A remittance advice is a notification sent by a customer to a supplier to confirm that a payment has been made. It typically informs the supplier how much was paid, when, and against which invoice, so the supplier can match the incoming funds to the right invoice and reconcile their accounts.
It's a long-standing courtesy in business payments, which cuts down on suppliers chasing to find out whether, and when, they'll be paid.
About remittance advices in Payhawk
The supplier remittance advice is sent by Payhawk via email associated with the exact payment only and containing a link to the status page dedicated to that payment.
On this status page, the supplier can follow the payment through its key milestones (initiated, in transit, settled) alongside the payment amount, date, and invoice reference.
The link to the status page of the payment stays valid for 2 months, allowing the supplier to track the payment to settlement and reconcile it on their side, without needing to contact your Finance team.
Employees do not receive remittance advices for their reimbursements. If a supplier payment made through Payhawk is rejected or returned, Payhawk will not send a remittance advice and the supplier will not receive any notification of the failure.
What your supplier receives
Your supplier will receive:
An email from Payhawk that informs them a payment is on the way.
A secure link to a status page, which keeps updating as the payment progresses.
A downloadable PDF confirmation, available from the status page via the secure link, which the supplier can keep for their records.
Your supplier does not need a Payhawk account or a login to view any of this payment information. However, downloading the payment confirmation requires them to enter the email address the remittance advice was sent to, as a security precaution.
What the status page shows
The status page of the payment summarizes the following payment details:
The payment amount.
The value date, which is when the funds are expected to arrive.
A status timeline that moves from Initiated to Settled.
The payment reference, the bills, and credit notes the payment covers.
The status page does not show bank details. The downloadable PDF confirmation is the formal document, which includes the payment details of both the payer and the payee.
When the actual sending of a remittance advice is
The remittance advice is actually sent to your supplier depending on the payment scheme used for that specific payment.
For example:
If a payment is made via FPS (GBP) or SEPA (EUR), the remittance advice will be sent to the supplier once the payment is settled.
If a payment is made via SWIFT, the remittance advice will be sent once the receiving bank notifies Payhawk about the expected date for receiving the payment.
Setting up emails for sending remittance advices
By default, the option to send a remittance advice to a supplier is enabled for every supplier you've saved in Payhawk, and it can be viewed in the Suppliers app. If a supplier has only a contact email entered, the remittance advice will be sent to that contact email automatically.
However, you can add different recipients for a supplier's remittance advices in one of the following ways:
When confirming the payment details of an expense - The emails you enter while confirming the payment details are automatically saved to the supplier's entry in the Suppliers app and will override the supplier's contact email when sending remittance advices.
When authorizing a payment - The emails you enter when authorizing a payment must be manually confirmed by the respective employee; only then will they update the supplier's entry in the Suppliers app, again taking precedence over the contact email for sending remittance advices.
You can also choose to send a remittance advice to a supplier that has no contact email entered in Suppliers when you authorize a payment. Once the payment has been authorized, Payhawk will display an option for you to add emails for remittance advices.
Remittance advices are sent to email addresses in the following order of precedence:
The emails you enter on the spot - when confirming the payment details or authorizing the payment.
The contact supplier email - enabled by default.
The email that Payhawk's AI extracts from the attached expense documents.
Verifying a genuine remittance advice
To help your suppliers tell a genuine remittance advice from a fraudulent one, inform them of the following:
The remittance advice email will come from a payhawk.com address, and the secure link stays valid for 60 days.
No account or login is needed to view the payment details link. When clicked, it opens a read-only page generated for this exact payment only.
Payhawk will never ask a supplier for a password, bank login, card details, or a payment to view a remittance advice.
A supplier will never need to verify or re-enter bank details to receive the money. The payment has already been executed.
If a page or email that claims to be a remittance advice asks the supplier to log in, pay a fee, or confirm bank details, they need to treat it as suspicious.
If the amount, bills, or credit notes look wrong, the supplier needs to contact you directly. You manage the payment, and Payhawk cannot change its details.
Viewing the remittance advice history
The sending of the remittance advice is reflected in the Activity tab of the expense that has been authorized for payment.
