Approve and post a payout

Nothing reaches QuickBooks until it is approved. A payout posts only after a person with the approver role, an approver or an owner, approves it, or when an approver has turned on the auto-post rule for the church. Reviewers can check payouts and upload payout reports, but they can’t approve. These steps are for churches on Planning Center Giving and QuickBooks Online. For another giving platform or ledger, write to [email protected].

Approve

Open a held payout on the Review page and click Approve. Approve is available when the payout is Tied or Tied (Residual), has no open review flags, and every fund in it is mapped. A payout still marked Needs Payout Report takes Approve with the bank amount instead, or ties out when you upload its payout report. To approve several at once, select them in the queue and use the bulk approve button; payouts not checked yet are left out.

Post

An approved payout is Ready. It posts in the next nightly run, or right away when you click Post now. Constat posts one deposit per payout, so QuickBooks shows the same amount your bank received. How the deposit is built depends on Settings, Posting:

• Single deposit: one deposit to your bank account, with income by fund and the processing fees as a negative line.
• Clearing account: gross giving is deposited to a clearing account, the fees post as an expense, and the net transfers to your bank. The clearing account returns to zero after every payout.
• Summary puts totals by fund on the deposit. Detail posts every gift under the donor’s name.

Each transaction carries a DocNumber that starts with PCO, so you can find it in QuickBooks. QuickBooks then shows the deposit in your bank feed for you to match. A payout is never posted twice: Constat records each transaction before it sends it, and a retry finishes the payout instead of adding a second deposit.

Posting automatically

In Settings, Sync, an approver can turn on Post confirmed online payouts automatically. It posts only payouts that tie to the penny against a Planning Center payout report or email, with no review flags. Payouts grouped from processing dates, payouts in variance and flagged payouts always wait for a person. Post committed batches automatically does the same for cash and check batches. Both are off until an approver turns them on, and a payout someone put on Hold never posts on its own.

When something goes wrong

• Posting failed: the reason is on the payout. Fix it, then click Retry posting.
• Deleted in QuickBooks: each night Constat checks what it posted in the last 90 days. If a deposit was deleted or voided there, the payout says so, and an approver can Re-post it or Skip it.
• Your QuickBooks closing date: with Hold payouts dated on or before the closing date turned on in Settings, Posting (it is on unless you turn it off), payouts dated on or before it wait in Review instead of posting into a closed period. Change the deposit date to post one.

To hear about posts by email, turn on Email me when a payout posts in Settings, Notifications. Failed posts email approvers within minutes. Next: Close the month.