What is ABA file?

Also known as: Direct Entry file, Cemtex file

An ABA file is the fixed-width text format Australian banks accept for batch payments. A plan manager or provider generates one to pay many provider invoices or staff wages in a single upload. Each record carries BSB, account number, amount and lodgement reference, with a total record the bank checks against.

The format is unforgiving: field positions are fixed and a malformed record can cause the bank to reject the entire batch.

Because an ABA file is an instruction to move money, it deserves the controls that go with that — a hash or checksum recorded at generation, a different person releasing the batch from the one who prepared it, and a hold on any provider whose bank details changed recently.

Related terms

Remittance adviceA remittance advice is the statement issued when a payer settles invoices, listing which invoices were paid, the amounts, and any adjustments. In the NDIS, providers receive remittance from the NDIA for agency-managed claims and from plan managers for plan-managed invoices, and use it to reconcile payments against what was claimed.Plan managementPlan management is where a registered plan manager holds and pays a participant’s NDIS funding on their behalf. The plan manager receives provider invoices, checks them against the participant’s budget and the price guide, claims from the NDIA, and pays the provider — while the participant keeps full choice of provider.

More in Claiming & finance

NDIS Price Guide Support item number Bulk payment request Provider travel

Rostery handles this in practice

SCHADS interpretation, NDIS price-guide validation, claiming and the evidence an audit asks for — built for Australian providers.

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