Batch payments allow you to process multiple payments to suppliers or creditors in one go, rather than entering each payment individually into your online banking system.
In SILQ, batch payments are designed to save time, reduce data entry errors, and streamline office account payments — all while generating an aba file that can be uploaded directly to your bank. Once the aba file is imported into your bank, the payments will be populated so that you can easily process them as part of a multiple Pay Anyone transfer with one debit from your chosen business account.
Batch payments are only available in our SILQ Solicitor Expand & SILQ Solicitor Enterprise pricing plans.
Why Batch Payments Are Helpful:
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Time-Saving: Enter payment details once in SILQ, not twice in your bank.
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Error Reduction: Automatically pulls payee and invoice data, reducing manual mistakes.
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Professional Workflow: Keeps payment records centralised, consistent, and easy to audit.
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Secure & Compliant: ABA files follow Australian banking standards for direct credit transactions.
Whether you're paying multiple barristers, expert witnesses, or office suppliers, batch payments in SILQ simplify the process and ensure your firm operates efficiently.
What to know before processing a batch payment
1. First, ensure all of your spend money items have been entered into SILQ. You can find more information on entering expenses here.
2. Make sure you have entered account details onto the contact card for the payee. SILQ will automatically populate them for you.
If you have not, you can either enter them manually onto the unpaid accounts screen, or if this is a payee you will be paying more than once, you can navigate to the contacts screen and update the payee contact card.
Create a batch payment and generate your ABA file.
1. Navigate to the spend money window and click on Batch Payments
2. Click New Batch Payment
3. SILQ will bring up a window that will show you all of the unpaid accounts (please note, transactions will only show here if when you entered the expense into SILQ it was entered as unpaid. If it was entered as paid, it will not show here).
4. Highlight the ones you would like to include in this batch payment and click next.
5. SILQ will then bring you to the below screen where you can check whether the account details for each payee are correct.
6. In the above screen, SILQ has automatically added in todays date, your default bank account - both of which can be changed if required.
7. In addition, SILQ automatically calculates the total amount for this batch (which cannot be edited) and allows you to input an EFT reference for this batch (which is always blank unless you edit it).
8. If you are happy with the information, click save.
9. The save button will change to now say Download:
10. By clicking on the download button, SILQ will save the batch payment for you and the aba file will appear in your downloads folder on your computer.
11. Once saved, you also have the option to delete the batch payment and re-download the aba file if required.
Below are some articles from the Big 4 banks in Australia as to how to import the aba files you export from SILQ. Other banks should have a similar help article available for you to reference.
Upload aba fiels to ANZ