The Supplier Payment Bank EFT file is a standard CSV file used by all major and most minor Australian banks whereby bank transactions can be imported from this file and processed automatically rather than manually processing each bank transfer. When you pay your suppliers by EFT (electronic funds transfer) you can import this file and have the bank process the payments.
Firstly, you need to set up an EFT Transfer ledger. This ledger can be anywhere in the range of 1021 - 1029 and is used to record all EFT entries. Lets say you use the account 1029 as your EFT ledger. Call this ledger “EFT Payments” and enter it into the system through the General Ledger Masterfiles.
In order for this to work correctly you need to set up two other pieces of the puzzle.
First, you must go into the General Ledger Master Files (and using the Bank Details button) you must make sure you have updated your BSB and Account details for the bank account you are using to make the payments (not the 1029 account, but your bank account which is usually the 1020 account). Choose your EFT Code e.g. your bank, CBA. You will also need to set up your User ID in this section so it can be attached to the EFT file. This User ID is your EFT membership number the bank supplies to you.
You can also set up your bank details from the Bank Rec Module, through the Ledger > Bank Rec > Maintenance menu option as shown in the image below.
Secondly, you must set up the Suppliers Bank Account Details such as the BSB and Account number through the Supplier Masterfiles > Accounts tab > EFT/Bank Info button.
Click on the Insert button to add an account to a supplier record. The Account Details File screen will appear. Fill in the rest of the details such as the Account name, choose your method either bank or cash payments and select the relevant bank general ledger account (eg 1020) and enter in the bank name. Choose your EFT Code which will be the EFT ledger that you have already set up, so select that ledger (e.g. 1029).
Click on the OK button to save these details in your supplier masterfile.
The system will automatically use the first account listed in this supplier masterfile bank detail area, so it is best to only have one listed to avoid any confusion when making your payments.
You are now ready to create the EFT file using the EFT Payments option.
After making your supplier payments in the usual manner using the Supplier Payments process (using the 1029 - EFT Payments method), a list of these payments after processing will then be held in the 1019 General ledger.
To use the Supplier Payments EFT option, choose the Suppliers > Payments > EFT Payments menu option. The EFT screen will appear giving you the option to select your EFT account.
Select the EFT account you wish to use (e.g. 1029) and the unposted EFT records will be displayed on the screen. You can then select the date for the payment process and the location for the EFT output file (which usually defaults to the data 1 export folder with the filename of EFTAscii.txt).
Note: This file is overridden each time a new file is created for safety reasons so that the same file is not sent twice for payment.
At this stage you should then select the bank account that the payments will be taken from. You can then select all or tag some of the records to be processed by double clicking on the required payment. The tagged items will have a tick beside them.
Note: All the payments that are selected are placed into the same output file for processing. If you are processing from two different bank accounts then you must process and use the separate output file for each bank account. REMEMBER - the file is deleted the next time a new one is created so you must use the file in a bank transfer before making the next file!!
Then click the Process button to create the output file. You can then use your internet bank software or internet access to import the file from your output location and transfer the funds to the appropriate accounts.
You can also print a copy of the transfer transactions (which is done by default anyway), which shows all of the data to be transferred.
If you have manually created a journal payment or mistakenly entered an entry as an EFT payment, you can tag the record and use the Mark as Posted button to post the entry without actually updating your ledger figures or creating an EFT file.
Most banks require a balancing footer record which contains a transaction for the total balance of the transfer payments. If your bank requires this record then make sure you tick the “Create Balance Record” tickbox so that the balancing record is exported. If this record is required then failing to tick the box will cause the import to your bank to fail and you will need to manually process the transaction.