An ABA file is a file that is used by all major Australian financial institutions to specify payments to be made from one bank account to one or more bank accounts.
Before you can generate an ABA file, you need to first set up the ABA settings for your business using the following steps.
Management > Payroll > Payroll Settings > Payment files
- Select ABA File Settings
- Click Add
- Enter the relevant details for your bank including BSB number, Account number etc. Full details of what to enter into each field can be found in the ABA file settings table below.
- Once you have filled in all the details, simply click Save. You will now be able to generate ABA files from within your pay runs.
ABA file settings
| Setting | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| BSB Number | YES | The BSB number of the account that payroll payments will be made from |
| Account Number | YES | The Account number of the account that payroll payments will be made from |
| Account Name | YES | The Account Name of the account that payroll payments will be made from |
| Financial Institution Code | YES | The official 3 letter abbreviation of the financial institution that the bank account that payroll payments will be made from is registered with. e.g. the official Westpac code is WBC |
| Lodgement Reference | YES |
The description of the payroll payment that will appear on the employees bank statement. e.g. “Payroll” or “Weekly wages”. You can append the lodgement reference by selecting Nothing, Pay Period Ending, Payment Date or Pay Run ID. |
|
Name Of User Supplying File |
YES |
This is the name of the user or business that is creating the ABA file. The most common value is the business name. |
|
APCA Number |
YES |
This is a 6 digit number provided by your bank. If you’re not sure what this number is, you’ll need to contact your bank. It’s often listed on their website and for some banks such as the ANZ you can provide any 6 digit number (such as 000000) |
|
Include Self Balancing Transaction |
NO |
Selecting this option adds an additional “Self balancing” transaction to the end of the ABA file which is required by some financial institutions when generating the ABA files. You’ll need to check with your financial institution to determine if you’ll need to select this option (it’s often available on their website). |
|
Merge multiple payments for the same account into a single transaction |
NO |
Select this option if your financial institution requires that only a single transaction be made per account per ABA file. This is occasionally required if you have spouses that have their pay paid to the same bank account, or an employee has multiple payments going to the same bank account. In this case, certain financial institutions require that those payments be merged into a single transaction. |
Comments
0 comments
Article is closed for comments.