Workday: Intercompany Check Payee Name Not Printing — Diagnosis and Resolution

Category: Workday · Accounts Payable · Intercompany · Check Printing Applies To: Canadian intercompany entities (994 / Urgo Hotels Canada, ULC); potentially any intercompany entity paying via check Last Updated: June 2026 Contributors: Matt Hockenbrock, Pamela Lee, Michele Steuber

Summary

Intercompany checks can generate and print structurally — correct amounts, correct layout, correct remittance stubs — but with a blank payee line. This happens when the supplier-level payment configuration allows checks, but the underlying settlement bank account on the receiving intercompany entity is not configured for check payments. The check print template (BIRT or custom report) resolves the payee name through the settlement bank account path, and if that account doesn't recognize itself as a check-capable account, the payee name field returns empty.

This is not a check generation problem. It is a name resolution problem at the template/report layer.

How Workday Check Printing Resolves Payee Names

Understanding this issue requires understanding the layered architecture Workday uses when generating and printing intercompany checks. There are three distinct layers involved, and the payee name resolution depends on all three being correctly configured.

Layer 1: Supplier Record (LE90994 Urgo Hotels Canada, ULC)

The supplier record is the master entity representing the intercompany payee. Under Overview → Payment Details, the supplier has an Accepted Payment Types field. This field controls which payment methods the system will allow when creating payments to this supplier. If Check/Cheque appears here, Workday's payment engine will permit check creation during a payment run.

This is the gate that determines whether a check can be created. It does not control what information appears on the printed check.

Layer 2: Settlement Bank Account (Bank of Montreal ****8770)

The settlement bank account sits under Overview → Settlement Bank Accounts on the supplier record. This is the actual banking relationship — the account number, institution, branch, and routing details. Each settlement bank account has its own Payment Types field and Account Nickname field.

This is the layer the check print template references when resolving the payee name. The template reaches into the settlement bank account to pull name and account information for the printed check. If the settlement bank account's Payment Types field does not include Check/Cheque, the template treats it as a non-check account and returns no check-specific name data.

Layer 3: Check Print Template (BIRT / Custom Report)

The check layout is defined by a BIRT report definition or a custom report, assigned to the company through Payment Print Rules. The template uses a data source that includes a Business Object reference to the payment and its associated settlement details. The payee name field in the template resolves through the payment's settlement path — meaning it follows the chain from Payment → Settlement Run → Settlement Bank Account → Name fields.

Until a valid settlement completes against a check-capable bank account, the payment-side Business Object for the template has no populated remittance or payee information. The template renders the layout correctly (amounts, dates, stub details) because those come from the payment and invoice records directly, but the payee name comes from the settlement/bank account path and arrives blank.

The Specific Failure Mode

Here is exactly what happens when this misconfiguration is present:

1. An intercompany payment run is initiated for company 994 (or any affected company).
2. Workday checks the supplier-level Accepted Payment Types and sees Check/Cheque is listed. The payment engine creates the check payment.
3. The settlement run executes. The settlement bank account on the supplier (Bank of Montreal ****8770) has Payment Types set to EFT only — but the settlement still processes because the payment was already created as a check.
4. The check print template fires. It follows the settlement path to resolve payee information. The bank account doesn't have Check/Cheque in its Payment Types, so check-specific fields (Account Nickname, any check name override) are either absent or not populated.
5. The check prints with a blank payee line. Everything else on the check — amounts, invoice stubs, dates, remittance details — prints correctly because those fields come from different data paths.

Why Alternate Names Don't Fix This

Workday's Alternate Names feature on the supplier record allows you to assign different display names for different contexts. However, the check print template does not pull from the Alternate Names field — it pulls from the settlement bank account path. Additionally, check templates historically have had character-width constraints that prevent alternate names from rendering properly even when mapped. Assigning an alternate name to the supplier will not resolve a blank payee on the printed check if the root cause is the settlement bank account configuration.

Resolution Steps

Step 1: Locate the Settlement Bank Account

Navigate to the supplier record: LE90994 Urgo Hotels Canada, ULC (Supplier ID 10111698). Go to Overview → Settlement Bank Accounts. Identify the bank account used for the intercompany payments (Bank of Montreal ****8770 in this case).

Step 2: Edit the Settlement Bank Account

Click into the settlement bank account, then click Edit.

• Payment Types: Add Check/Cheque to the existing list (it currently shows only EFT).
• Account Nickname: Populate with the correct payee name — "Urgo Hotels Canada, ULC" — or whatever entity name should appear on the printed check. This is the field the BIRT/custom report template typically uses for the payee line.

Save the changes.

Step 3: Test in Sandbox First

Before applying to production, replicate the fix in Sandbox. Run a test intercompany payment for company 994, let it settle, and print the check. Confirm the payee name renders on the printed check.

Step 4: Apply to Production

Once validated in Sandbox, apply the same settlement bank account edits in Production. Reprint any outstanding checks from the affected payment runs to confirm.

Diagnostic Checklist for Future Occurrences

If checks are printing without a payee name for any company (not just 994), walk through these checkpoints in order:

1. Supplier → Payment Details → Accepted Payment Types: Does Check/Cheque appear? If not, the payment engine shouldn't even be creating checks — investigate why it is.

2. Supplier → Settlement Bank Accounts → Payment Types: Does the specific bank account used for settlement include Check/Cheque? If it only shows EFT (or any non-check type), this is likely the root cause.

3. Settlement Bank Account → Account Nickname: Is this field populated with the correct payee name? If Payment Types includes Check/Cheque but the nickname is empty, the template may still render a blank payee.

4. Payment Print Rules: Which check template (BIRT report definition or custom report) is assigned to the company? Confirm it's the correct one — Canadian companies sometimes use a different template than US companies.

5. BIRT/Custom Report Data Binding: If steps 1–4 are all correct and the payee still prints blank, inspect the template's data source. Identify which field the payee line is bound to (e.g., payeeName, payee/legalName, settlementBankAccount/accountNickname) and confirm the data is present in that specific field.

6. Settlement Timing: If someone views or prints a check before settlement has completed, the payment-side Business Object that feeds the template may not yet have populated remittance info. This is a timing issue, not a configuration issue — the fix is to wait for settlement to complete before printing.

Related Workday Objects and Navigation Paths

Key Takeaway

Workday uses two separate decision points for check payments. The payment engine decides whether to create a check by looking at the supplier-level Accepted Payment Types. The print template decides what name to put on the check by looking at the settlement bank account's check-specific fields. When these two layers are out of sync — supplier says "checks OK" but the bank account says "I'm EFT only" — checks generate successfully but print without a payee name. The fix is always to align the settlement bank account's Payment Types and name fields with the payment method being used.