This article gives you a quick overview of how payments work in Apron. There are two types you can make: supplier (bill) payments and payroll payments. You’ll see how information flows from your accounting or payroll software into Apron, can optionally go through approvals, and then gets sent out as completed payments. Detailed, step-by-step guides for each feature are covered in separate articles.
Here’s a quick look at how payments work:
The payment flow at a glance
Step 1: Bring payables into Apron
Bills - Sync from your accounting system or upload directly into Apron
Payroll - Upload your payroll file
Step 2: Review & prepare
Confirm who you’re paying, how much, and when.
Step 3: Approve
Optionally route draft payments through an approval workflow.
Step 4: Pay
The authorised payer completes the payment in Apron.
Step 5: Reconcile & send payment confirmation
Payment statuses flow automatically back to your books, and your payment confirmation can be sent to Suppliers.
Paying suppliers
Step 1: Add your bills
You can get bills into Apron using whichever route suits your workflow:
Upload to Apron - Drag and drop bills, forward them from your email, or send them on the go from our mobile app
Sync from your accounting system - Connect it to Apron so all approved bills are automatically pulled into Apron, if your ledger is your payables source of truth
Manual payments - Anytime you need to pay something ad-hoc without a bill, you can do so by creating a supplier and inputting the amounts and references manually
For details on uploading documents to Apron, see our article: See all of the methods for uploading bills and documents.
Step 2: Prepare your payment
Select one or several bills to pay in a batch
Review supplier details, invoice references, and amounts
Group by payee to combine multiple bills to the same supplier into one payment
Step 3: Approval process (optional)
Optionally send draft payments through an approval workflow (see “Approvals & roles” below)
Approvers see exactly what’s being paid before sign-off
Step 4: Complete the payment
The payer reviews the approved batch and completes the payment in Apron
Each bill moves to Paid
Step 5: Send payment confirmation
After payment completion, send your suppliers payment confirmation so they have visibility on what was paid, the invoices covered, and references for easy reconciliation.
What your suppliers will see
When you pay through Apron, suppliers see your company details on the incoming payment for easy reconciliation. The payment reference depends on your settings:
Multiple bills to one supplier – Auto-generated reference (unless you set a custom one)
Single bill – Uses the bill reference or your custom reference
Running payroll
Step 1: Prepare your payroll file
Payroll runs are created by uploading a payroll payment file exported from your payroll software. Apron reads the payees, amounts, and references to create a payment batch ready for scheduling, approval, and release.
File formats & exports: Check the accepted file types, field layout, and export steps from common payroll tools in our article: Make payroll payments.
Step 2: Prepare & validate
Review employee details, amounts, and fix any validation issues (e.g. invalid bank details).
Step 3: Schedule your payment
Set a delivery date for when your employees should receive their payments. Money leaves your account when you authorise the payroll and is released between 3 AM and 7 AM on your chosen date.
Step 4: Send for approvals (optional)
Payroll batches can follow the same optional approval workflow as bills, keeping creator, approver, and payer responsibilities clearly separated.
Step 5: Complete the payment
After approval, the payer funds the payroll batch and it is paid on the scheduled date in one streamlined payrun.
Funding payments
You can fund payments in three ways, with no preloading or balance required:
Open Banking – a fast, secure way to pay directly from your bank account
Bank transfer – manually transfer the funds from your online banking
Card – use a debit or credit card. If a supplier doesn't accept cards, you can still use your card through Apron since we convert your card payment into a standard bank transfer
Once a payment is funded, we distribute the funds to each of your recipients via secure bank transfers.
Learn more about how we protect your money: Apron's role in holding funds.
Payment approvals
Apron gives you the ability to separate duties if you have multiple people involved in your payments process. We’ll notify each individual with email notifications if it’s their turn to take action. The three permission sets are:
Creator: Can create payments (selects bills or uploads the payroll file)
Approver: Can review payments, but doesn’t pay
Payer (final authoriser): Can complete payments, authorise and send funds
For setup details, check: Set up payment approvals.
When the payments arrive
Once we receive your funds, here's when the money arrives in your recipients' accounts:
UK transfers (GBP) – Usually arrive in minutes, can take up to 1 day
International transfers – Most arrive on the same day or the next day, but some can take up to 5 days, depending on the currency
Pay by card – Arrive the next working day around 2 PM (card payments can't be completed on weekends or bank holidays)
For detailed international payment timings, cut-off times, and supported currencies, see: Make international payments.
For payroll payment timings, see: Make payroll payments.
If we need to verify any payment details, we'll reach out quickly to keep things moving smoothly.