Overview
ABA File Export turns the EFT payouts you already record in Wirely into a single bank-ready .aba file, which you upload once to your banking portal instead of re-keying every payout by hand. ABA is the standard batch payment format accepted by all major Australian banks.
One file, one upload – a day of EFT payouts becomes a single file you load straight into your bank.
Errors caught before the bank sees them – Wirely checks every payout against the bank’s formatting rules before building the file, and tells you which lines would be rejected and why.
Full audit trail – every export records who ran it, the period covered and the exact time, and the original file can be downloaded again.
One file per venue – venue groups get a separate file for each site.
Recording, editing and exporting EFTs the usual way is unaffected. ABA is an additional export option, not a replacement.
ABA File Export is switched on per venue and is off by default. If you cannot see any of the options below, contact Wirely support to have it enabled.
Recommended Workflow
Keep recording and checking EFT payouts in Wirely exactly as you do today. At the point where a staff member would normally log into the banking portal and re-key each payout, export the ABA file instead — then upload that one file and authorise it in your bank. Wirely never connects to your bank and never moves money; it produces the file, you upload it.
Step 1: Assign the Permissions to a Role
Two separate permissions govern ABA File Export, and both are off for every role until an administrator turns them on.
Go to Settings → Roles & Permissions.
Filter to the Cheques/EFTs group.
Assign Manage ABA File Settings to whoever maintains your venue’s bank details.
Assign Export EFTs in ABA Format to the people who generate payment files. This permission also gives access to the ABA Audit Log.
Reaching the ABA Settings tab also depends on the general Cheque/EFT Settings access that governs the module’s Settings button. If that button is missing, sort that out first.
Step 2: Enter Your Venue’s Banking Details
This is done once per venue, before the first export, by someone with the Manage ABA File Settings permission.
Go to Cheques & EFTs and click Settings, then open the ABA Settings tab.
Choose your Financial Institution Code — Commonwealth Bank, ANZ, National Australia Bank, Westpac, Bendigo Bank, Bank of Queensland or St. George Bank.
Enter your APCA ID (User ID Number), the six-digit direct-entry number your bank issued you.
Enter your User Preferred Name (your venue name as the bank expects to see it) and your Venue Trading Name, which is what the winner sees as the payer on their bank statement.
Enter the Source BSB and Source Account Number of the account the money comes out of.
Leave Default Description blank to use the standard value, or set your own.
Click Save Changes.
Underneath the form, Example ABA file (preview) shows a live preview of how your settings map into the real ABA layout — so you can check the details here rather than discovering a problem at the bank.
If your bank rejects a file for not balancing, turn on Include balancing line and add a Balancing Line Payee Name. Some banks, Commonwealth Bank among them, require the file to net to zero.
ABA Settings — your venue’s banking details, with a live preview of how they map into the real ABA file layout.
Step 3: Generate the ABA File
Go to Cheques & EFTs and open the EFTs tab.
Set the Start and End dates to cover the payouts you want to pay. The file contains exactly the EFTs shown on screen, so check the list first.
Click Export, then choose ABA.
Set the Processing date — the date the bank will action the payments. It defaults to tomorrow; you can choose today or any future date, but not a past date.
Click Export. The .aba file downloads to your computer.
If the ABA button is greyed out, untick Email Export in that window. ABA files must be downloaded, not emailed.
Step 4: Fix Any Payouts the Bank Would Reject
Before building the file, Wirely checks every payout against the bank’s formatting rules. If any would be rejected, a window titled EFTs cannot be exported to ABA opens instead, listing each problem payout by EFT Reference against the Issue found. Common issues are a missing or wrong-length BSB, spaces in a BSB or account number, an account number longer than nine digits, a zero amount, or a missing claimant first or last name.
You have three choices:
Cancel – go back and correct the payouts in the EFTs tab, then export again. This is the right choice in most cases.
Export error log – download the list as a spreadsheet to work through the corrections or hand them to someone else.
Ignore errors and export ABA – build the file from the valid payouts only. The problem payouts are left out and will not be paid by this file, so you must handle them separately.
Negative or buy-back payouts are never included in an ABA file, because banks reject them. They are always reported here and left out.
Step 5: Upload the File to Your Bank
Open your business banking portal.
Load the .aba file the same way you would any batch payment file.
Authorise the payment in the portal. Any dual-signatory requirement is handled there, not in Wirely.
If your bank rejects an individual line — a closed account, a wrong BSB — resolve it with your bank and correct the record in Wirely yourself. Rejected payments are not fed back into Wirely.
Step 6: Review Every Export in the Audit Log
Every export is recorded permanently in the ABA Audit Log tab of the Cheques & EFTs module, whether it succeeded or not. Each entry shows the File Name, who it was Generated By, the From and To dates it covers, how many EFTs Covered, its Status and the Exported At time.
Use Search Logs to search by file name, who generated it, or status.
The Start and End dates at the top of the page filter the log by when the export was run.
Status reads Processed when the file was built, Processing while it is being built, or Failed if it did not complete.
Only Processed exports have a file to download. Links are generated fresh each time and expire after a short period, so if one stops working, click Download again.
Log entries can never be edited or deleted by anyone.
ABA Audit Log — every export, showing who ran it, the period covered and the original file ready to download again.
Best Practices
Check the payout list on screen before exporting — the file contains exactly what is shown, so an unintended date range becomes an unintended payment run.
Before re-uploading a file to your bank, check the ABA Audit Log for an earlier export covering the same period. Banks reject duplicate batches.
Correct problem payouts rather than exporting around them, so nobody is left unpaid without a record.
Keep your ABA Settings current. If you change banks or accounts, update them before the next export.
Use the live preview on the settings page to sanity-check your details after any change.
Contact [email protected].