With positive pay, each check run produces a file listing check number, date, amount and (with payee positive pay) the payee. The bank compares every presented check against the file and holds any that don’t match for you to approve or reject. ACH positive pay does the same for electronic debits.
Why it matters
Check fraud (altered amounts, counterfeit checks, changed payees) remains common, and contractors write a lot of large checks to many payees. Positive pay stops most of it at the bank.
Worked example
A check for $61,200.00 to Summit Mechanical is on the positive-pay file. A check presented with the same number for $91,200.00 is flagged as an exception and returned unless you approve it (sample data).
Common mistakes
- Forgetting to send the file after a manual check.
- Not reviewing exceptions before the bank’s cutoff, so they default to pay.
How os.construction handles it
In the accounting preview, positive-pay files are generated on demand from a payment run or a bank account by users with the release-payments permission. See Banking and reconciliation.