Group payments and templates

A group payment is a transaction where there’s one debit to your account, but multiple credits to various accounts at once. It lets you pay multiple payees or creditors in a single payment.

You can save the details of a payment as a group payment template and use the template for future payments.

This can be useful for payments to multiple payees which need to be made repeatedly (i.e. salaries or disbursements).

You can set up as many templates as you like. You can also give each template a unique name to easily identify them.

Read the relevant section below for instructions.

1. Log in to Macquarie Business Online
2. On the menu, navigate to Pay, then click Group Payment
3. You’ll be directed to the New Group Payment screen
   • (Note: If you have any existing group payment templates, you’ll be directed to the Templates screen. If you don’t want to use an existing template for a payment, click New Group Payment in the top menu.)
4. Select the account you want the payment to come from
5. Select either Payment or Salary (whichever most correctly reflects your payment type) and enter a description for your reference (optional)
6. In the Pay To section, you can add one or more payees. The method of entry will depend on the type of payee (creditor) you wish to enter:
   • For one of your own Macquarie accounts select from the drop-down list, or type the account name, BSB or account number into the 'Account Name' field. This will provide a filtered list of your accounts and you can select one by clicking on it. This will auto fill the account name, BSB and account number of that 'Pay To' row
   • For one of your own saved payees select from the drop-down list, or type the payee’s name, BSB or account number into the 'Account Name' field. This will provide a filtered list of your payees and you can select one by clicking on it. This will auto fill the payee’s name, BSB and account number of that 'Pay To' row
   • For a new payee enter the name of your payee in the 'Account Name' and click Pay New or press Enter. You’ll also need to provide a BSB and account number. For any new payees you enter you will also have the option of saving the payee to your payee list by clicking save to payee list
7. Select the timing for your payment by selecting to pay Now or Later (e.g. set it up as a future-dated group payment)
8. If you want to restrict who can view the file, select the Private check box
9. If you’d like to save your payment as a template for future use, click Save as template, enter your template name, and click Save
10. Click Review Payment
11. Check all details are correct and select either Approve or Submit for approval.

Make sure you know who you’re paying. Always verify that the details of the payee are correct by confirming with them directly. If your group payment is being sent to any new or modified payees, these payees will be approved when the group payment is approved.

In Macquarie Business Online, your group payment can only be paid Now or Later. You can’t set up recurring group payments. However, you can:

1. Set up one-off or future-dated group payments using your saved templates.
2. Set up a recurring single funds transfer. One thing to consider when determining if this is a suitable alternative is that the individual payments show as individual line items on the bank statement.
3. Explore ABA files (ABA and BPAY^® file payments). Another option to explore is the ability to generate ABA files out of your accounting software. 

You can create a group payment template on its own.

To create a group payment template without a payment:

1. Log in to Macquarie Business Online
2. On the menu, navigate to Pay, then click Group Payment
3. Navigate to Templates
4. If you don’t have an existing template, click Create a new template
5. Provide a name for your template and click Create template
6. Select the account you want the payment to come from
7. Select either Payment or Salary (whichever most correctly reflects your payment type) and enter a description for your reference (optional)
8. In the Pay To section, you can add one or more payees. The method of entry will depend on the type of payee (creditor) you wish to enter:
   • For one of your own Macquarie accounts select from the drop-down list, or type the account name, BSB or account number into the 'Account Name' field. This will provide a filtered list of your accounts and you can select one by clicking on it. This will auto fill the account name, BSB and account number of that 'Pay To' row
   • For one of your own saved payees select from the drop-down list, or type the payee’s name, BSB or account number into the 'Account Name' field. This will provide a filtered list of your payees and you can select one by clicking on it. This will auto fill the payee’s name, BSB and account number of that 'Pay To' row
   • For a new payee enter the name of your payee in the 'Account Name' and click Pay New or press Enter. You’ll also need to provide a BSB and account number. For any new payees you enter you’ll also have the option of saving the payee to your payee list by clicking save to payee list
9. Select the timing for your payment by selecting to pay Now or Later (e.g. set it up as a future-dated group payment)
10. If you want to restrict who can view the file, select the Private check box
11. Click Save template.

Your template will now be ready for your next group payment. 

To use a group payment template to make a payment:

1. Log in to Macquarie Business Online
2. On the menu, navigate to Pay, then click Group Payment
3. Navigate to Templates
4. Hover over the template you wish to use and select +New Payment
5. Edit any details if required
6. Click Review Payment. Check all details are correct and select either Approve or Submit for approval.

Make sure you know who you’re paying. Always verify the details of the payee are correct by confirming with them directly. If your group payment is being sent to any new or modified payees, these payees will be approved when the group payment is approved.

When you use a group payment template to make a payment, any changes you make will impact only this payment and not the saved template. These changes include:

• Including new payees by selecting +Add a new row in the Pay To section
• Removing payees from this payment by un-ticking the line item on the left or deleting the line by clicking the trash icon.