AP payments, ACH and remittance advice

Kinetic + Classic

Paying suppliers in Epicor happens in AP Payment Entry (called Payment Entry in some menus and searches). Payments are made in groups, and each group uses one payment method, such as printed checks or an electronic file for the bank. Understanding that link explains most “where’s my invoice?” questions.

The pieces

Record	Where	What it controls
Payment method	Payment Method Maintenance	The type of payment (manual check, printed check, electronic) and, for electronic methods, which electronic interface builds the bank file
Supplier’s payment method	Supplier Maintenance, supplier detail	The default method for paying this supplier. New invoices for the supplier take it on
Supplier bank	Supplier Maintenance, Bank/Remit To	Where electronic payments go. EFT payments fail if the supplier has no bank record
Bank account	Bank Account Maintenance	The account payments come from. For EFT, the bank account needs an EFT payment method
Payment group	AP Payment Entry	A batch of payments with one bank account, one payment method and one payment date

Paying a group of invoices

In AP Payment Entry, create a group: bank account, Payment Method, payment date.
From the landing page, highlight the group and choose Select Invoices from the Overflow menu (in Classic, Actions > Select Invoices). Filter by supplier, due date or amount, and tick the invoices to pay. Epicor creates one payment per supplier.
Review the payments and adjust any amounts or discounts.
Choose Process Payments: Print (assigns payment numbers, creates the electronic file and prints remittance advice), or Generate Only (numbers and file, no print). For printed checks, this prints the checks.
Post the group.

“Some suppliers’ invoices don’t appear”

Symptom: when selecting invoices for a payment group, invoices for certain suppliers are missing even though they’re open and due.

Cause: Select Invoices shows, by default, only invoices whose payment method matches the group’s. Each invoice takes the payment method from its supplier when it’s entered. A supplier set to ACH won’t appear in a check run, and a supplier with no payment method selected won’t match an electronic group.

Fix:

Create a separate group for each payment method you pay with, or
Correct the supplier’s Payment Method (and the method on any invoices already entered), then select again.

Prevention: make Payment Method part of your new-supplier checklist.

ACH payments and remittance advice

A safe order of operations for ACH:

Enter the ACH payments in a group that uses the electronic payment method.
Generate the bank file. This step assigns the payment numbers, which the remittance advice needs.
Upload the file to the bank and confirm it was accepted without errors.
Print Remittance Advice and send it to suppliers.

Sending remittance after the bank accepts the file means suppliers aren’t told a payment is coming if the upload failed. Set up report routing (via Advanced Print Routing or a BPM) to email each supplier’s remittance advice to the address on their supplier record automatically, rather than printing and emailing by hand. See Send email and auto-print from a BPM.

The NACHA file

In the US, ACH files follow the NACHA format. Epicor builds the file with an electronic interface: a C# program selected on the payment method in Payment Method Maintenance (managed in Electronic Interface Maintenance). There’s no screen for the file layout itself.

To change what goes into the file (for example, a different reference in an addenda field), copy the standard interface program, change which field from its data it writes to that position, register your copy as a new electronic interface, and point the payment method at it. Keep the change small: every field is fixed-width, and the bank will reject a file whose record lengths drift.

Sources

This page is written in our own words. It was informed by:

Video: Streamline AP payments in Epicor (check, ACH and wire)