Step 6.3 — Carrier Payment Confirmation and Documentation
Previous step: Step 6.1 (payment initiated) and Step 6.2 (any discrepancies resolved). Next step: Load is fully closed. Step 7.3 consumes carrier payment records at month-end.
🎯 Ideal State
The objective: Every carrier payment is fully documented in EZ-Loader and QuickBooks-Online with a complete audit trail. Documentation supports carrier relationship management, dispute defense, audit readiness, and 1099 reporting at year-end.
Nine Documentation Elements — Required per Payment
Element Documentation Detail Carrier paid (vendor record) Carrier legal name per Option B configuration Payee (where the money went) Factoring company per Option B if applicable, or carrier directly Payment amount Net of any quick pay discount and accessorial adjustments Payment date When HaulPay or Forza executed the payment Payment method ACH (default) or check (rare) Remittance reference HaulPay’s remittance ID or Forza’s Path B remittance number Quick pay applied Yes/No, and discount tier if yes Accessorial adjustments Detention, layover, TONU, rate changes — captured per Step 3.6 discipline Discrepancy notes If Step 6.2 was invoked, the resolution narrative Where the Documentation Lives
System What’s Captured EZ-Loader load record Payment status, payment date, remittance reference, accessorial adjustments, discrepancy notes QuickBooks-Online vendor bill Bill marked paid, payment amount, method, date, factoring company payee per Option B Remittance email file (Path A) HaulPay’s remittance email archived for the carrier and load Forza-direct remittance (Path B) Forza’s outbound remittance email archived Carrier Communication Standard
Path A — HaulPay-driven communication. HaulPay sends remittance email to the carrier (or factoring company) with their standard template. Forza is CC’d. Forza does not send a separate communication to the carrier.
Path B — Forza-direct communication. Forza sends remittance email using Forza’s template (built per Step 6.1 Gap Closure 5). Includes Forza branding, load number, payment amount, payment date, and EZ-Loader load references.
Year-End Connection
Carrier payment documentation feeds:
- Daily/weekly AP aging review (Phase 7 daily and weekly cadences)
- Monthly AP reconciliation — carrier vendor balances reconciled against EZ-Loader carrier records
- Year-end 1099 generation (Step 6.4)
If documentation is incomplete during the year, year-end becomes a manual reconstruction exercise. The discipline of full documentation per payment is what makes year-end clean.
Owner: Concetta (documentation completeness verification). HaulPay (Path A remittance to carrier). Forza (Path B remittance to carrier).
🤖 SYSTEM AUTOMATION:
EZ-Loader auto-files HaulPay remittance data via the QuickBooks-Online sync when the sync runs. Path A carrier remittance is HaulPay-automated. Path B carrier remittance is Forza-manual today (template-driven but human-sent).
🛑 HARD GATE:
A carrier payment that is not fully documented per the 9-element checklist cannot be considered closed. Period close (monthly, year-end) requires every carrier payment to have complete documentation across EZ-Loader, QuickBooks-Online, and remittance archive.
📍 Current State
- Path A remittances arrive from HaulPay via email — files are stored in email folders (unstructured).
- Path B remittances are rare and handled manually without a documented template.
- Carrier bill payment status in QuickBooks-Online depends on the broken EZ-Loader ↔ QuickBooks-Online sync — partial AP visibility.
- No formal documentation completeness verification standard.
- Accounting maintains carrier payment records as part of routine AP work — works in practice but not against a documented standard.
🚧 Gap
- Path A remittance archival is unstructured — HaulPay emails sit in inbox folders rather than tied to EZ-Loader load records.
- Path B remittance template doesn’t exist — Step 6.1 Gap Closure 5 covers building it.
- QuickBooks-Online carrier bill payment status broken until sync resolved — same Step 1.10 critical blocker.
- No documentation completeness checklist — verification is informal.
- Documentation inconsistency creates year-end risk — 1099 reconciliation becomes harder if documentation isn’t clean throughout the year.
🛠️ Gap Closure Actions
- Establish a remittance archival standard — Path A HaulPay emails saved to a structured SharePoint location (organized by month/load, or attached directly to EZ-Loader load records if the platform supports it) Owner: Casey + Concetta | Effort: Low
- Build the Path B remittance template (same as Step 6.1 Gap Closure 5) Owner: Casey + Concetta | Effort: Low
- Resolve EZ-Loader → QuickBooks-Online sync (same as Step 1.10 Gap Closure 1) Owner: James + EZ Loader support | Effort: External
- Document the documentation completeness checklist for carrier payments — 9 elements from the table above Owner: Casey + Concetta | Effort: Low
- Establish monthly AP reconciliation as a standing Accounting responsibility — verify carrier vendor balances in QuickBooks-Online against EZ-Loader carrier records Owner: Casey + Concetta | Dependency: Sync resolved | Effort: Medium