Create EFT File
Use this screen to create the ACH file of electronic funds transfer (EFT) payments to vendors.
This file will be used to transmit payment data to your company's bank.
Your bank:
- Debits your company's bank account for the total amount of the payments.
- Credits the accounts of any vendors who use the same bank.
- Transmits payment data for the remaining vendors to each vendor's individual bank.
You can create EFT files for US banks, and for payments to non-US banks, you can create NACHA files that follow the International ACH transactions (IAT) format. Third-party tools such as Cognos are needed to create other types of EFT files for non-US banks.
You also have the option to directly upload EFT files to US bank websites or systems in real-time. To enable direct uploads, you must set up bank integration using the Bank FTP tab in the Product Configuration Utility, and assign a Bank Integration ID to a Bank Abbrev on the Manage Company Bank Accounts (US Banks) screen.
To identify if Costpoint is configured for bank integration, use the Bank Integration subtask of the Manage System Integration Accounts screen.
You can include only one bank/bank account combination in an ACH file. When creating files for many bank/bank account combinations, make sure you give each ACH file a unique name, or Costpoint will overwrite the existing file with the new one.
Costpoint collects EFT payment information for each Entry Detail record based on the bank account abbreviation you enter on this screen. When you click the Create EFT File button on the Action menu, Costpoint first checks the Cash Accounts table to find the cash account/organization combination mapped to the bank account abbreviation entered in this screen. Costpoint uses the cash account/organization to identify which vouchers in the Open Accounts Payable table can potentially be paid by EFT. It searches only those vouchers that have PAY status, and are thus eligible to be paid by either check or EFT. (Select vouchers for payment on the Select Vouchers for Payment screen.)
After Costpoint finds vouchers with PAY status written to the cash account/organization that is mapped to the bank account abbreviation, it eliminates vouchers using the following criteria:
- Costpoint eliminates vouchers for pay vendors without bank account abbreviations in the Vendor table (Manage Vendors screen) for the address code assigned to the voucher. These vendors are not EFT vendors. Vouchers to these vendor/addresses will be paid by check.
- Costpoint eliminates vouchers for vendors which have neither the US EFT Active or Non-US EFT Active selected on the Addresses subtask of the Manage Vendor screen for the address code assigned to the voucher. These vendor/address combinations are EFT vendors, but are not currently active EFT vendors. Vouchers to these vendor/addresses will be paid by check.
- Costpoint eliminates unapproved vouchers.
The remaining vouchers will be paid by EFT. To create the Entry Detail record for each vendor, Costpoint uses the following information from the Vendor table (entered in the Manage Vendors screen): ACH Code, Bank Account Abbreviation, Pay Vendor ID, Vendor Name, and Address Code.
To calculate the Amount of Transfer for each vendor, Costpoint totals the payment amounts for all vouchers to the vendor. (For all prenote vendors, Costpoint sets the Amount of Transfer to 0.00 and adds the text Prenotification to the record. Prenote vendors will be paid by check.)
The invoice date, invoice amount, and discount amount for each voucher are also included in the Entry Detail record.
After the creation process finishes, the ACH file includes:
- A File Header Record containing the sending point and receiving point, the date, the time, and other unique file identifiers.
- A Company/Batch Header Record identifying the Depository Financial Institution (DFI) from which you will be making payments to vendors and a description of the file transfer as a whole.
- Addenda records that give detailed payment orders and remittance information for each vendor per NACHA (National Automated Clearing House Association) standards, in accordance with ANSI ASC X12 820 version 5010.
- Addenda records begin with a record code type of 7.
- You can create an addenda record as an EDI 820 Transaction Set for which the detail record is sent without the NACHA envelopes or you can include NACHA envelopes around the addenda record.
- There are three envelopes that you can create around the addenda record depending on the screen selections:
- ISA/IEA: The Interchange Control envelope consists of an Interchange Control Header (ISA) and an Interchange Control Trailer (IEA). This envelope identifies the originator and receiver of the transmission. This envelope is included if the EDI 820 Transaction Set is not selected.
- GS/GE: This envelope is the Functional Group envelope with a Functional Group Header (GS) and a Functional Group Trailer (GE). This envelope identifies the sending and receiving companies within the file. This envelope is included if the EDI 820 Transaction Set is not selected.
- ST/SE: The innermost envelope is the Transaction Set which begins with a Transaction Set Header (ST) and ends with the Transaction Set Trailer (SE). This envelope contains the last four characters of the EDI Control No and wraps around the 820 detail addenda record. This envelope is included with the addenda record regardless of the screen selection.
- Two data segments within the EDI 820 transaction set. This record is created whether or not the EDI Transaction Set is selected and includes the ST/SE envelope.
- Payment Information:
- BPR: Details the payment amount, EFT Transfer Type (CTX, CCD, PPD), bank information from the sender, and bank information from the receiver.
- N1/N1: Originator and receiver identification information.
- Invoice Information:
- RMR: Invoice number, invoice amount, discounts taken, and amount paid.
- REF: Voucher number and date.
- Payment Information:
- A Company/Batch Control Record that contains counts and total currency amounts for the preceding Entry Detail Records.
- A File Control Record containing total currency, entry, and hash amounts from the preceding Company/Batch Control Records.
Before you can create a file on this screen, you must enter EFT information on:
- The Manage Banks (US) and Manage Banks (Non-US) screens
- The EFT Bank Info subtasks of the Manage Company Bank Accounts (US) and Manage Company Bank Accounts (Non-US) screen
- The Manage Cash Accounts screen
- The Manage Vendors screen
After you create the file, print the EFT Edit Report to review the file's contents. If the file contains inaccurate bank abbreviation information for either your company or for vendors, of if the vendor's address code or ACH code is incorrect, edit this information on the Company EFT Bank Info subtask and/or the Manage Vendor screen and recreate the ACH file.
(Data Element Separator) = *
(Data Segment Separator) = \
(Component Element Separator) = ~
Each time that you recreate the ACH file using the same file name, Costpoint overwrites the old file with new information.
You must post vouchers, select them for payment, and approve them before they are eligible to be paid by EFT.
See Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) for related information.