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NACHA Company Entry Description Requirements – Effective March 20, 2026

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Summary

Will Sage 300 CRE ACH formats comply with the mandatory changes for the NACHA requirements?

Description

Effective March 20, 2026, NACHA is introducing new mandatory requirements related to the Company Entry Description field in ACH transactions.

These requirements are part of NACHA’s Risk Management Rule Amendments. The amendments are designed to strengthen fraud prevention, improve transaction clarity, and standardize description usage across the ACH Network.  

Resolution

See information about the changes on the Official NACHA Rule Reference page.

Payroll

Sage 300 CRE's Payroll ACH export format fully complies with the March 2026 NACHA Company Entry Description requirement changes.

Accounts Payable

Accounts Payable uses Standard Entry Class (SEC) codes PPD and CCD and a Company Entry Description of ELEC PAYMT.

If your vendor payments are for salaries or other similar compensation types, talk to your accountant or tax advisor. They can help you determine which Company Entry Description you need to use.

If you need to use PAYROLL or PURCHASE for the description, you can edit your ACH file before you send it to the bank:

  1. Open your ACH text file in notepad.
  2. Find record 5 (the row that begins with “5”).
  3. In positions 53-64, replace “ELEC PAYMT” with “PAYROLL   “ or "PURCHASE  " (the spaces at the end are intentional).

    NOTE:

    “ELEC PAYMT” is 10 characters. “PAYROLL” is 7 characters and "PURCHASE" is 8 characters. You need to include the extra spaces so that the field totals 10 characters. This will keep the rest of the information in the correct positions. Enter “PAYROLL   “ or "PURCHASE  " without the quotes.

  4. Save the file.

Information that Sage needs

We’re receiving inconsistence requests regarding the use of the PAYROLL and PURCHASE descriptions for Accounts Payable electronic payments.

Provide the following information as we consider how best to implement this enhancement:

  • Name of the bank making the request.
  • What is the Company Entry Description that your bank is asking you to use?
  • What are the criteria for determining which vendor payments use that description?
  • Which Standard Entry Class (SEC) code do you use for your payment batches (PPD or CCD)?
  • Do you use both PPD and CCD codes and generate separate payment batches for each type?
  • How do you determine which vendor payments need the PPD code vs the CCD code?
  • Do all of your batches with the PPD code use the PAYROLL description? Are there any exceptions?