Standard for B2B Electronic Payments to Be Offered

The Electronic Payments Network, the ACH payments business of The Clearing House Payments Company, LLC, working with industry groups, software providers, banks and businesses, developed the EPN STP 820 remittance. The standard was designed to remove a key obstacle in the adoption of business-to-business electronic payments: the lack of a single, standard format for remittance information. EPN STP 820 facilitates cost-effective electronic payments by rationalizing the complexity of the existing ANSI 820 electronic payments standard. The EPN STP 820 standard is supported by NACHA and the Association of Financial Professionals (AFP). The three software solutions offered by NexTec are the first accounting packages in the United States to contain the EPN STP 820 standard. Cash management packages offered by Fundtech, Fiserv BANKLINK and P&H Solutions have already adopted the EPN STP 820 standard. The integration of the EPN STP 820 module into software offered by NexTec facilitates straight-through-processing from payment to posting, significantly streamlining the electronic payments process. For accounts payable, the EPN STP 820 module will create a payables file that can be sent directly to financial institutions for processing. For accounts receivable, the EPN STP 820 module will enable users to automatically post files directly to their receivables, thus saving time in processing and reconciliation. The EPN STP 820 remittance standard streamlines electronic payments by defining 10 minimum data elements for each payment, including two mandatory elements - customer name and customer account number. If invoices are used, the eight additional fields such as invoice number, gross invoice amount and amount paid need to be included for each invoice being paid.