A payment run review checklist lists the checks a person completes before releasing a batch of payments: totals, payees, bank details, approvals, duplicates, unusual items and cut-off. When an AI agent prepares the run, the checklist also confirms what the agent checked, what it flagged, and that release stays with a named reviewer.
What is the checklist for?
The payment run is the last point where a wrong payment can be stopped cheaply. After release, recovery depends on the recipient's goodwill or a bank's cooperation. The checklist makes the reviewer slow down at exactly the right moment and leaves evidence that they did. It is one of the controls behind AI agents for finance: books you can audit.
An agent can do much of the checking: matching invoices, recalculating totals, spotting duplicates, comparing payees with the supplier master. It should not approve the run, a point argued in whether an AI agent can approve a payment run. The checklist separates the agent's checks from the reviewer's.
When should you use it?
Before every payment run, including urgent one-off runs. Urgent runs are where the checklist is most often skipped, and most needed: pressure to pay quickly is a classic sign of fraud.
For high-value individual payments, use this checklist alongside the high-value payment release checklist, which adds call-back and dual-release steps.
How do you fill in each field?
Agent check records what the agent did and found, with a reference to its output. "Duplicate scan: 0 found across 412 lines" is useful; "checked" is not.
Reviewer check is what the person does independently. Some items, like totals, the reviewer can confirm from the agent's work. Others, like bank details changed since the last run, the reviewer must look at directly.
Exceptions are lines removed or held from the run, with a reason. A run where nothing is ever held probably means the checks are too loose.
Access asks whether the people and agents who touched the run had the right access at the time. This is the payment-run end of an access review; the full review is set out in the AI agent access review checklist.
The payment run review checklist
| No. | Check | Agent check | Reviewer check | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Run total agrees to approved invoices | Recalculates and ties to AP sub-ledger | Confirms tie-out | |
| 2 | Each payment has an approved invoice | Links every line to an approved invoice | Samples lines | |
| 3 | No duplicate payments | Scans by supplier, amount, reference, date | Reviews flagged pairs | |
| 4 | Payee bank details unchanged, or change verified | Lists any detail changed in last 90 days | Confirms each change was verified independently | |
| 5 | New suppliers verified | Lists suppliers paid for the first time | Confirms onboarding checks complete | |
| 6 | Unusual amounts | Flags payments outside supplier's usual range | Reviews each flag | |
| 7 | Payment dates and terms | Checks due dates, flags early payments | Approves any early payment | |
| 8 | Credit notes applied | Matches open credits to suppliers in the run | Confirms netting | |
| 9 | Approvals within delegated limits | Checks approver authority per line | Confirms | |
| 10 | Access was appropriate | Lists who and what touched the run | Confirms no unexpected access | |
| 11 | Exceptions held with reasons | Lists held lines | Agrees each hold | |
| 12 | Release | None | Named releaser(s) release |
A filled example
A hypothetical logistics company's weekly supplier run.
| No. | Agent check | Reviewer check | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 318 lines, total 642,000, ties to AP sub-ledger | Tie-out viewed | Pass |
| 3 | Two invoices from a haulier with the same amount and date, different references | Reviewed: second is a genuine separate delivery | Pass, both paid |
| 4 | One supplier's bank details changed 12 days ago | Checked change log: call-back to known number recorded | Pass |
| 5 | One new supplier | Onboarding checklist complete, director confirmed | Pass |
| 6 | Fuel supplier invoice at three times usual amount | Confirmed with fleet manager: quarterly bulk order | Pass |
| 11 | One line held: invoice lacks PO | Agreed | Held to next run |
| 12 | n/a | Released by AP manager and financial controller | Released |
Check 4 is the one that stops most payment fraud. The agent flagged the change; the reviewer confirmed it had been verified by phone to a number on file, not one supplied with the request.
Questions people ask
How long should a payment run review take?
Long enough to work every flagged item and sample the rest. If the agent's checks are good, that might be twenty minutes for a large run. If reviews are taking two minutes, they are not reviews.
Should the checklist itself be reviewed periodically?
Yes. Revisit it alongside your annual policy review, and whenever a payment fraud attempt is caught or missed. Running the annual policy review with an AI agent covers that cycle.
Can the same person prepare and release the run?
Not if the agent prepared it on their instruction and they configured the agent. Release should sit with someone independent of preparation, whether that preparation was done by a person or an agent.