Not every invoice is paid in full and in one go: credit notes, deposits, cash constraints or disputes all lead to partial payments. At the same time, finance wants to be able to cap the total of a payment run. This article shows how to handle partial payments and a per-run budget cleanly in Sage Intacct.
Why partial payments are hard
In a manual process, the paid amount is adjusted in a spreadsheet, the payment file edited by hand and the remainder tracked later. This creates gaps between bank and accounting and makes reconciliation harder, as discussed in automated bank reconciliation.
Partial payments in a guided flow
- Approved invoices are selected from Sage Intacct and taken into Arkaio for payment.
- Existing credit notes and deposits can be deducted from the amount due.
- The amount to pay can be reduced manually, which generates a partial payment in Sage Intacct.
- Several successive partial payments on the same invoice are possible until it is fully settled in Sage Intacct.
- The partial payment is applied directly to the original invoice.
Budget and target amount for a payment run
A budget can be set for a payment run. If the selected amount exceeds it, a warning is displayed. Alternatively, a target amount can be defined: Arkaio then selects invoices automatically up to that limit.
Use cases
- SMEs with tight cash: payment runs within the available balance.
- Mid-market and groups: payment budgets per entity or bank.
- Accounting firms: runs for clients with their own limits, see centralizing payments.
Control and traceability
Selected invoices are stored in Arkaio with the amounts chosen when the batch was prepared. Once the batch is created, a matching payment batch is generated in Sage Intacct. For the payment format, see pain.001 vs pain.008.
Limits
The budget is a warning threshold, not a substitute for internal approval rules. Decisions on credit notes and partial amounts remain business decisions for your users.
Key takeaways
Partial payments and budgets do not have to live in spreadsheets. A guided flow keeps bank and accounting consistent and gives finance control over outgoing cash.