Available for the following plans: Employment Lite, Employment Plus, Employment Unlimited
An ABA file (Australian Banking Association file) is a standardised file format used in Australia to process bulk electronic payments, such as payroll, supplier payments, or reimbursements, through the banking system.
Click on the topic you want to read about:
- How do I include PAYG in my ABA file?
- Testing your ABA File
- How to set up ABA Files
- Pay run/Parallel Testing
- How to upload your ABA File
Key features
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Plain text format containing structured data
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Used to instruct banks to transfer money from your account to multiple recipients
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Follows the BECS (Bulk Electronic Clearing System) standard
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Each line in the file represents a payment instruction
It includes:
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Your bank account details (payer)
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Payee details (employee or vendor)
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Amounts to be transferred
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Payment references or descriptions
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BSB (Bank-State-Branch) and account numbers
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Payroll: Paying employee wages in a single batch
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Supplier payments: Sending payments to vendors in one go
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Reimbursements: Paying out multiple expense claims at once
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The ABA file is generated by payroll or accounting software.
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The file is uploaded to your bank’s online portal.
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The bank reads the file and executes all payments in a batch.
Initially, you need to generate or add a new ABA file to your account to configure payments.
- Log into your Employment Hero payroll account.
- Select Business Payroll Settings
- Select Payments
- Here you can access your ABA file settings.
- ClickAdd and fill in your details.
- BSB Number
- Account number
- Account name
- Financial Institution code
- Lodgement reference
- Name of user supplying code
- APCA user ID
- You can edit an ABA file any time by selecting an existing one and changing any details and selecting Save.
- You must next test your ABA file.