External Payees
Keep the list of people and businesses outside your staff who can be paid an expense claim.
What this is for
An external payee is a person or business that is not on your staff list but can be paid an expense: a contractor, a vendor, or a staff member without a login. You keep their contact and bank details here so Finance can pay them.
How external payees are used:
- Claims for external payees come in through the public claim form. A reviewer attaches a payee to the submission, then converts it to a draft expense claim (see Review public submissions). The ordinary New Expense form has no payee choice.
- When such a claim is approved, Winlium owes the amount to the External Payee Payable account you set in Expense Settings, not to Employee Payable. See Expense Settings.
- Such claims use the approval template named External-Payee Workflow (fallback) in Expense Settings, or a template that matches on payee type. They never use the Default Claim Workflow. See Workflows and approvals.
Before you begin
Before you begin
- Chart of Accounts: a liability account to use as External Payee Payable (set up in Accounting > Chart of Accounts)
- Expense Settings: External Payee Payable Account and External-Payee Workflow (fallback) chosen
- The payee's phone, email and full bank details to hand
Open the screen
In the menu choose Expense, then Configuration, then External Payees. The address is /dashboard/expense/operation/external-payee.
This is one screen only. There are no separate "new" or "edit" pages: a pop-up form opens on top of the list for both.
Screenshot pending
External Payees list with columns for name, phone, email, bank, status and an Edit button, and the New Payee button
- 1Select New Payee to add a payee.
- 2Select Edit to change a payee.
The list
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Name | The payee name. |
| Phone | The phone number, or a dash. |
| The email address, or a dash. | |
| Bank | The bank name, or a dash. |
| Status | Active or Inactive. |
| Actions | An Edit button that opens the pop-up filled in. |
The toolbar has Search..., Sort, More filters, Export and Add columns (these do not work as described above, except export and column choice). The footer shows "Rows per page" (80 by default) and the page count. An empty list shows "No results." Double-clicking a row does nothing.
Create or edit
Open the pop-up
Select New Payee, or select Edit on a row. The pop-up is titled New External Payee or Edit External Payee.Fill in the fields
Fields marked with a red asterisk are required.Save
Select Save. It shows "Saving…" while it works. The pop-up closes and you see "External payee created" or "External payee updated".
Screenshot pending
New External Payee pop-up with name, phone, email, tax ID and the three bank fields
- 1Name, Phone and Email are required.
- 2All three bank fields are required.
- 3Save creates the payee.
Field reference
| Field | Type | Required | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Text | Yes | |
| Phone | Text | Yes | Free text. No format check. |
| Text | Yes | Winlium does not check that it looks like an email address. | |
| Tax ID | Text | No | |
| Bank name | Text | Yes | |
| Account number | Text | Yes | Free text. No length or digits-only check. |
| Account name | Text | Yes | |
| Notes | Text area | No | |
| Active | Yes/No switch | No | Turn it off to mark the payee inactive. There is no delete. Default: On |
Example: Name "Chukwuemeka Ventures", Phone 0803 555 0142, Email accounts@chukwuemeka.example, Bank name GTBank, Account number 0123456789, Account name "Chukwuemeka Ventures Ltd".
Buttons and actions
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| New Payee | Opens the pop-up empty. |
| Edit | Opens the pop-up with that payee's details. |
| Save | Creates or updates the payee. |
| Cancel | Closes the pop-up without saving. |
Statuses
A payee is Active or Inactive. You change it with the Active switch in the pop-up. There is no separate button.
Rules and error messages
Required: Name, Phone, Bank name
Appears: Pop-up, when you select Save
- Why it happens
- One or more required fields are blank. The message lists the missing labels, joined by commas.
- How to fix it
Fill in the fields it names and save again.
Phone, Bank name are required
Appears: Server reply after Save
- Why it happens
- The server also checks the six required fields (Name, Phone, Email, Bank name, Account number, Account name). One missing reads '... is required'; more than one reads '... are required'. On edit it checks the saved record together with your changes.
- How to fix it
Complete the named fields. A payee created while reviewing a public submission may have no phone, email or bank details, so you must fill them in before you can save any edit to it here.
Failed to save external payee
Appears: Pop-up
- Why it happens
- The server returned no message.
- How to fix it
Try again. If it repeats, ask your administrator.
Not checked: duplicate names, emails or account numbers. Optional fields (Tax ID, Notes) cannot be emptied once saved.
Ledger impact
Ledger impact: Creating or editing an external payee
Does not post to the ledger.
This screen only stores contact and bank details. It posts nothing to the ledger. Posting happens later, when a claim for the payee is approved and reimbursed.
Who can do this
Opening the list needs expense:external-payees:read. New Payee needs expense:external-payees:create and Edit needs expense:external-payees:update. There is no delete permission because there is no delete. Today only the Owner standard role holds these, so give other people a custom role. See Roles and permissions.
What this affects in other modules
- Review public submissions: the reviewer picks an existing payee here, or creates a new one while triaging.
- Public submission link: the external form that produces these claims.
- Process expenses: Finance pays approved claims to the payee's bank details.