What Positive Pay actually compares
Positive Pay is a fraud-control register, not a live connection to your bank. It takes every check you have recorded as issued and checks it against what your imported bank statement has already matched inside Bank Transactions - catching a check that cleared for the wrong amount, or through a different bank account entirely, on top of the more obvious "did this clear yet" question. There is no file sent to the bank and nothing pulled from it automatically; it works entirely from records already inside AccountDesq.
Recording an issued check
There is no separate "write a check" step. Issuing a check just means recording an ordinary Vendor Payment with its source set to Cheque, a cheque/reference number, and the specific bank account it is drawn on. That one record is both the payment itself and its Positive Pay register entry - nothing else to fill in, and nothing to remember to do afterward.
How cleared-check matching works
Matching is not a separate action inside Positive Pay either - it reuses the ordinary Bank Transactions Match step. When you import a bank statement and match a line to that vendor payment, Positive Pay picks that up automatically and shows the real cleared amount, date, and account. One detail matters here: matching is checked against a transaction on ANY of your bank accounts, not only the one the check was issued from - which is exactly what makes it possible to catch a check that cleared through the wrong account.
What each status means
| Status | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| outstanding | Issued, and nothing has cleared against it yet | Nothing - this is the normal state until the bank processes it |
| cleared | Matched to a bank transaction on the same account, for the same amount | Nothing - a clean match |
| voided | You voided the check in AccountDesq, and nothing has cleared against it | Nothing - the safe, expected result of a void |
| amount_mismatch | Matched, but the bank transaction amount does not equal the amount you issued for | Investigate today - could be an altered check or a data-entry error on either side |
| wrong_account | Matched, but the bank transaction posted to a different bank account than the one the check was drawn on | Investigate today - a check should never clear through an account it was not issued from |
| voided_but_cleared | You voided the check, but it still cleared through the bank | Treat as a live incident - contact your bank immediately |
Every issued check lands in exactly one of these
voided_but_cleared is the status that should never appear
A void means you have told AccountDesq this check will never be paid. If a bank transaction matches it anyway, someone (or something) cashed a check you already cancelled - the exact fraud/error pattern Positive Pay exists to catch. Positive Pay groups amount_mismatch, wrong_account, and voided_but_cleared together into one exception count on the register so none of the three can quietly sit unreviewed among a long list of clean, outstanding checks.
Worked example: an amount mismatch
You issue a ₹25,000 check to a vendor. The imported bank statement shows a transaction for ₹25,200 that matches to it. Positive Pay reports this row as amount_mismatch, not cleared, and rolls it into the register’s exception count. Before assuming it is a small bank fee, confirm with the vendor and the bank what the extra ₹200 actually was - a real check-fraud attempt often starts with a small, easy-to-miss amount change.
Does Positive Pay stop a fraudulent check from clearing?
No - it is advisory only, the same as Watchlist Screening. AccountDesq does not connect live to your bank, so nothing here can block a check from clearing; it can only flag the mismatch once your next statement import brings the transaction in.
Do ACH payments or wire transfers show up in Positive Pay?
No - only Vendor Payments recorded with a Cheque source appear in the register. Positive Pay is specifically a check-fraud control; other payment methods are covered by ordinary Bank Transactions matching instead.
I found a wrong_account result but I am sure I issued it from the right account - now what?
Open the matched bank transaction and confirm which account it actually posted to. If your records and the bank genuinely disagree about which account a check cleared through, treat it the same as an amount_mismatch - contact the bank rather than editing the vendor payment to make the flag disappear.
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