Online banking payment numbers and ABA procedure to get started

Sandra_10124565

Using Reckon Accounts Premier Desktop 2022 (Contractor edition).

I've just started using online banking to submit an ABA file to our bank. Have done one transaction this way, but have a couple of questions.

1) I paid two suppliers. The reference number for the payments to each (what would be the Cheque number had I paid manually or by cheque) is blank in the accounts list, and is listed as "To Send" if I click into the Bill Payment transaction. I need to have a number or reference for each payment still for filing/tracking purposes. (So I can go into a supplier's records and see that Bill Payment was made via a payment reference "x"). How can this be done?

2) When I went into the CBA Netbank site to upload the ABA file, it didn't recognise which bank account I wanted to pay the suppliers from, or the payment reference I had entered. (The details for each individual payee all came through correctly). It was an easy fix to re-enter this within Netbank, but shouldn't it have come through automatically?

3) I see discussion within the forum about using clearing or suspense accounts for use with ABA payments, rather than paying directly out of our cheque account. Is there anywhere I can find a precise list of how to set this up and the procedure for using it? What I have seen is not very clear and as I'm just starting out with this system I'd like to get it exactly right from the beginning. I can't find anything within the program's help file that talks about any of this.

Any help appreciated.

Sandra

Acctd4

Hi Sandra

1) "To Send" is the system's default reference for the Bank (Online) payment method for ABA Files. Once the ABA file has been uploaded to your bank, you can edit this by switching the payment method to Cash/Cheque. This will make the field editable again for you to type into:

2) Not sure about this one ... Did you enter the applicable account details on the account's Online Bank Details tab ?:

3) The benefit of using Clearing accounts is if you're making multiple payments, an ABA file is only going to reflect a single payment in your bank account so when reconciling, it can be difficult to identify any discrepancies/errors if you're trying to match multiple payments against a single total. By using a Clearing account, all the multiple payments are paid out of there, with a single payment to it from your main bank account representing the overall (ABA) total, to clear it.

I actually don't use Bank Feeds or ABA files personally as I have most of my transactions Memorised for auto-entry so most are already in there 😊

Sandra_10124565

Thanks for the reply Shaz:

1) Solved - your instructions work so thank you.

2) Yes I do have that information listed, so it's not that.

3) I understand the benefits of using the Clearing account concept, but am not sure how to set it up. Do I pay all the bills out of a Clearing account, then transfer covering funds from the Cheque account? Or is the Clearing account a sub-account of the Cheque account? Does Reckon allow me to set up a Clearing account with the same online bank details as the Cheque account (because when I do the ABA file it will have to tell the bank that it is coming out of the Cheque account)? If anyone has a precise list of instructions on a way to set it up that works, and the procedure to follow when I pay bills via ABA that would be wonderful.

Acctd4

Hi Sandra

The clearing account is set up as a stand-alone bank account & yes, it’s replenished via a Transfer (or Write Chq) from the main bank account. Use the main bank account’s bank details in order to link it.

If you do a search for “ABA” in the Help section, you should find more detailed instructions there ☺️

Sandra_10124565

Thanks very much Shaz. Will do this.

BTW the ABA listing in the help file doesn't mention anything about clearing accounts so I guess we continue to learn about things like this via the wonderful Reckon community :)

Kris_Williams

I don’t think it’s makes a difference about whether it’s a clearing account and so called or anything else, as long as it’s labelled as an online bank and setup as such.

I personally don’t like bank accounts being sub accounts of another bank

Acctd4

Yes, there’s no info on Clearing accounts in the Help files as it’s not RA/RAH-specific but rather just a useful option - There’s a fair bit on ABA files in there though ☺️