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The ABCs of BAI Files

July 14, 2021

As reporting systems become more complex and companies continue to closely monitor their cash positions, differences in data formats and files can be problematic. Therefore, cash management banks offer automated balance reporting services in order to have a common format for exchanging data. Below are descriptions of the record codes from bai.org to help you better understand the file:

Record Code Record Name Definition Why Do We Think It’s Important?
01 File Header Beginning of a file which identifies sender and receiver of transmission and describes the structure of the file. The 01 record provides important details about what’s included in the file.
02 Group Header Identifies a group of accounts from the same originator and includes same as-of-date and as-of-time. The 02 record provides additional information about what’s included in the file.
03 Account Identifier and Summary/Status Identifies the account number and status information. The 03 record identifies which bank account the following data belongs to. Note, every 03 record signifies a new bank account and there can be many 03 records in the file.
16 Transaction Detail This may include two reference numbers and a free-form alphanumeric text. The 16 record represents a new bank transaction.
88 Continuation This is used when data exceeds the maximum physical record length or if it’s desirable to continue data into an additional record. The 88 record provides additional bank information. This is very helpful in matching it to patient accounting system data (for example, check EFT number).
49 Account Trailer Account control totals. The 49 record sums up the total amount for the bank account listed in the previous 03 record.
98 Group Trailer Group control totals. The 98 record sums up the total amount for the group.
99 File Trailer File control totals. The 99 record sums up the total amount for the file.

Information was sourced from: bai.org