Best Practice: Using a sub-account association to send eChecks

Sub-accounts are recommended for companies that plan to send a mix of both paper and eChecks.  This is because the Print Later selection can be used in both scenarios. 

Using sub-accounts reduces user entry errors by helping segregate payment workflows.  When users select Print Later and are sending a payment from a sub-account associated with eChecks, they know they are intending to issue an eCheck.  By contrast, if they select Print Later and a bank account NOT associated with eChecks, they know the checks will be waiting for them to print on paper stock at a later time.

A best practice for using sub-accounts is to use the primary bank account for your paper check transactions and set up a sub-account (using the same banking information) from which you can issue eChecks.  Another tip is to include the word 'eCheck' in the name of the sub-account. 

Writing checks using a standard vs sub-account for the  QuickBooks bank account(s) 

For example, Sarah Smith has a thousand vendors all with email address and wants to be able to send both paper checks and eChecks.

• If she wants to send a paper check to the vendor, she would select the “checking account” as the designated account in the check writing screen.
• If she wants to send an eCheck to the vendor, she would select the "sub-account" as the designated account in the check writing screen.

See Also:

 Can I still send paper checks to my vendors?

How can I print a single paper check through QuickBooks Online?