EFT in Dynamics 365 Business Central & Dynamics NAV: 11 lessons learned the hard way!

August 20 2021

EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer), or what we frequently refer to as ACH in the US, should be something easy to set up, right? I can tell you from working with it over the last couple of years the answer is “Yes and no.”

My mission in this article is to ensure that you can answer “Yes” to this question when someone asks you. Follow along as I share with you 11 lessons I learned the hard way while working with EFT in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. If you haven’t read my article Tear up those paper checks! Dynamics 365 Business Central makes ACH easy (also here on MSDW) check it out for a few additional tips. If you are using Dynamics NAV, please read on as there are lessons for you as well, depending on your version.

Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start (now I have that “Sound of Music” song repeating in my head.) But seriously, let’s walk through the process so I can share with you what I learned related to setup, payment journals, generating EFT files, and data exchange definitions. I’ve grouped the lessons by general topic area.

For reference, I am using Version: US Business Central 18.3 (Platform 18.0.27224.28780 + Application 18.3.27240.27381) as I write this article.

Working with the Payment Journal

1. Do not leave the Preferred Bank Account on the Vendor Card blank

If you are not current on your BC updates and you manually fill in the Recipient Bank Account on the Payment Journal line, you may get a non-specific error along the lines of “the bank account does not exist.” What bank account? The source of this error may be a blank Preferred Bank Account on the vendor card. Once you assign the preferred bank account on the vendor card, not only is the error resolved, but this account will default to Recipient Bank Account on the payment journal line. I tried to recreate this error for this article and cannot in my current version. I do not know in what version this was fixed, but on Dynamics on Azure it was 18.0 or later.

2. Confirm the assigned Country Export Format is correct

Record(81) is not compatible with Codeunit.Run….” If you get this error, go to the bank account assigned on the payment journal line and check the Country Export Format. It is most likely set to the wrong country for the Payment Export Format selected for this bank account. In my test case, it was set to “Other” and should have been set to US.

Note that in a recent update, the blank option for this field was eliminated. If you were working in BC prior to the update and the value was unassigned (blank,) the update did not assign a value and it will still be blank. Once you select a value in this field, you cannot revert it back to blank. Regardless, a value in this field is required to use exports.

Before update:

After update, valid options do not include blank:

 

3. Set the Balancing Account Type and Number correctly

You get the error “The Bank Account does not exist. Identification fields and values: No.=’’.” The Preferred Bank Account is assigned to the vendor on the payment journal line. You have also indicated the Bal. Account Type is “Bank Account” and the Bal. Account No. is selected on the payment journal lines.

To resolve this error, go to General Journal Batches and set the balancing account type to Bank Account and select a bank account as the Bal. Account No. to be used with this batch.

About Cynthia Priebe

Cynthia is a Senior Trainer and Consultant with New View Strategies, the go-to source for actionable training and process efficiency in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. Cynthia is recognized for her ability to look at operational and reporting challenges with a fresh take and propose solutions using core features and functionality. Focused for close to 20 years on Dynamics NAV and now D365 Business Central, she adores helping clients and partners with solving problems, enhancing productivity, and finding The Righter WayTM to work in Business Central. She is a regular presenter at industry conferences, on the original team to write the MB-800: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Functional Consultant certification exam, a Microsoft Certified Trainer, and a certified Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Functional Consultant. You can reach Cynthia on LinkedIn.

At New View Strategies, all our experts have “been there, done that” – we are experienced, former users who have walked in your shoes. We  work with frustrated Business Central/NAV users who struggle to use their system and find the answers they need. We teach them to truly understand how the system can support their business processes to make immediate and lasting improvements, and as a result get more done in less time, make better business decisions, and even love their system. In addition to helping end users, New View Strategies offers Consultant Accelerator programs to help get new-to-BC consultants up, running, and billing as soon as possible. 

We can help, drive real change via a custom class delivered remotely or at your site, or choose from over 40 online and in-person classes at  https://getyournewview.com/complete-curriculum/

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