Payment Run Frequently Asked Questions
General Questions
What are payment runs?
Payment runs are a non-posting transaction that enable you to group payable transactions and create vendor payments from a single payment workflow. A payment run lets you select the paying account, choose eligible transactions, review the total payment amount, approve the run, and create resulting payment records.
How are payment runs different from the Pay Bills page?
The Pay Bills page is for selecting payables and creating payments directly. Payment runs create a saved record transaction that can be customized, reviewed, edited, approved, audited, and processed later.
How are payment runs different from vendor payments?
Payment runs are payment proposals that do not post to the general ledger. Payment runs create vendor payments that are posting transactions.
One payment run can create multiple vendor payments based on payee, currency, A/P account, exchange rate, and billing address.
When should I use a payment run instead of creating a payment manually?
Use payment runs when you need to prepare and review multiple payables, apply approvals, or create payments for multiple payees in one process. Create a vendor payment manually for an immediate, one-time payment that does not require a saved payment proposal.
Which users or roles can use payment runs?
Users need the Pay Bills permission. Their permission level and role restrictions determine whether they can view, create, edit, delete, approve, or process payment runs and which payables they can select.
Are payment runs available only for AP Automation SuiteApp customers?
No. Payment runs are a NetSuite core transaction available when the A/P feature is enabled. It does not require the A/P Automation SuiteApp.
Eligible Transactions
Which transaction types can be included in a payment run?
Payment runs support the following transaction types:
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Vendor bills
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Vendor credits
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Journal entries with qualifying A/P lines
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Expense reports
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Bill payments with a remaining negative amount
Other transaction types that post to an Accounts Payable account may also be eligible
Can a payment run include bills from multiple vendors?
Yes, a payment run can include payables from multiple vendors. Payment processing separates them into vendor payments by payee and the other grouping criteria.
Can a payment run include multiple A/P accounts?
Yes, you can select transactions from multiple A/P accounts. Vendor payments are grouped separately by A/P account.
Can a payment run include multiple currencies?
Yes, when the Multiple Currencies feature is enabled and the transactions meet the Account, Subsidiary, and Currency eligibility rules. The payment run has one Account currency, and some lines can have different transaction currencies.
Can a payment run include multiple subsidiaries?
No, a payment run can only have one subsidiary, taken from the selected Account.
Is cross-subsidiary support available?
No, all selected transactions must belong to the same payment run subsidiary.
Do payment runs replace the Pay Bills page?
No, the Pay Bills page remains available. Payment runs provide an additional payment process that can be reviewed, saved, customized, and approved.
Setup
Do I need to change my processes to use payment runs?
No existing Pay Bills or manual vendor payment processes must be replaced. You can adopt payment runs as an additional payment process where saved proposals, approvals, or bulk payment creation are useful.
What needs to be enabled before using payment runs?
The A/P feature must be enabled to use payment runs.
You can also enable Multiple Currencies, Installments, or Payment Run Approval Routing if you need those capabilities.
Are there any prerequisites for accounts, permissions, or configuration?
Yes, to use payment runs, you will need the following:
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The Pay Bills permission
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An active supported payment account
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An active subsidiary and currency associated with that account
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Access to the applicable subsidiary, location, and payables
A Default Vendor Payment Account can be configured in Accounting Preferences, but it is not required.
Can payment runs be customized for a SuiteApp's specific process?
Yes, payment runs support custom forms, custom transaction body fields, SuiteScript, REST, workflows, and customized actions. A SuiteApp must stay within the fields, actions, and record behaviors exposed by payment runs.
Can custom fields be added to the Payment Run transaction?
Yes. Custom transaction body fields can be configured to apply to payment runs. The form and the presentation of standard sublist columns can also be customized.
Can custom fields from the selected transactions be propagated to the generated payments?
No. Payment runs do not support adding custom fields or columns to the Transactions sublist. Therefore, custom line values from selected transactions are not propagated to generated vendor payments.
Do payment runs support automatic and advanced numbering?
Yes. Payment runs support document and transaction numbers through Auto-Generated Numbers and Advanced Numbering.
The Make Copy action is not supported for payment runs.
Using Payment Runs
Can I save a payment run and continue later?
Yes. Saving stores the payment run and its selected transactions without creating payments. An Open payment run can be opened and edited later.
I am unable to save a payment run. What should I check?
The Total must be greater than zero, and duplicate transactions are not allowed. Payment amounts cannot exceed the available amount due after discounts. The Payment Date and Posting Period must comply with the accounting preferences, and a payable cannot already belong to another active payment run.
Can a payment run be reviewed before approval?
Yes. The saved payment run shows the selected payables, payment amounts, discounts, totals, and supporting transaction details before payment creation.
What exactly is approved in the payment run approval flow?
