Payment formats are used in customer and supplier payments to define the layout of the payment output. These codes ensure that each payment from your account is formatted according to the requirements of the receiving customer or supplier bank. Each individual payment contains your own bank account details, the required format, and the correct customer and supplier account information.

Payment formats determine aspects of the payment such as:

Payment electronic formats are used with paper-based payments such as checks or drafts and with electronic payments such as direct debit or electronic transfer. Formats tend to be common to certain regions. For example, US banks tend to deal with AP and AR checks, while AP electronic transfers and AR direct debits are more commonly used by Northern European banks, and checks, drafts, and transfers by Southern European banks.

Preconfigured formats are available on the QAD Support Web site for download and can be loaded in the system using an import function. These formats are designed for specific banking systems, and are used to create electronic payment files to be transferred to these banks. See Bank File Format Import.

You ensure that supplier and customer payments automatically use the correct format by linking the format to your bank account and then associating the linked account number to the supplier or customer bank account number. Once the account numbers are linked, the system selects the correct format.

When you create a customer or supplier payment, the customer or supplier default bank is automatically displayed in the payment screen. If you have defined multiple account numbers for a supplier or customer, you can select another account number for the payment but only if it has been linked to a format. See Linking Payment Formats to Bank Accounts.

Manual or paper payments and electronic payments are treated differently in the system, and require different formats.

The system lets you change the default bank account and payment format within a supplier payment selection, provided the status of the selection is initial, and the bank account and linked format have already been configured. See Changing Bank Accounts on a Payment Selection.