Payment run: paying suppliers on a schedule instead of on demand

A payment run is a batch of supplier payments made on a fixed day rather than whenever somebody asks. Companies that pay on demand spend a surprising amount of time on it — every invoice becomes an interruption, every supplier call becomes a negotiation, and nobody can say what is going out this month until it has gone. A cycle fixes all three at once.

What a payment run needs before it goes

• A list of invoices due, with the due date derived from each supplier's agreed terms rather than a uniform assumption.
• Evidence that what was invoiced was received, which is the check that prevents paying for things that never arrived.
• Approval by somebody who did not raise the purchase, at least above a stated threshold.
• Confirmed bank details, verified separately from the invoice itself.
• A total, checked against available funds before the run rather than after it bounces.
• Anything deliberately held back, with the reason, so suppliers get a consistent answer when they call.

Why a fixed cycle beats paying on request

Because it converts a stream of individual decisions into one scheduled task. Suppliers can be told the date, which ends most chasing calls; the cash position becomes predictable, because outflow happens on known days; and the person approving sees everything together, which is when an unusual item actually stands out. Weekly suits most small companies, fortnightly works where volume is low, and the specific day matters less than the fact that it does not move.

Verify bank detail changes by calling a number you already hold, never one from the email requesting the change. Invoice redirection fraud works precisely because the request looks like routine admin from a real supplier, and a payment run is the moment it succeeds or fails.

Approvals that actually prevent something

1. Separate the person who orders from the person who approves payment, which is the single most effective control available.
2. Set a threshold rather than approving everything, so attention goes where the money is.
3. Require matching to a receipt or delivery record for goods, and to a stated deliverable for services.
4. Check new suppliers properly the first time, since that is when a fictitious one gets established.
5. Review the exceptions list each run — repeated manual overrides mean the process does not fit the business.

Handling the awkward cases

Some invoices will always need paying outside the cycle, and the way to keep the cycle credible is to make that a stated exception rather than a quiet habit. Agree who can authorise an off-cycle payment and record each one; if there are more than a handful a month, the run is on the wrong day or the terms with some suppliers are wrong. The exceptions are the diagnostic, not the nuisance.

Ettex Expenses holds the approvals and the evidence against each item, so the run is a filtered list rather than a reconstruction from the inbox. What was agreed with each supplier — terms, notice, bank details — belongs in the supplier directory, which is what the due dates in the run should be derived from.