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Payables · Payment runs

Pay this week’s suppliers in one run, approved by someone else.

Pick the approved bills that are due, choose how each supplier is paid, and submit the run. A second person approves it, the supplier details are fixed at that moment, and on the pay date each line goes out by bank file, cheque, cash, M-Pesa or Paystack. Every line that is confirmed paid reduces its bill and posts to the ledger on its own.

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Web, API and the AWRA mobile app · Approve or send back from the approvals hub

Two peoplewhoever built or submitted a run is refused when approving it
Six ways to paybank file, cheque, cash, M-Pesa to a phone, M-Pesa paybill or till, and Paystack
Checked twiceevery line is re-validated at approval and again when it is paid
Posted by itselfeach confirmed line is an ordinary supplier payment in the ledger
Draft → Submitted → Approved → Processing → Completed

One preparer, one approver, and a run that finishes itself.

A run lists every approved bill with something still owed that is due by the date you choose and is not already in another open run. A bill can sit in only one open run at a time, so the same invoice cannot be queued twice.

Preparer

Draft

Name the run, set the pay date and the account it pays from, tick the bills and choose a method per line. Lower an amount to pay part of a bill.

Preparer

Submitted

The run waits in the approvals hub. A run with no lines cannot be submitted.

Someone else

Approved

Each line is checked again against its bill, and the supplier’s payment details are recorded as they stand. Or the run is sent back to draft with a reason.

Approver

Processing

On or after the pay date, Pay now attempts every pending line. A line that fails keeps its reason and the rest carry on.

Automatic

Completed

Once nothing is still in flight — no bank line unconfirmed, no gateway line unanswered — the run closes on its own.

  • The preparer cannot approve. The one exception is a workspace where nobody else holds the approval permission: the preparer may then approve their own run so a one-person team is not stuck, and the audit log records that it was approved by its preparer.
  • No overpayment by the back door. A bill paid by hand, cancelled or credited while the run waited is caught at approval or at payment, and a bill against a purchase order must still pass the order’s payment match check.
  • A line is claimed before money moves. A double-click, or two approvers pressing Pay now at once, cannot pay the same line twice.
  • Cancel before money moves. A draft, submitted or approved run can be cancelled; one that has started paying cannot.
A method per line

Each supplier is paid the way that supplier is paid.

A line defaults to bank transfer when the supplier has bank details on file, otherwise to M-Pesa on their phone. Change it per line before you submit.

Bank transfer

Pay now moves bank lines to Awaiting bank and gives you a bank file to upload to your bank’s bulk payment screen. Nothing posts until you confirm, from the statement, that the bank paid.

Confirmed by you · dated today or earlier

Cheque and cash

Recorded as paid when you press Pay now, out of the account the run pays from — Bank by default, or Cash for cash lines, unless you choose another.

Paid at Pay now

M-Pesa to a phone

Sent to the supplier’s M-Pesa number through your own M-Pesa payout setup, or through IntaSend when your workspace has switched IntaSend payouts on. A line over KES 150,000 is refused so you can split it or pay by bank.

Paid when the provider confirms

M-Pesa paybill or till

Sent to the paybill and account, or the till, on the supplier record, through your own M-Pesa payout setup.

Paid when Safaricom confirms

Bank transfer by Paystack

Sent to the supplier’s bank account through Paystack once Paystack transfers are set up for your business. The transfer recipient is created for you the first time.

Paid when Paystack confirms

When a gateway goes quiet

An M-Pesa timeout means the outcome is unknown, not that it failed. The line shows Check with Safaricom; mark it Paid or Not paid from the statement, and only a line marked not paid can be retried.

Nothing is re-sent blind
M-Pesa and Paystack pay in Kenyan shillings only, and M-Pesa pays whole shillings. A bill in another currency, or an amount with cents, is refused on those methods with a message saying what to use instead — bank, cheque or cash pay it in the bill’s own currency.
What the approver approved

The approval covers the account, not just the amount.

