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How to set up ABA export for payments

The Australian Banking Association (ABA) export feature allows you to automate the data entry process associated with making a bulk EFT via an online banking portal. As an electronic payment export plug-in, it is available from both transaction and aggregation activities in ContactsLaw.
 
You must configure ContactsLaw before you can use this feature. In the system settings section (under The Practice, Management tab), set the following options under the "ABA file export" heading:
  • User Identification Number - allocated by the Australian Payments Clearing Association (APCA). This information is required in order to generate ABA files, must be numeric and cannot exceed 6 digits in length. If you bank with multiple financial institutions, use the format XXX=000000,YYY=111111 (bank abbreviation and UIN).

  • User Preferred Specification - as advised by your financial institution (usually your business name). This information is required in order to generate ABA files and must not exceed 26 characters.
Once these settings have been saved, you can begin exporting ABA files. In addition to exporting the files ad-hoc, you can re-generate an ABA file for any payment you have previously processed.
 
The ABA format places a number of additional constraints on the particulars of a payment; if the information does not adhere to the expected format, you may experience problems exporting.
 
If the following details are invalid, the payment will not be exported:
  • Bank abbreviation (for practice bank account)
  • BSB (for practice bank account)
  • Account number (for practice bank account)
  • BSB (for payee)
  • Account number (for payee)
  • Bank narration/transaction description
If the following details are invalid, the data will be truncated:
  • Account numbers (if they exceed 9 characters)
  • Account title (payee's full name, if exceeds 32 characters)
  • Bank narration/transaction description (if it exceeds 18 characters)
  • Remitter (member who authorised the payment, if name exceeds 16 characters)
If your firm uses the ABA export feature, members should be encouraged to enter a concise narration for each electronic payment; the "bank narration" field is optional, but in this case it should be regarded as mandatory.