Payment Methods

FlowForth lets you configure any number of payment methods — each with its own IBAN, BIC, bank name, and EPC QR code settings. One method is marked as the default and is used automatically when you create a new invoice or credit note, but you can override the choice on any individual draft before sending.

This replaces the older single set of banking fields that lived directly on the organization. If you only ever use one bank account, nothing changes in practice — you still have a single Default payment method and your invoices still look the same. The difference is that you can now add a second, third, or fourth account without losing the ability to use the first.

Why Multiple Payment Methods?

Typical reasons to configure more than one payment method:

• Separate accounts per currency — an EUR account for European clients and a USD account for clients billed in US dollars (via separate invoice flows).
• Separate accounts per business unit — different bank accounts for different service lines or subsidiaries that all invoice from the same FlowForth organization.
• Separate accounts per client type — a dedicated account for government contracts, for example, while other clients pay into the primary account.
• Switching banks without losing history — archive the old account when you move to a new bank; historical invoices keep showing the old IBAN on their PDFs.

Before You Begin

You need the Organization Admin role to add, edit, archive, or delete payment methods. Any organization member can see which method is selected on an invoice, but only admins can manage the list. See Understanding User Roles.

Opening the Payment Methods Section

1. Click Settings in the main navigation menu.
2. Select Organization to open the organization settings page.
3. Scroll down to the Payment Methods section.

The section shows all your payment methods — active methods first (with the default highlighted), then archived methods in a collapsible group beneath.

Adding a Payment Method

1. In the Payment Methods section, click Add payment method.

2. Fill in the form:

   Field	Description
   Label (required)	A short, human-readable name — for example, Primary, EUR — KBC, or USD Account. Labels must be unique within your organization.
   IBAN	The International Bank Account Number for this method. Validated against standard IBAN check digits.
   BIC/SWIFT	The Bank Identifier Code. Validated against the BIC format.
   Bank name	Free-text bank name shown on the invoice PDF next to the BIC.
   Enable EPC QR code on invoices	Whether invoice PDFs using this method include an EPC QR code in the payment section. See EPC QR Codes for details.
   Payment reference format	The reference format embedded in the QR code — Unstructured, Belgian OGM/VCS, or European ISO 11649 / RF. Only shown when QR is enabled.
   Set as default	Mark this method as the organization default for new invoices. Selecting this demotes the previous default.

3. Click Save.

tip

When you add your very first payment method, FlowForth automatically marks it as the default — the Set as default checkbox is checked and disabled, because every organization must have one default method.

Editing a Payment Method

1. In the Payment Methods section, find the method you want to change and click Edit.
2. Update any of the fields in the form.
3. Click Save.

note

Editing a payment method changes the details shown on draft invoices that reference it. It does not change sent invoices — those keep the IBAN, BIC, bank name, QR toggle, and reference format that were in effect at the moment they were sent. This protects historical documents from accidental changes and keeps regenerated PDFs identical to the originally delivered ones.

Setting the Default

Exactly one active payment method is always marked as the default. The default is used automatically when:

• You create a new draft invoice without explicitly picking a method.
• You create a credit note without picking a method and the source invoice's method is no longer available.

To change the default:

1. Find the method you want to promote.
2. Click Set as default.

The previous default is demoted automatically in the same operation — you never have two defaults at once, and you never have zero defaults.

Archiving a Payment Method

Archiving hides a method from the picker on new drafts while keeping it available on historical invoices. Use archival when you stop using an account — for example, because you switched banks — but still want past invoices to show the original details.

1. Find the method you want to archive and click Archive.
2. The method moves to the Archived group at the bottom of the list.

Archival rules:

• You cannot archive the default method directly. Promote another active method to default first, then archive the old one.
• You cannot archive the last active method — your organization must always have at least one active method for new invoices to reference.