The approval applies to the complete payment run proposal: its selected payables and total payment amount across all payees. Approval does not approve each generated Vendor Payment separately.
After approval, the payment run becomes Open and is eligible for Create Payments. Standard Vendor Payment approval preferences still apply to the generated payments.
Do payment runs block bills from being paid through other paths?
Payment runs prevent a selected payable from being added to another non-completed payment run. Other payment paths are not blocked. NetSuite displays a warning and lets you decide whether to continue.
If the external payment makes the transaction unavailable or changes its amount due, the affected payment run line fails during payment creation.
What happens if a bill is already included in another payment flow?
If the bill is already in another non-completed payment run, it is not available for selection.
If you try to pay a transaction outside of a payment run when it is reserved by a payment run, NetSuite displays a warning. If the user continues, the original payment run can later fail for that transaction.
Do payment runs support installment-based bills?
Yes. Open and partially paid installments can be selected and paid with a payment run when the Installments feature is enabled.
How are installments selected in the Payment Run sublist?
Each eligible installment appears as a separate row in Add Transactions with a read-only Installment Number. Users select the required installment and can change its Payment amount. The selected installment then appears as a separate payment run line.
Can I cancel or delete a payment run?
An open payment run can be canceled by a user with Edit permission. Canceling the payment run keeps the record and releases the selected payables.
An open payment run can also be deleted. However, it cannot be deleted if generated vendor payments still exist.
How are discounts handled?
Discount Available depends on the Payment Date and discount terms. Discount Taken cannot be negative or exceed the Discount Available amount. Partial-payment discounts are calculated proportionally, and changing the Payment Date recalculates the applicable discount and summary.
Currency and Calculation
How does a payment run determine the payment currency?
The selected Account determines the Payment Run Currency. The Account also determines the Payment Run Subsidiary.
What exchange rate is used for transactions in a different currency?
Payment runs source the system exchange rate effective on the payment date. If the payment date changes, NetSuite refreshes the applicable line exchange rates for the new date.
The line exchange rate is used to calculate the Payment Run Total and to create the vendor payment. It is editable when currency conversion is required and read-only when the transaction currency and subsidiary currency are the same. An editable exchange rate must be greater than zero.
How is the total amount calculated when transactions have different currencies?
NetSuite converts each line's Payment amount into the Account currency using that line's exchange rate. The converted line amounts, discounts, and credits are used to calculate the Payment Run Total.
What happens when the Account currency and bill currency do not match?
The bill can be included when it meets the payment run's multi-currency eligibility rules. NetSuite uses the line exchange rate to convert the payment into the Account currency.
If the transaction does not meet the Account, Subsidiary, or Currency criteria, it is not shown in Add Transactions.
Processing and Failures
What happens after a payment run is approved?
The payment run moves to Open status. A user must click Create Payments to start payment creation. Approval alone does not create payments.
Is payment creation synchronous or asynchronous?
Payment creation is asynchronous. Create Payments changes the payment run status to In Progress and starts bulk processing in the background.
What happens if one transaction in a batch fails?
The failed line is marked with an error, and processing continues for the other valid transactions.
What happens if a Vendor Payment fails during generation?
The affected transaction lines are marked as failed. Other valid transactions, including transactions in the same payment group, continue processing when possible.
Are partial failures supported?
Yes. If some lines succeed and others fail, the payment run status is Completed with Errors. If all lines fail, the status is Failed.
Where can I see line-level errors?
Failed lines are highlighted in the Payment Run Transactions sublist with a warning icon. Users can point to the warning to view the message.
More processing details are available at Transactions > Payables > Enter Payment Run > Status.
What error statuses are shown for failed payment run lines?
Payment run lines show a warning and an error message rather than a separate editable line status. Common messages include:
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The transaction have an amount due less than the payment amount.
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The transaction is no longer available for payment.
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The transaction was not paid. Check the payment run status area.
The overall payment run status becomes Completed with Errors or Failed, depending on how many lines failed.
Reporting and Visibility
Can I see payment run-related records from bills, credits, journals, or expense reports?
The delivered related-record links are available from:
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Vendor Bills: Related Records > Payment Runs
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Journal Entries: Related Records > Payment Runs
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Expense Reports: Related Records > Payment Runs
Are payment runs visible in system notes?
Yes. Payment runs include System Information > System Notes for auditing saved changes.
Can line changes be audited?
Yes. The Transactions sublist provides a History link for line-level changes. Changes to Payment amount, Exchange Rate, and Discount Taken can be reviewed in the line history.
Is reporting available for payment run status and processing results?
Yes. Users can review processing results on the Payment Run Status page. Payment run data is also available through searches, unified search and reporting, NetSuite2, SuiteScript, REST, and CSV import.
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