windows keyboard shortcuts, Shift + Click and Cntrl + Click to select multiple vendors and remove many vendors at once.

3.     Click [Create EFT] to create pre-notes. If there were EFT invoices to be paid, e-automate creates an EFT file for open transactions and then creates a pre-note file.
   

4.     E-automate displays the Attention Required window notifying you that the EFT queue is empty, and asking if you want to create an EFT file for pre-notes only. To create pre-notes, click [Yes]. To cancel creating pre-notes, click [No].
   

5.     If you clicked [Yes] to create pre-notes, e-automate displays the Create EFT File window. Complete the fields with the appropriate information. See below for field descriptions.
   

· Transaction date: The date on which this EFT posts to your general ledger.

· Effective date: ACH rules state that this date must be at least one banking day after the transaction date. e-automate determines if there is a weekend or a United States Federal Holiday and moves the Effective date accordingly to the following banking day from your Transaction date. You can roll it forward as necessary. You cannot move it within one banking day of the Transaction date.

· Cashbook account: Your EFT cash account. You can select a different EFT account as necessary.

· File output location: The location where e-automate stores the EFT file created. You can click [Browse] to select a different location on your computer or network.

1.     Click [OK] to create the pre-notification file. Once the file has been created, e-automate acknowledges it. Click [OK] to acknowledge.
   

2.     Locate your pre-note file and deliver the file to your financial institution.