To bring an archived method back, expand the Archived group and click Unarchive. The method returns to the active list; you can then promote it to default if you wish.

tip

Archival is preferred over deletion. Because past invoices reference the payment method by ID (both live and as a frozen snapshot), the method cannot be hard-deleted once any invoice has used it. Archiving gives you the same effect — the method disappears from new-draft pickers — without breaking historical records.

Picking a Method on a Draft Invoice

When you create or edit a draft invoice or credit note, you'll see a Payment method dropdown near the notes/totals section:

Payment method   [ Primary (BE68 •••• 7034) — Default   ▾ ]
                 QR code: on · Reference: OGM/VCS

• The dropdown lists all active (non-archived) payment methods, sorted with the default first.
• New drafts default to the organization default; you can change the selection before saving.
• The line beneath the dropdown summarises the selected method's QR behaviour so you can confirm it without leaving the page.
• Sent invoices show the frozen payment-method label as read-only text instead of a dropdown. You cannot change the payment method of a sent invoice.

The chosen method determines:

• Which IBAN, BIC, and bank name are printed in the payment section of the invoice PDF.
• Whether an EPC QR code is rendered on the PDF, and if so, which reference format it uses.
• Which banking details are included in the Peppol payment means block when sending electronically.

What Happens When You Send an Invoice

When you send a draft, FlowForth freezes the chosen payment method's details onto the invoice — the same way it freezes the totals and VAT breakdown. Specifically, it captures:

• Label
• IBAN
• BIC
• Bank name
• EPC QR toggle state
• Payment reference format

Regenerating the PDF of a sent invoice later always uses these frozen values, so editing or archiving the source payment method never mutates historical documents.

info

This is the same compliance model that already applies to totals: once an invoice is sent, its values are immutable for EU audit purposes.

What Happens With No Payment Methods

Every invoice and credit note — including drafts — must reference a payment method. If your organization has zero active payment methods:

• Attempting to create a draft invoice or credit note fails with the error "No payment methods configured."
• The payment-method picker on existing drafts shows a red warning instructing you to add one in organization billing settings.

Add a payment method in Settings → Organization → Payment Methods before resuming invoicing.

tip

For organizations that haven't yet configured an IBAN, FlowForth still creates an initial Default payment method automatically — with the Label, QR toggle, and reference format set but the banking fields left blank. Fill in the IBAN and BIC before sending, or sending will fail the same way it did under the old single-IBAN model.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does each payment method need its own QR code setting?

Yes. The Enable EPC QR code on invoices toggle and the Payment reference format radio group live on each payment method, not on the organization. This lets you, for example, enable OGM/VCS on a Belgian account and ISO 11649 / RF on an account used for cross-border EUR invoices.

Can I switch a sent invoice to a different payment method?

No. Sent invoices are frozen for compliance. If you need to correct the bank details on an already-sent invoice, issue a credit note and create a new invoice with the correct payment method.

What happens to in-progress drafts when I archive a method?

Drafts that reference the archived method remain valid — the dropdown still shows the archived method's label (flagged as archived) so you can see what is currently selected. Before sending, switch the draft to an active method; sending with an archived method is rejected.

Can the same label be used across organizations?

Yes — labels are unique per organization. Different organizations can each have a Primary method. Labels are compared case-insensitively within an organization, so Primary and primary count as the same label.

Why can't I delete a payment method?

Historical invoices reference payment methods by ID, and the frozen snapshot on each sent invoice is keyed to that ID. Hard-deleting a method would break the audit trail. Archiving is the supported way to stop using a method — it hides the method from new-draft pickers while keeping past invoices intact.

What's Next?

• EPC QR Codes — How QR codes are rendered on invoice PDFs and how each payment method's QR settings affect them.
• Creating an Invoice — Step-by-step invoice creation, including selecting a payment method.
• Credit Notes — Issuing credit notes, which also use payment methods.
• Organization Settings — Other organization-level settings, including e-invoicing identifiers.