At approval each line records the payment details it will pay — bank code and account, M-Pesa number, or paybill and till. When the run is paid, those are compared with the supplier record again.

  • Details changed after approval? That line is refused with the reason, and the rest of the run pays. An approver looks at the change and retries the line, which accepts the new details.
  • With bank-detail dual control switched on, an edit to where a supplier is paid is held until a second person approves it. Until then the supplier record keeps the old details, so a run pays the details already on file — a pending change never reaches a payment.
  • The bank file is built from the approved details, and it exists only once the run is approved. Cells a spreadsheet would run as a formula are prefixed so the file cannot carry one.
The file and the books

Upload one file. Confirm from the statement. The ledger follows.

The bank file is a CSV of the bank lines still to pay: beneficiary, bank code, account number, amount, currency, reference and narrative. The reference is the run number and line, so the bank statement points straight back to the run.

PRUN-0042-bank-file.csv2 bank lines · approved details
Beneficiary,Bank code,Account number,Amount,Currency,Reference,Narrative
Mombasa Packaging Ltd,01,1102934471,184250.00,KES,PRUN-0042-311,Bill BILL-0311 / INV-8820
Nairobi Office Supplies,68,0250178806,84000.00,KES,PRUN-0042-325,Bill BILL-0325 / NOS-4471

Each confirmed line

Becomes an ordinary supplier payment: it reduces the bill’s balance and the order’s, appears under Vendor Payments and the Payments Register, and posts once.

DrAccounts payableCrThe account it was paid from

Withholding tax

A bill carrying withholding is owed to the supplier net of it, so the run pays the net figure. The withholding share for that payment is booked with it, ready for remittance.

Debit notes

A supplier’s open debit notes are shown under their line and applied to the bill when the run is paid, so the cash is only what is still owed. A line wholly covered by credit pays no cash.

A bill in another currency is paid in that currency by bank, cheque or cash, and posts in your base currency at the exchange rate recorded on the bill. A foreign bill with no rate yet posts nothing until its rate is recorded, and that is written to the audit log.

Where runs are decided

Approve at a desk, in the app, or from the notification.

The approvals hub

A submitted run sits in the same queue as requests, claims and advances, with Approve, and Reject with a reason. The decision runs the same checks as the run’s own page.

The AWRA mobile app

Runs have their own screens in the app:

  • build a run and submit it;
  • approve or send it back;
  • pay it, and confirm the bank lines.

The push notification

An approver can approve or reject a run straight from the push, with the reason typed in the reply field. Paying it out stays on the run’s own screen, on purpose.

Manage payment runsSee runs; build, edit, submit and cancel them.
Approve payment runsApprove or send back, pay, download the bank file, confirm or reject bank lines, settle timed-out M-Pesa lines and retry failed ones.

Submitting and approving a run are also workflow events, so a workflow automation can run when either happens.

Supplier payment runs — what ships today, and what we can add

What AWRA OpsHub does today

  • Numbered payment runs (PRUN-…) built from approved bills due by a date you choose, with a bill held to one open run at a time.
  • Maker–checker approval: the preparer and submitter are refused, except in a workspace where nobody else holds the permission, and that self-approval is logged.
  • Send back with a reason, returning the run to draft with the reason shown at the top.
  • Re-validation at approval and at payment, so a bill paid, cancelled or credited meanwhile cannot be overpaid, and a purchase-order bill still passes its match check.
  • Payment details fixed at approval, with a line refused at payment if the supplier’s details changed since, until an approver retries it.
  • Six methods per line: bank file, cheque, cash, M-Pesa to a phone (own setup or IntaSend payouts), M-Pesa paybill or till, and Paystack transfer.
  • A bank CSV of beneficiary, bank code, account, amount, currency, reference and narrative, available only once approved.
  • Bank lines confirmed from the statement, all at once or one by one, or marked as not paid with a reason.
  • Timed-out M-Pesa lines held until someone checks with Safaricom, and failed lines retried by an approver.
  • Debit notes netted off each line and applied when the run is paid.
  • Ledger postings, withholding and bill balances handled by the same supplier payment every other route records.
  • Approvals hub, push notification and mobile app for the decision, with paying kept on the run’s own screen.

