When you work in Accounts Payable for a while, you start noticing small problems that slow down the system. One of the most common ones happens when you reverse a bill. After fixing the bill and processing the payment, Acumatica sometimes creates a zero-dollar payment.
Acumatica treats this zero-dollar payment like a real payment.
It shows up in your payment batch, appears in the Process Checks screen, and you can even print a check for $0.00.
It’s technically correct for the system, but it provides no purpose for your business.
Over time, these useless payments jumble your screens, confuse users, and waste time. And because of Acumatica’s caching, the payment may still show up even after you delete it until you refresh the screen again.
It seems like a small issue, but it happens often enough to become an irritation.
The Quick Fix That Solves the Problem
We created an add-on that fixes this automatically. It works in two simple steps:
1. It automatically finds and removes zero-dollar payments.
If a payment is created with $0.00 usually because a bill and its reversal cancel each other the system immediately deletes it.
This means the payment never reaches Process Payments or the check printing stage.
You don’t have to track it down or remove it manually anymore.
2. It keeps the Process Checks screen up to date.
Because Acumatica uses caching, deleted zero-dollar payments may still appear in Process Checks.
Our addon fixes this by refreshing the screen only when you come from Prepare Payments. It refreshes the payment list while keeping all your filters and settings the same.
No manual refresh. No confusion. Just clean data.
Why This Fix Really Helps
Zero-dollar payments don’t lose money, but they do cause:
- Extra time spent deleting them
- Risk of printing $0 checks
- Wasted check paper
- Clutter on processing screens
- Confusing audit lists
- More training for new employees
Our add-on removes all these problems quietly in the background.
How It Works Behind the Scenes
Acumatica stores information about which screen last modified a record. So, when Prepare Payments are used, the payment records include that information.
Our customization checks for this. If it detects activity from Prepare Payments, it knows zero-dollar payments might exist. It then:
- Clears only the payment list cache
- Keeps filters and settings untouched
- Refreshes the screen with correct data
This makes the refreshing fast and invisible to users.
What Changes for the User?
With this addon, zero-dollar payments simply do not appear at the time of printing the check.
Before the fix:
- Payment created → amount is $0
- It appears in Process Checks
- You try not to print a $0 check
- You go back to delete it
- You return to Process Checks
- You refresh manually
After the fix:
- The zero-dollar payment appears for a second and is automatically removed
- When you open Process Checks, it’s already gone
No cleanup. No mistakes. No waste of time.
Performance and Implementation
This customization is very lightweight:
- It does not refresh the screen all the time
- It does not clear user filters
- It does not add extra load to the system
- It only runs when needed
Conclusion
Zero-dollar payments happen because of normal AP corrections. They are not harmful, but they do create unnecessary noise. Acumatica treats them like normal payments, which leads to extra work and possible mistakes.
This customization gives Acumatica the intelligence to ignore these payments automatically without any change to the user workflow.
Users don’t notice anything. They simply stop seeing zero-dollar payments.
It’s a small improvement that makes daily AP work smoother, saves time, and removes unnecessary errors. Sometimes the best upgrades are the quiet ones that make the system behave the way it should.