Reimburse employees through standard ACH

If you're using Expenses, you can use standard ACH (Automated Clearing House) to reimburse employees for expenses, which allows you to effectively deposit expense payments directly in employees' bank accounts.

In practice, paying through standard ACH is similar to the process used to reimburse employees by cheque, except that you generate an ACH payment file that you send to the bank.

Learn more about setting up to make standard ACH payments.

Select expenses you want to reimburse with standard ACH

When you reimburse employees for expenses in Expenses, you can choose ACH as your payment method.

1. Go to Expenses > All > Reimbursements > Select expenses to reimburse.

2. Filter the list of expense reports, or select View.

   If you've selected ACH as the preferred payment method for selected employees, you can use the Payment Method dropdown menu to filter for only expense reports that should be reimbursed via standard ACH.

3. Find the Pay method dropdown and choose ACH.

   The list filters to show expense reports only from employees for which you've enabled standard ACH.

   If you already filtered the list of expense reports for only standard ACH payments, this payment method will be prefilled for you.

4. Select the expense reports that you want to pay and the payment amounts.

   By default, multiple expense reports from a single employee will result in one standard ACH payment. If you want separate standard ACH payments for every expense report, set the Payment Requests option to One per expense report.

5. Select Save.

   • The payments are saved as payment requests.
   • If the payments don't require approval first, the payments are also immediately available to be generated in a standard ACH payment file.

    

   Payments aren't posted until you generate the standard ACH file and confirm that the payments were processed by your bank.

Generate the standard ACH payment file

1. Go to Cash Management > All > ACH > ACH file generation.

   If you don't see options for standard ACH payments:

   To generate standard ACH payments, you need additional permissions in Cash Management.

   Required permissions for applications

   Application	Required permissions
   Cash Management	Locate the permissions for ACH File Generator, and add permissions to Run. Locate the permissions for ACH Payment File and add permissions to List, View, Export, Confirm, Void, and Delete.

2. Optionally, select Customize List to filter the list of payments by current account, supplier, employee, or date.
   If you processed supplier payments using standard ACH, these payments appear along with the expense reimbursements. To generate a separate standard ACH summary for just employee payments, select Customize List and deselect the option to Select All Suppliers.
3. Select the payments that you want to include in the standard ACH payment file.
4. Select Generate File.

   The payment appears on the ACH Payment File page. You can also find this page later by going to Cash Management > All > ACH > ACH payment file.

Send the standard ACH Payment file to your bank

You can download the standard ACH payment file and send it to your bank. You also have the option to save or view payment files in Excel, text, or .ach format.

1. From the Cash Management menu, choose ACH File and then ACH Payment File.

   A list of payment files that you've generated appears.

2. Optionally, examine the contents of the payment file.
3. Select Download next the payment file.
   Select the name of the payment file that was created and examine the payments that were created
4. Payment files are saved in .ach format.

Confirm and post standard ACH payments

Payments aren't posted until you confirm the standard ACH Payment file. If the bank wasn't able to process any of the payments, you can void individual payments and confirm the rest of the file. If there are multiple errors, you may find it easier to delete the standard ACH file and start over.

Directions for correcting payments

Options for confirming or correcting payments	Directions
If all payments cleared	Follow these steps to confirm the payment file: Select Confirm next to the payment file. This posts the payments to Accounts Payable.
If the bank isn't able to process one or more payments	Follow these steps to void the payments that didn't clear and confirm the rest. Return to the ACH Payment File page (Cash Management > All > ACH > ACH payment file). Select the name of the payment file that was created and examine the payments that were created. Select Void for any payment that wasn't processed by the bank. This will remove the payment from the standard ACH file and return it to the Generate ACH file page. If you want to start over with the payment, go to Accounts Payable > All > Payments > Payment requests or Expenses > All > Reimbursements > Pending and delete the payment request. This will make the AP supplier invoice or expense available to be paid again, allowing you to correct the payment information. Once you've removed any payments that didn't clear, select Confirm next to the payment file. This posts the payments to Accounts Payable.
If you want to void all the ACH payments and start over	Follow these steps to delete the standard ACH payment file and start over: Return to the ACH Payment File page (Cash Management > All > ACH > ACH payment file). Locate the payment file in the list, and select Delete to the right of the payment file. This will void all the payments in the file. Go to Accounts Payable > All > Payments > Payment requests or Expenses > All > Reimbursements > Pending and delete the payment requests. This will make the AP supplier invoices or expenses available to be paid again, allowing you to correct the payment information.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

What determines the payment date for posted payments?

The estimated payment date that you enter on the Pay AP supplier invoices or Reimburse Expenses page as the payment date. The actual payment date depends on when the bank receives and processes the payment.

Can I void an standard ACH payment that I already sent to the bank?

Yes, but you also need to contact your bank to cancel the payment. Voiding a payment in Sage Intacct doesn't affect the bank's payment process. If you don't contact your bank, it will proceed to issue the payment regardless of whether you void the payment here.

Learn more about voiding a standard ACH payment.