More we can add to your workspace

  • Run totals split by currency, alongside the single run total shown today.
  • A payment-day exchange rate per line, booking the realised gain or loss against the bill’s rate.
  • Approval rules on payment runs, routing a run through amount bands and ordered steps as requests and bills already can.
  • Bank-specific file layouts, such as a named bank’s own bulk payment template, beside the general CSV.
  • Direct bank connections that send the batch and read back each line’s result without an upload.
  • Remittance advice emailed to each supplier when their line is confirmed paid.
  • Scheduled runs that gather the bills due each week into a draft for someone to check.

Where we point you to a specialist

  • We will not mark a bank line paid because the file was uploaded. It is paid when you confirm the bank paid it, from the statement.
  • We will not re-send a timed-out M-Pesa payment on our own. The money may already have gone; a person checks first.
  • We will not pay new supplier details on an old approval. A changed account goes back to an approver every time.

Bank-specific file layouts and remittance advice to suppliers are the two items in that middle column finance teams ask for first. Tell us which bank you upload to and how your suppliers expect to hear they have been paid, and we will come back with a written spec, a timeline and a price.

Around the run

Where payment runs meet the rest of payables.

Supplier bills and payablesThe approved bills a run pays, matched to the order and the receipt. Vendor paymentsSingle supplier payments by M-Pesa, Paystack or by hand, in the same register. Bank-detail dual controlA second approver for every change to where a supplier is paid. Withholding taxWithholding on supplier bills, booked at payment and remitted from a register. Approve from a notificationApprove or reject a run from the push on your phone. Approval rules and delegationAmount bands and ordered steps for requests, awards and bills.

Frequently asked questions

Which bills can go into a payment run?
Approved supplier bills with something still owed that are due by the date you choose, and that are not already in another open run. A bill can sit in only one open run at a time.
Can the person who prepared a run approve it?
No. Whoever built or submitted the run is refused. The one exception is a workspace where nobody else holds the permission to approve payment runs: the preparer may then approve it, and the audit log records that it was approved by its preparer.
How are suppliers paid?
Each line has its own method: bank transfer through a CSV you upload to your bank, cheque, cash, M-Pesa to the supplier’s phone, M-Pesa to their paybill or till, or a bank transfer through Paystack. M-Pesa to a phone can go through IntaSend when your workspace has IntaSend payouts switched on.
When does a bank transfer count as paid?
When you confirm it from your bank statement, dated today or earlier. Until then the line shows Awaiting bank and nothing posts. A line the bank did not pay can be marked as not paid with a reason, corrected and retried.
What happens if a supplier changes their bank account after the run is approved?
Approval records the payment details each line will pay. If they differ when the run is paid, that line is refused with the reason and the rest carry on; an approver retries the line to accept the new details. With bank-detail dual control on, a change is held until a second person approves it, so the run pays the details on file meanwhile.
Can a run pay bills in other currencies?
Yes, by bank, cheque or cash, in the bill’s own currency; the bank file carries the currency per line. M-Pesa and Paystack pay in Kenyan shillings only. The payment posts in your base currency at the exchange rate recorded on the bill.
What does a paid line post to the books?
It is an ordinary supplier payment: debit Accounts payable, credit the account it was paid from. It reduces the bill’s balance and the order’s, books that payment’s share of any withholding on the bill, and appears under Vendor Payments.
Can I approve a payment run from my phone?
Yes. Runs appear in the approvals hub on the web and in the mobile app, and an approver can approve or reject from the push notification. Paying a run is done on the run’s own screen, on the web or in the app.

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Definitions

  • Accounts Payable Money your business owes to suppliers for goods or services received.
  • Accounts Receivable Money owed to your business by customers for sales made on credit.
  • Cost of Goods Sold The direct cost of the products a business sold in a period.
  • Gross Margin The percentage of revenue left after the cost of goods sold.
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