Payments
Payments is where the authority pays what it owes: approved vendor bills, and each month's HAP. Money goes out in payment runs, by direct deposit and check, and every run is approved by a second person before the bank files are made.
Nothing on this page moves money by itself. It makes the files the bank takes and records what was paid once the bank has them.
What a payment run is
A payment run is what the authority pays from one bank account on one date. It pays one of two things, depending on the account:
| Account pays | The run pays |
|---|---|
| Bills (or Other) | Approved vendor bills: purchases paid by check, ACH or purchase order |
| HAP | One month's HAP register: owners' HAP, utility reimbursements to families, and portability billing the authority owes another authority |
HAP is paid only from the account marked for the voucher program, because HUD keeps HAP money apart from operating money. Bills are paid from any other account. What each account pays is set in Settings › Finance.
A run goes through four statuses:
| Status | Means |
|---|---|
| Waiting for approval | Prepared. Lines can still be taken out |
| Approved, not sent | Approved by someone else. Check numbers are assigned and the bank files can be made |
| Sent | The bank has it. Every bill in it is paid, and every HAP line paid on the register |
| Void | Called off, with a reason. Its bills and HAP lines can go in another run |
The rules, which are the point:
- Someone prepares a run; someone else approves it.
- With approvers named under Spending rules, only they can approve.
- Nothing is in two open runs at once.
- A HAP line held for a failed inspection is never in a run.
- The bank files are made only from an approved run, and opening account numbers to write one is written to the audit log.
The Payments page
Paying from
A line at the top names the accounts runs can pay from: each active account's name and last four digits, "checks only" on one without direct deposit details, and Bank sign-in expired on one whose Plaid feed needs signing in again. Manage accounts in Settings (or Reconnect in Settings) opens Settings › Finance.
With no accounts set up, it says to add them in Settings › Finance, operating for bills and the voucher account for HAP, with a Set up button. Prepare a payment run stays off until there is an active account.
Payment runs
Every run, newest first.
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Pays on | The day the money goes out |
| From | The bank account |
| For | Bills, or HAP, with the month |
| Direct deposit | How many, and the total |
| Checks | How many, and the total |
| Total | |
| Status | As above |
A row opens the run.
Preparing a run
- Press Prepare a payment run.
- Choose Pay from: the bank account.
- For the voucher account, choose HAP for: the month of the register to pay.
- Set Money goes out: the pay date. It can't be in a closed month.
- Check the list. Everything payable is listed and ticked; untick anything to leave it out of this run. The total is at the bottom.
- Press Prepare for approval.
The run opens, Waiting for approval.
What is payable
From an account for bills, every purchase that is approved, paid by check, ACH or purchase order, and not already in an open run. They are listed by due date. Each goes:
- by direct deposit when the purchase is ACH, or a purchase order to a vendor paid by direct deposit, and the vendor has bank details on file;
- otherwise by check. A purchase that should have gone by ACH, to a vendor with no bank details, goes by check and says "No bank details on file for this vendor; paying by check".
When nothing is waiting, the dialog says "No approved bills waiting to be paid from this account."
From the voucher account, every line on that month's HAP register that the authority pays and has not paid yet.
- An owner's HAP goes by direct deposit when the owner is paid by direct deposit with bank details on file, and by check otherwise.
- Utility reimbursements to families and portability billing go by check.
- What is left out is said in a note above the list, for example "Held: Riverside Properties (The unit failed its last inspection)" or "Already in another run".
- Billing another authority for a family who ported in is money coming in, not going out, and is never in a run.
When nothing is left, the dialog says "Nothing left to pay for" the month.
A run
The run's page is headed Bills or HAP for the month, with the account, the pay date and the total.
A summary gives the number and total of direct deposits and of checks, and who prepared it, who approved it ("someone else approves it" until then) and the day it was sent.
Each line shows the Payee with their address, what it is For (the invoice number and description, or the HAP line, month and family), How (Direct deposit with the account's last four, Check, or Check and its number once approved) and the Amount.
While it is waiting for approval, the cross on a line takes it out of the run. The last line can't be taken out; void the run instead.
Approval
Approve approves it. It is refused:
- to the person who prepared it: "You prepared it, so someone else approves it";
- with approvers named, to anyone not one of them;
- to a reviewer.
Approvers' limits apply to purchases, not to runs.
When the run is approved its checks get their numbers, in one block, starting at the account's Next check number in Settings › Finance, which moves on past them.
The bank files
Once the run is approved, the buttons along the summary make the files. Each is offered only when the run has something it covers.
| File | What it is for | What is in it |
|---|---|---|
| ACH file (NACHA) | Upload to the bank's ACH portal to pay the direct deposits | The standard NACHA file every US bank takes: a batch for payments to people and a batch for payments to businesses, credits only, effective on the pay date. HAP runs are described as HAP, bill runs as vendor payments |
| Positive pay | Send to the bank so it honours only these checks | A CSV: account number, check number, issue date, amount, payee |
| Check register | For whatever prints the checks | A CSV: check number, date, payee, address, amount, memo |
- The ACH file needs the account's direct deposit details: a company name and a company ID, the authority's or the account's own. Without them it is refused: "Set up direct deposit in Settings › Finance first". See Direct deposit (ACH).
- The ACH file and the positive pay file carry full account numbers. Making either opens them, and that is written to the audit log with who made it. The check register is logged too.
- The files can be downloaded again after the run is sent.
- Before approval, the page says "The bank files are made once it's approved."
Marking it sent
Once the bank has the files, Mark sent to the bank asks Sent on (not a closed month) and marks the run Sent. At the same time:
- every bill in it is marked Paid, with the check number or the run as its reference, and the run recorded on it;
- every HAP line is recorded as paid on its voucher, so it shows Paid on HAP payments. An owner's HAP paid this way counts towards their 1099.
A bill that is no longer approved by then, because someone voided it meanwhile, can't be marked paid. The run says so in a warning at the top for each one.
A sent run is what the bank reconciliation expects to see on the statement: its direct deposits as one withdrawal, and each check by its number.
Voiding
Void is offered while a run is waiting for approval or approved, and asks Why. Its bills and HAP lines can then go in another run.
- A sent run can't be voided: "A sent run can't be voided; it's money that went out."
- Voiding an approved run doesn't give its check numbers back. The next run carries on from the account's next number.
Runs and the HAP payments page
HAP payments, under Vouchers, is the month's register: what is owed under HAP contracts, with held lines shown, a CSV and Record as paid. A HAP run pays from the same register.
- A line paid by a run shows Paid there, with its date.
- A line recorded paid there is no longer payable in a run.
- Record as paid is refused while any of the month's lines is in a run that hasn't been sent or voided, and the message names the run. Pay the month one way or the other: by a run from the voucher account, or from the CSV and Record as paid (void the run first).
In the same way, a bill in an open run can't be paid by hand with Record payment on the purchase.