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Setting up an account to use positive pay

Creating a positive pay file

About positive pay

Positive pay is a service your bank may offer to help guard your company against fraud. If you pay your vendors and employees by check, you can submit a file containing the details of those payments to your bank. This file is the positive pay file.

When someone presents a check drawn on your bank account, the bank compares the information in the positive pay file with the paper check. If there are any inconsistencies, the bank can alert you.

Note: Checks you produce in the 1-3 Journal Transactions window are not included in positive pay files.

You use the 1-11 Positive Pay File window to create positive pay files for checks your company issues.

You use the 1-11 Positive Pay Settings window to specify the format and other settings that your bank requires for your positive pay files.

These settings include:

  • The file format that the bank requires (comma delimited or fixed-length text) and the fields to include.

    If you select 2-Fixed Text File, you specify the length of each field, with a maximum length of 99 characters.

    Notes: For fixed text files:

    • If the Bank Account# or Check# entry exceeds the specified length, Sage 100 Contractor trims it accordingly.

    • If the Bank Account# or Check# entry is less than the specified length, Sage 100 Contractor inserts zeroes to the left of the entry to match the required length for the field.

    • Sage 100 Contractor inserts zeroes to the left of the amount to match the required length.

    • If the Payee 1 or Payee 2 field is less than the specified length, Sage 100 Contractor inserts spaces to the right of the payee to match the required length.

  • The account number and routing number for the bank from which you make payments.

  • The check date format your bank requires for positive pay files.

  • A character to indicate an issued check (for example, "I"). You need to specify an indicator if you include an 8 – Check Type Indicator field in the file format.

  • A character to indicate a voided check (for example, "V"). You need to specify a void indicator if you select the Include Voided Checks check box.

  • Whether to allow blank payee fields and combined payees.

  • Whether to include a header row in the file.