Positive pay from Sage Intacct: export, map, and convert your check register

Sage Intacct prints your checks and tracks every AP payment, but it does not hand your bank a finished positive pay file out of the box. The standard approach is to build a custom report against your AP data, export it to CSV, and shape that CSV into the exact layout your bank wants. This guide walks through that export, what fields to include, and how to turn the result into a clean check issue file your bank will accept.

What positive pay needs from Sage Intacct

A positive pay file (also called a check issue file) is the list of checks you intend to honor. Each time you run checks, you send the bank that list. When a check is presented for payment, the bank matches it against your file. Anything that does not match gets flagged for your review before it clears. That match is the entire point, so the data has to be right.

Most banks build their match on four or five fields:

Some banks also want a void or issue flag so you can cancel a check you already reported. Sage Intacct tracks voids in AP, which makes that column easy to populate once you know your bank expects it.

Exporting the AP check register from Sage Intacct

Sage Intacct does not generate a bank-specific positive pay file natively. The common path is a custom report you build once and reuse after each check run. A typical route is Platform Services > Custom Reports (or the Customization module if Platform Services is not enabled on your subscription), then running the report from Accounts Payable > Custom Reports. Your Intacct edition, role permissions, and any add-ons can change exactly where these menus sit, so treat the path as a starting point and confirm it in your own instance.

When you build the report, a workable setup looks like this:

  1. Use an AP payment or AP record data source so you are pulling actual check payments, not bills or unpaid items.
  2. Add columns for check number, check date, amount, vendor or payee name, and the bank account number when you pay from more than one account.
  3. Filter to printed check payments only. You do not want ACH, wire, or credit card payments mixed in, because the bank's positive pay system only matches paper checks.
  4. Sort by account and then check number so the file is easy to scan and reconcile.
  5. Export the result to CSV.

Before you trust the report, validate it against the AP check register for the same run. The totals and check count should match exactly. If they do not, your filter is letting something through or holding something back.

Run the report after each check batch and, ideally, send it to the bank the same day the checks go out. A check that reaches the bank before your file does can get flagged or held, which defeats the purpose.

Turning the CSV into your bank's format

The CSV you exported is your data, but it is almost never in your bank's exact layout. Banks differ on column order, date format (MM/DD/YYYY versus YYYYMMDD), whether amounts carry a decimal point or are expressed in cents, how check numbers are padded with leading zeros, and whether they want a header and trailer record. Some banks accept CSV; others require fixed-width text at fixed character positions.

PositivePayMaker is a free, browser-based converter built for exactly this gap. You load the CSV you exported from Intacct, map your columns to the bank's required fields, and download a file in the layout your bank expects. The tool runs entirely in your browser. Your check data is never uploaded to a server, which matters when the file contains account numbers and payee names. It ships with 11 bank layouts, including formats built from published specifications such as Chase and Huntington, plus a custom format builder for any layout not already covered and a built-in validator to check a file's structure before you send it.

If your bank is not in the preset list, you do not need a published spec from us. Your bank publishes its own positive pay file specification through its treasury or business-banking portal, or your treasury contact can email it to you. Once you have that spec, the custom format builder lets you reproduce the column order, delimiter, date format, amount formatting, and any header or trailer the bank requires. Many regional and community banks run positive pay on platforms like Centrix CheckPositivePay or Q2, while larger institutions often use Fiserv or FIS. The platform name is useful background, but the file spec you build to is always the one your specific bank gives you.

Where this fits against paid options

Several paid tools cover this same job, and for some shops they are worth it. Big Red Consulting's PositivePay File Creator runs about $119 the first year and $99 per year after, is Windows-only, and the QuickBooks Online edition needs Excel installed. Treasury Software's Bank Positive Pay is installed Windows software priced roughly $29.95 to $89.95 per month depending on edition and user count, and it ships with a library of around 350 verified bank formats. MoneyThumb and ProperSoft also sell paid desktop converters. If you generate files daily across many accounts, run on Windows, and want vendor support with a large prebuilt format library, a paid tool can earn its cost. If you run checks weekly or monthly and want to keep your data in the browser at no charge, the free converter usually covers it. There is also a paid PositivePay add-on module sold for Sage Intacct itself, which embeds file generation directly in the Cash Management module if you would rather not export at all.

Always verify the first file with your bank

No converter, free or paid, knows your bank's current spec better than your bank does. After you generate your first file, send it to your treasury contact or run it through the bank's online positive pay portal as a test before you rely on it. Confirm the bank accepts it, the check count and dollar total match your Intacct register, and nothing gets flagged for a format reason. Once a layout is verified, you can reuse it for every run after that with confidence.

For a closer look at how these files are structured, see the positive pay file format reference. When you are ready, the converter is one page away.

Create your positive pay file