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- Accounts Payable Automation
- Features
- Payment runs
Payment runs
Payment runs gathers eligible supplier balances into a proposal the AP Manager can review. The run shows the intended payment date, account, gross amount, discounts and selected bills. Preparing that proposal does not release money; approval, bank transmission and settlement retain their own records and results.
OverviewPayment Runs Pending Release×
Accounts Payable Automation · Payment runs
New
Payment Runs Pending Release
Payment release waits for the controller / cfo
| Run number | Run date | Scheduled pay date | Bank account | Total amount | Item count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PR-29733 | 18 Oct | 26 Oct | Operating checking, ending 4821 | 28,360.52 | 17 | |
| PR-46499 | 02 Nov | 11 Nov | Vendor disbursements, ending 7306 | 1,423.07 | 20 | |
| PR-44903 | 11 Oct | 15 Oct | Facilities checking, ending 1944 | 19,792.64 | 23 | |
| PR-64904 | 19 Oct | 22 Oct | West region operating, ending 3058 | 27,219.29 | 11 | |
| PR-74328 | 22 Oct | 29 Oct | Payroll and expenses, ending 6620 | 46,284.95 | 5 |
6 of 6 records
Operating checking, ending 4821Payment runs · PR-29733
Run date18 Oct
Scheduled pay date26 Oct
Total amount28,360.52
Item count17
Approved byMei Alvarez
What you can do
Select approved obligations
The AP Clerk prepares items within a draft run. The AP Manager reviews due bills, held items, payment methods and any authorized one-off payees. Keep the selected amount within the bill’s outstanding balance and identify existing selections, so the same liability is not placed into overlapping runs. A disputed or unapproved bill cannot become eligible merely because its due date is near.
Early pay discounts record a discount’s amount and eligibility window. The run links a taken discount to the corresponding bill and keeps the gross and net amounts visible. The team decides whether to use it based on the terms and cash position. An expired opportunity should not silently reduce the payment, and a retry must not apply the same discount again.
Keep preparation and release separate
Payment runs begins in Draft. The AP Manager approves the proposal for Controller review; Controller / CFO authorizes release through the configured decision path. Payment approval steps retain who signed and when. The AP Clerk cannot turn an editable run into a bank instruction through a different screen or an external API request.
Payment batches group the resulting ACH file, check register or wire instructions with totals and transmission references. Payment runs, payment run items and Payments remain linked so each amount can be traced from the selected bill to the bank-facing item. A generated file is not a bank acknowledgement, and acknowledgement is not clearance.
Reconcile the actual outcome
Payments record sent, printed, cleared, returned and voided outcomes. Bank confirmation updates the relevant payment and the amount paid on the bill. Partial payments leave the remaining bill balance open. Preserve the bank reference and the event identity used for reconciliation, so repeated confirmations cannot reduce the payable twice.
Returned ACH items or rejected checks need a visible exception and a controlled reissue. Restore only the failed payment effect, retain the original attempt and link the replacement. Unaffected items in the same run remain valid. The connected general ledger owns its actual posting result; the AP team keeps that result alongside the bank outcome instead of assuming both completed together.
What your team sees
- This Week’s Payment Run. Review the underlying records within your permitted scope.
- Payment Runs Pending Release. Review the underlying records within your permitted scope.
What it keeps track of
Data model- Payment runs
- Weekly (or on-demand) payment-batch header. Lifecycle: Draft (seeded) → Approved (AP Manager signs off selections) → Funded (bank confirms ACH file received / checks printed) → Posted (GL settlement JE posted via #10).
- Payment run items
- One row per Bill (or one off payee) selected for payment in this run, with the chosen payment method and any discount taken.
- Payment approval steps
- Audit trail for payment run release — one row per required approval step per payment run, with the approver’s decision. Replaces the prior “Controller signs off” hand-wave with a defensible per-step trail.
- Payments
- The actual disbursement record — one per Bill (or one off payee) per actual payment movement. Joins the payment run items intent to the bank’s confirmation.
- Payment batches
- The bank-side batch artifact — NACHA file uploaded, check-print register printed, wire instruction submitted. One per payment run × Method combination.
- Early pay discounts
- Per-Bill early-pay discount opportunities — computed from the vendor payment terms discount clause and the Bill’s window. The AP Manager dashboard surfaces Available rows; inclusion in a payment run item flips Status to Taken.
- Bills
- Vendor bill header. The center-of-gravity table. Lifecycle: Draft → pending match → pending approval → Approved → partially paid / Paid / Voided / Disputed.
- One off payees
- For one-time disbursements where setting up a full Vendor record is overkill — refunds, settlements, ad-hoc reimbursements to non-Vendors. Still tracked for 1099 if the cumulative payments cross threshold.
Who uses it
Permissions- AP Clerk
- Prepares selections.
- AP Manager
- Reviews the proposal, discounts and holds.
- Controller / CFO
- Releases the run.
- Admin
- Configures bank connectivity and access. a technical integration role does not replace financial authorization.
Set up Accounts Payable Automation your way.
Start free, then use Proto to change fields, steps and approvals before your team goes live.