Account Reconciliation
and Positive Pay
Maintain greater control over your accounts
Knowing what’s going into and what’s coming out of your accounts is critical to effective cash management.
Citizens Commercial Banking’s (“Citizens”) Account Reconciliation Processing (ARP) and Positive Pay
solutions provide you with a range of features that give you greater insight and oversight regarding your flow
of funds. From issued checks to incoming deposits, we give you ways to reduce the time and effort your staff
spend reconciling bank statements. Our solutions streamline your back office operations while mitigating
potential check fraud activity, resulting in greater confidence in the management of your accounts.
Maximize oversight; minimize errors and mitigate fraud
Account Reconciliation Offerings
Citizens makes it easier to reconcile your accounts with a range of
options including the listing of checks paid and data delivery via
electronic transmission – in a format that can be uploaded directly
into most company ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning System) or
reconcilement systems. You may also receive your paid check images
and/or reconciliation reports via CD-ROM or image transmission.
Partial Reconciliation. Our partial reconciliation option provides you
with a streamlined accounting of checks paid against your account.
For each reconciliation period, Citizens creates a list of checks paid
in order of check serial number, along with the paid date and dollar
amount of each. You can also receive paid check information daily,
weekly, monthly, or calendar date basis in the following formats: Data
Transmission File, CD-ROM, Image Transmission or accessMONEY
Manager®. In addition, you can opt to receive your paid check images via
CD-ROM or image transmission. To further streamline your operations,
you can choose to access paid check data via Citizens’ online portal,
accessMONEY Manager. Whichever option you select, you’ll find your
accounting tasks simplified and streamlined.
Full Reconciliation. If you want even more comprehensive support,
you can choose our full reconciliation option. With this service, you must
provide Citizens with a list of checks issued either via direct transmission
or accessMONEY Manager by importing an issue file or entering each
issued check individually. We then use your check issue data to reconcile
paid checks during your statement period. Our report lists checks paid
in order of serial number, along with the paid date and dollar amount of
each. We also use your list to identify all outstanding items in order of
check number. The service enhances the accuracy of your record keeping
by identifying check-payment errors – such as encoding errors and misposts – before any reports are generated or paid files are transmitted.
Deposit Reconciliation. In addition to cleared check reconciliation, we
can make it easier to keep track of deposits, especially for companies
that receive payments at multiple locations. Citizens offers a simple
way to use a single account while clearly identifying the origin of each
deposit. Unique numbers are pre-coded on the deposit slips for each of
your company’s locations. The numbers are used to identify deposits on
your Deposit Reconciliation reports. Deposits can be made at any of
our convenient branch locations or by remote capture using our
E-Z Deposit® service. Same day confirmation of deposits is available
through our information reporting system, accessMONEY Manager.
Positive Pay Offerings
Citizens’ positive pay offerings make it easier to monitor and mitigate
potential check fraud activity by giving you greater control over which
checks are paid.
Positive Pay and Payee Positive Pay.
You provide your issued check information to Citizens. We verify the
paid checks based on account and check number, dollar amount and –
for Payee Positive Pay customers – payee information. We present any
suspect items to you for a pay/return decision through the Positive Pay
feature via accessMONEY Manager. We also identify check-payment
errors before any reports are generated.
As an added layer of protection, Citizens also offers Positive Pay/Payee
Positive Pay verification at all of our branch teller lines. Account number,
check number, dollar amount, and payee name validation (for Payee
Positive Pay Customers, and if provided to Citizens) is done on checks
presented at our branches for payment and only those matching the
information provided will be honored.
ARP Solutions are a Great Way to…
• Reduce time spent reconciling – increasing time for
other business.
• Monitor and mitigate check fraud activity.
• Gain greater oversight of account activity.
• Centralize reporting from multiple locations.
Account Reconciliation
and Positive Pay
Maintain greater control over your accounts
Reverse Positive Pay. Instead of providing us with a file of issued
checks, you will receive daily data from us on prior day’s checks
presented for payment. You identify the items you do not want Citizens
to pay and communicate these requests to the bank. The service
helps you save time and money by automating the labor-intensive
reconciliation process and simplifies accounting tasks.
Fighting Fraud. Check fraud is a constant concern for today’s
enterprises. Citizens helps give you the upper hand in countering and
mitigating fraud with services like our ARP offerings. While the electronic
exchange of funds continues to increase, a large percentage of businessto-business payments are still made by check – making it important
for you to protect yourself. The fact is that you are likely to encounter
attempts at fraud, and Positive Pay and Reverse Positive Pay are among
the top choices for countering fraudulent activity. We have produced
dramatic results with these solutions, catching more than $9.8 million in
attempted fraud in 2013.
Add the Advantage of accessIMAGE®
Put critical details at your fingertips while reducing paperwork and
increasing efficiency. Our accessIMAGE® solution suite is a perfect
counterpart to any Account Reconciliation service. Use it to access and
archive a wide variety of imaged documents: paid checks, reconciliation
reports, deposit tickets and deposited items. Choose from a variety
of delivery options to best suit your organization’s needs. It’s a great
way to strengthen your fraud mitigation efforts while enhancing cash
management processes.
We offer image solutions for keeping detailed records while reducing
the amount of paperwork you manage: CD-ROM, Image Transmission,
and accessMONEY Manager’s online archive. accessMONEY Manager
archive provides real-time, online access to paid checks, returned
deposited items, and lockbox images and allows you to access your images
whenever and wherever you need them. With these image solutions,
Citizens scans the front and back of each of your paid checks and sends
you a CD-ROM or file transmission, at the frequency of your choosing
or makes available to you online via accessMONEY Manager. Further
streamlining record keeping, your reconciliation reports can be included
on the CD-ROM or in the file transmission along with check images, and
are also available on accessMONEY Manager.
For CD-ROMs and Image Transmission, images are conveniently indexed
and easily retrieved with our accompanying software – simplifying both
research and reconciliation. Both the CD-ROM and image transmission
solutions are available in network-compatible form, allowing you to save
the images to your company- hosted network. In addition to your images,
the viewing interface itself can be saved to your network – to aid in
indexing, cataloging and retrieving the images. The network solutions let
multiple employees access the same images simultaneously.
A Team Behind Every Transaction
At Citizens, you get not only great products but also support from the
committed professionals who stand behind them. Through working
with us, you automatically gain the support of a responsive team of
knowledgeable representatives. We take a consultative approach and are
ready to share tools, methodologies and insights to help you plan, track
and optimize your working capital. We’re here to make sure that your
program runs smoothly, answering questions and helping you make the
most of the solution.
Over the course of our relationship, we stay in step with you to help you
meet challenges as your business needs continue to evolve. Both today
and tomorrow, Citizens is prepared to work harder for you - and to
provide the solutions that do too.
For more information about how Citizens Commercial
Banking can support your business needs, please contact
your local Treasury Solutions representative or contact us
at 1-877-228-6155. Or visit us at citizenscommercialbanking.
com/treasurymanagement.
© 2015 Citizens Financial Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Citizens Commercial Banking is a brand name of Citizens Bank, N.A. and Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania. Member FDIC. CS#CMSS475M_378568_ARPP