Vendor Payment Management

The point of a scheduled run is that paying suppliers stops being a scramble. You know which day the batch goes out, what it will cost, and what it leaves in the account. Discounts get taken because somebody is watching the dates. Fraud attempts get caught because bank detail changes are verified out of band rather than trusted because the email looked right.

We run the payment side as a controlled routine. A calendar sets the run dates. A proposal is built from approved, due invoices and reviewed against your cash position. Method is chosen per vendor and per amount. Two people approve, one prepares and a different one releases, and the bank's own controls back that up. Remittance goes out, and the register ties to the statement.

Finalert manages the vendor payment run from proposal through to remittance. The run starts with a calendar agreed with you: weekly, twice monthly, or on a day that matches your own receipts. On each run date we build a proposal from invoices that are approved, due and not in dispute, grouped by vendor, with the total, the methods and the effect on your bank balance shown before anyone commits to anything. Whatever is held back is listed with a reason, so the conversation is about choices rather than about what got missed.

Method is a decision, not a default. ACH suits most domestic suppliers and costs very little. Checks stay for the vendors who insist on them and for situations where a paper trail is wanted. Wires are for large, time-critical and international payments, priced accordingly. Cards can earn rebate and stretch terms where a vendor accepts them without a surcharge. We record a preferred method per vendor, apply thresholds above which a payment must be a wire or must carry extra approval, and review the mix with you periodically.

Controls, fraud checks and bank detail changes

Separation of duties is the rule. The person who prepares a batch never releases it, and the person who releases it did not create the vendor record. Release requires two named approvers at the bank, with limits by amount. Positive pay or payee positive pay is used wherever your bank offers it, so checks and ACH debits that do not match the file you issued are rejected rather than reconciled a month later. Your credentials stay with you. We prepare and submit for approval inside the controls you already run.

Bank detail changes are handled as a security event, not an administrative one. A request to change remittance details is never actioned from the email that asked for it. We call the vendor on a number already held on file, confirm the change with a person we can name, record who confirmed it and when, then hold the change for a cooling period before the first payment goes out. First payments to new or changed accounts are flagged for a second look. Requests that fail verification are logged and reported to you.

Discounts, cash timing and reporting

Discount terms only pay if somebody is watching them. The proposal shows every invoice with an available early payment discount, the date it expires and the dollars at stake, so your controller can weigh the discount against the cash on hand. Where terms are net thirty and cash is tight, payments are timed to the due date rather than paid early out of habit, which quietly improves your working capital without stretching a single supplier past what was agreed with them.

After each run you get the payment register, the remittance advice sent to each vendor, the updated aged payables and a short note on anything held back. The bank reconciliation then picks it up without manual matching. The limits are simple. We do not hold your funds, we do not release payments without your named approvers, and we do not open or close bank accounts. We also do not sign tax filings, issue audit or attest opinions, give legal advice, or act as your accountant of record.