SmoothPay can produce a Direct credit report and, where supported, a corresponding bank file for employees who are paid by direct credit.
The two outputs serve different purposes:
The Direct credit report provides a readable record of the payments included.
The bank file is a payment file produced in the format required by the selected banking system, ready for use with the applicable banking service.
Both of these outputs should be used in conjunction with each other.
Country-specific availability
Bank-file functionality is not the same in every SmoothPay jurisdiction.
The available banking systems, required settings, bank-file formats, and current level of support can vary between countries. Some jurisdictions may not currently have a supported working bank-file option available.
Check your country-specific guide to confirm whether bank-file functionality is currently available for your jurisdiction.
For more information, refer to:
<Country-specific section of the Help Centre>
The remainder of this guide describes how the functionality works where a supported bank-file option is available.
What is required to produce a bank file
Before SmoothPay can produce a bank file, banking information needs to be configured at both company and employee level.
Company banking details
The employer's banking and bank-file settings are configured under the Bank tab in the Settings screen.
In the Settings screen:
Select the Bank tab.
Select the appropriate Bank system.
Enter the employer banking details required for that banking system.
Save the changes.
The Bank system determines the format of the bank file SmoothPay produces.
The fields required can vary depending on the selected banking system and payroll jurisdiction.
For more information, refer to:
Employee banking details
Employees being paid by direct credit also need their payment method and bank account details configured.
The employee's Pay preference must be set to Direct credit in the Staff screen, under the Employment tab within the Contract tab.
Their bank account details must be entered under the Bank tab in the Staff screen.
To configure an employee's bank account:
Select the employee.
Select the Bank tab.
Add the required bank account details.
An employee can have multiple bank accounts where required. Their Bank tab determines how their net pay is distributed between those accounts.
For more information about the available fields, refer to:
When the Direct credit report and bank file are produced
Under normal circumstances, the Direct credit report and corresponding bank file are produced automatically when the pay process is completed.
Once Process pays has been used to finalise the pay:
The Direct credit report is available from the Print screen.
The corresponding bank file is available from the Files screen.
For more information about completing a pay process, refer to:
Retrieving the Direct credit report
Once the pay process has been completed, you can find the Direct credit report under the Print screen.
From the Print screen:
Select the Direct Credit Schedule.
Use the available options to view or produce the report.
The time stamp (Created) of the Direct credit schedule, should match the approximate time of completing your pay process and should be at the top of the list if you have only just completed your pay process.
For more information about the Print screen, refer to:
Retrieving the bank file
The corresponding bank file is available from the Files screen.
From the Files screen:
Select the bank file.
Click Download.
The downloaded file can then be uploaded and used with the applicable banking service.
The time stamp (Created) of the bank file, should match the approximate time of completing your pay process, as well as the time of the Direct credit schedule.
For more information about the Files screen, refer to:
Reproducing the Direct credit report and bank file
The Direct credit outputs can also be reproduced for any previously completed pay process.
To reproduce them:
Go to the Reports screen.
Select the Pays category.
Select Direct credit.
Click Run report
SmoothPay produces both:
A new Direct credit report.
A new corresponding bank file, where bank-file functionality is supported and configured.
The Direct credit report can then be reviewed through the internal PDF viewer, while the newly produced bank file becomes available from the Files screen.
For more information, refer to:
Bank file replacement
SmoothPay does not retain a separate historical bank file for every pay process, but they can be reproduced at any time.
Each time a bank file is produced, whether automatically during the pay process or by running Direct credit from the Reports screen, the newly produced bank file replaces the existing bank file in the Files screen.