Automate Scheduled Payments to Suppliers and Contractors
Your finance team pays dozens of suppliers and contractors on staggered dates every month from spreadsheet reminders and bank portals. Early-payment discounts expire, late fees accumulate, and Fridays disappear into payment-run prep.
We build the scheduled payment automation that owns the calendar for you.
Sound Familiar?
These are the exact issues our clients faced before scheduled payment automation:
- Supplier and contractor due dates live in a spreadsheet calendar that nobody trusts by the third week of the month
- Finance logs into the bank portal every Friday to key payments one by one, racing SA EFT cut-offs around 16:00 to 16:45
- Early-payment discounts (typically 2% if paid within 10 days) expire because the run never leaves on the right calendar date
- Late fees of 1% to 5% of invoice value pile up when a staggered contractor date slips past month-end
- AP burns hours answering "when am I getting paid?" calls from suppliers who were supposed to settle last Tuesday
Manual AP teams typically capture only 20–30% of available early-payment discounts, while automated payment scheduling lifts capture into the 80–90% range. On R18.5 million of annual supplier spend with half of invoices offering a 2% discount, that gap is roughly R1.85 million of pure profit left on the table each year.
What Scheduled Payment Automation Actually Does
Bill approved → payment queued on due date → bank run released → ledger marked paid. No Friday spreadsheet chase.
Bill Clears Approval
Finance approves a supplier or contractor bill in Xero, Sage, or QuickBooks
Payment Is Scheduled
Due date, discount window, and bank details become a dated payment instruction
Run Hits the Bank Rail
On the action date, the payment queues ahead of EFT cut-off for authoriser release
Ledger Closes the Loop
Payment status syncs back so month-end already knows what cleared on time
Everything You Need for Reliable Payment Scheduling
Calendar-Driven Payment Runs
Approved bills in Xero, Sage, or QuickBooks become dated payment instructions. Recurring retainers and one-off contractor draws fire on the due date without a spreadsheet reminder.
Early-Discount Capture Windows
When a supplier offers 2/10 net 30, the scheduler prioritises that payment inside the discount window so finance stops leaving pure profit on the table.
Bank Cut-Off Awareness
Runs are queued ahead of Absa, FNB, Nedbank, and Standard Bank EFT cut-offs so a Friday afternoon login scramble does not push value into the next business day.
Multi-Rail Disbursement
Push scheduled payments to EFT batch files, host-to-host rails, or payment platforms from the same approved payable, with dual authorisation left in the bank portal.
Payables Source Sync
Supplier bank details, VAT treatment, and due dates stay mapped from the ledger. Update the bill once; the next scheduled run picks up the change automatically.
Audit Trail & Exceptions
Every scheduled payment logs who approved it, when it was queued, and whether it cleared. Failed or held items surface before the supplier phones you.
Ledgers and Rails We've Connected for Payment Scheduling
From 10 Hours/Week to Under 2
How a Johannesburg commercial fit-out firm ended spreadsheet payment calendars, recovered early-payment discounts, and stopped missing contractor due dates.
The Manual Calendar
- AP tracked ~90 supplier and contractor payments a month in a shared Google Sheet
- Every Friday, one controller keyed the week's due dates into the Absa and FNB portals by hand
- Early-payment discounts were spotted after the 10-day window had already closed
- Late fees hit when staggered subcontractor draws slipped past month-end
- Suppliers called constantly asking when payment would land
The Automated Schedule
- Approved Xero bills queue automatically on their due date or discount window
- Finance reviews a daily schedule; dual authorisers release in the bank portal as before
- Discount-eligible invoices fire inside the 2/10 window by default
- Contractor retainers and one-off draws land on contracted dates without spreadsheet nudges
- Exception alerts surface held payments before anyone phones AP
Before vs After Scheduled Payment Automation
How It Works
From first conversation to live payment scheduling in 2–4 weeks.
Tell Us Your Setup
Which ledger holds payables, how many supplier and contractor dates you juggle monthly, and which bank rails you pay through.
Free Scoping Call
30-minute call to map discount windows, cut-off times, approval rules, and the payment calendar chaos costing you most.
Build & Test
We wire payables to the scheduler, run parallel against your real due dates for a week, and prove discount capture before go-live.
Go Live & Monitor
Switch off the spreadsheet calendar. Monitoring catches missed cut-offs and held payments before suppliers chase you.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is scheduled payment automation different from batch EFT file generation?
Batch generators format a payment run once you decide who gets paid today. Scheduled payment automation decides the calendar: it pulls approved payables from Xero, Sage, or QuickBooks, queues recurring and one-off supplier or contractor payments on their due dates, and only then hands a ready run to your bank or payment rail. You stop managing the diary; the system owns the dates.
Which accounting systems and banks can you connect?
We routinely schedule outbound payments from Xero, Sage, QuickBooks, and Pastel into Absa, FNB, Nedbank, and Standard Bank EFT channels, plus Netcash and similar rails where needed. If your ledger exposes approved bills with due dates and bank details, we can schedule them.
Will this override dual authorisation in our bank portal?
No. We prepare and queue the payment instructions. Your existing dual-control and authorisation rules in the bank portal stay in place. Finance reviews the scheduled run; authorisers still release funds the way your treasury policy requires.
How do you handle early-payment discounts and staggered contractor dates?
Each bill carries its due date and optional discount window (for example 2% if paid within 10 days). The scheduler prioritises discount-eligible invoices inside that window and still fires ordinary contractor draws on their contracted dates, so staggered calendars stop competing for the same Friday afternoon.
How long does scheduled payment automation take to set up?
A single-ledger schedule into one bank rail typically takes 2 to 4 weeks from scoping to go-live. Multi-entity setups with discount rules, recurring retainers, and dual-bank rails usually take 4 to 6 weeks, including parallel testing against real pay runs.
How much does scheduled payment automation cost?
Simple one-way scheduling from accounting payables into a single bank rail starts from around R25,000. Multi-rail setups with discount capture rules, cut-off awareness, and remittance sync typically range from R40,000 to R75,000. Teams spending a day a week on Friday payment runs, or missing early-payment discounts worth tens of thousands a month, usually see ROI within 2 to 3 months.
Stop Managing Supplier Payments in a Spreadsheet
If your team is still racing bank cut-offs every Friday and missing early-payment discounts, you are paying for a calendar problem that scheduled automation already solves.
Tell us which ledger holds your payables, how many staggered supplier and contractor dates you juggle each month, and which banks you pay through. We will show you exactly how automated payment scheduling would work for your business.