Attestation is an internal approval of vouchers and payments in Catacloud, while bank signing is the signatory rights in the bank agreement – the bank will not release the payment until enough people have signed.
What is attestation?
Attestation is an internal approval process where one or more people must approve a voucher or payment before it can be processed further. It is a control mechanism – not a bank agreement.
In Catacloud, you can set up attestation at two levels:
Voucher attestation – the voucher (e.g. a supplier invoice) must be approved by one or more people before it can be paid.
Payment attestation – the payment itself must be approved in Catacloud before the payment file is sent to the bank.
The two are independent and can be used separately or in combination.
The most important rule
Everyone who has been added to a voucher or payment must approve it. This applies regardless of what is selected under "Fixed attestants". If only one person should approve, send the voucher to only one person.
What is the difference between a bank agreement and Catacloud attestation?
It is important to distinguish between two different setups for payment approval:
The company has a bank agreement defining who has signatory rights – One or two authorised persons must sign the payment for it to be processed.
See the article Sending a payment to the bank.Attestation in Catacloud – An internal control that takes place before the payment leaves Catacloud. The payment file is not sent to the bank until everyone who has been added to the payment has approved it in Catacloud.
Internal attestation and bank signing are two independent layers
With bank integration there are two separate approval layers – these are independent of each other and should not be confused:
1. Internal attestation in Catacloud (under Administration → Bank → Attestation): An internal pre-check that takes place before the payment is sent to the bank. The number of attestants is set and managed in Catacloud.
2. Bank signing: The actual number of signatures required by the bank is fetched automatically from the bank agreement – not from the Catacloud attestation setting. Catacloud reads this when a payment is initiated. To change the number of bank approvals, contact us – it cannot be adjusted directly in Catacloud.
The two layers are independent. You can have internal attestation without bank signing, bank signing without internal attestation, or both combined.
Note: Changes to the number of bank signings only apply to new payments – payments that have already been created retain the number that applied when they were created.
Do you actually need both layers?
Consider whether you actually need both voucher and payment attestation combined. If the goal is "two people must approve before the money leaves the account", bank signing alone is usually sufficient – the bank will not release the payment until the required number of signatures has been met. Enabling payment attestation on top adds an extra manual step (see the article The payment is stuck in Attestation with no attestants – what do I do?) that many do not need.
If you need an additional internal control before the payment reaches the bank – for example, the general manager must approve before accounting sends it – then combining both layers makes sense. Without such a need, it is usually simpler to choose only one layer.
When should you contact us?
Contact support and specify the company, the voucher type or payment in question, and what you have tried, if:
You are unsure whether you should change the bank agreement or set up attestation in Catacloud.
You want to change the number of required bank approvals in the integration.