Every EFT payment to a Canadian vendor needs three numbers: a five-digit transit number, a three-digit institution number and an account number of up to twelve digits. If those numbers are wrong or missing, the payment does not go out. So the practical question for anyone paying vendors from Zoho Books is: where should vendor banking details live in Zoho Books so that they are correct, kept in one place and readable by your payment tool?
There are two good answers, and Zefty supports both. By default, Zefty reads the bank account recorded on the vendor's contact in Zoho Books. If your organization prefers, you can instead map three custom fields on the contact, one each for the account, transit and bank (institution) numbers. This guide explains the difference, when to pick each, and how to set them up.
What Zefty needs for each vendor
Whichever storage method you choose, the data Zefty looks for is the same.
| Value | Format | Where it appears in Zefty |
|---|---|---|
| Transit number | 5 digits | Bills table column "Transit", Vendors screen |
| Institution number | 3 digits (e.g. 003 for RBC, 004 for TD, 815 for Desjardins) | Bills table column "Institution" |
| Account number | Up to 12 digits | Bills table column "Account #", Vendors screen |
When all three are present, the vendor is marked Ready to export and its bills can be selected for a payment file. When any is missing, the Vendors screen shows the hint Missing banking information and the vendor's rows in the Bills table are shown in red and cannot be selected. The fix is always the same: correct the data in Zoho Books, then sync.
Zefty never asks you to type vendor banking details into Zefty itself. Zoho Books stays the single source of truth, and the values Zefty stores after a sync are encrypted at rest.
Option 1: the vendor's bank account in Zoho Books (the default)
Zoho Books lets you record bank account details directly on a vendor contact. This is the option Zefty uses unless you tell it otherwise: during each sync, it reads the vendor's bank account information from the contact and fills the transit, institution and account values.
When it fits:
- You are starting fresh and have not built any custom fields.
- Your team already records vendor bank details in the contact's bank account section when onboarding a supplier.
- You want the least configuration possible. There is nothing to map in Zefty.
What to watch:
- Enter the numbers as digits only. Spaces, dashes and letters are the usual reason a synced vendor still shows as missing information.
- Keep the account number at twelve digits or fewer. Longer strings cannot fit the EFT 1464 record.
- If a vendor changes banks, update the bank account in Zoho Books and run Sync with Zoho on the Vendors screen. Do not wait for the nightly sync if you are paying that vendor today.
Option 2: custom fields on the vendor contact
Zoho Books also lets you add custom fields to contacts. Some organizations already store banking numbers this way, often because they started with a spreadsheet that had separate "Transit", "Institution" and "Account" columns and imported them as custom fields. Others prefer custom fields because each number is a separate, clearly labelled value that staff cannot confuse.
Zefty can read these instead of the bank account. In Zoho configuration, under Zoho Books Settings, there are three optional fields:
- Custom Field (Account Number)
- Custom Field (Transit Number)
- Custom Field (Bank Number) — this is the three-digit institution number
Point each one at the matching custom field in Zoho Books and Zefty will use those values on the next sync.
When it fits:
- Your vendor data already lives in custom fields and you do not want to re-enter it.
- You want three separate, explicitly named values rather than one bank account record.
- You use custom fields for other vendor attributes and want banking details managed the same way, with the same permissions.
What to watch:
- All three custom fields must be mapped. A vendor with an account and transit number but no institution number is still not ready to export.
- The same digit-only, length rules apply.
- If the custom fields are renamed or deleted in Zoho Books, the mapping breaks silently until the next sync flags vendors as missing information. Treat the field names as part of your configuration.
How to map custom fields in Zefty
- In Zoho Books, open a vendor contact and confirm the three custom fields exist and contain digits only.
- In Zefty, open Zoho configuration from the Settings navigation.
- Scroll to Zoho Books Settings. Leave Account Paid From as it is; that setting controls which account in your chart of accounts the payment is posted from, not vendor data.
- Fill in Custom Field (Account Number), Custom Field (Transit Number) and Custom Field (Bank Number) with the corresponding Zoho Books custom field references.
- Click Save Configuration.
- Go to Vendors and click Sync with Zoho. Vendors are synced first, then bills. Allow up to fifteen minutes for a large vendor list.
- Check that the vendors you expect now show Ready to export and that the columns on the Bills table are filled.
To go back to the default behaviour, clear the three custom field settings and sync again.
Which should you choose?
| Question | Bank account (default) | Custom fields |
|---|---|---|
| Configuration needed in Zefty | None | Map three fields once |
| Data already in Zoho Books custom fields? | Re-enter into bank account | Use as is |
| Separate, labelled values per number | Combined in one bank account record | Yes, one field each |
| Risk if a field is renamed in Zoho Books | Low | Mapping must be updated |
| Recommended for a new Zoho Books organization | Yes | Only if you have a reason |
Our advice: if you are setting up Zoho Books and Zefty at the same time, use the vendor bank account. If your vendor banking data already exists in custom fields, map them and keep your existing process. Do not maintain both. Two places for the same number is how the wrong number gets paid.
After any change: sync, then verify
Regardless of the method, the verification routine is the same:
- Sync with Zoho from the Vendors or Bills screen.
- Filter the Vendors screen for anything still showing Missing banking information.
- Open the Bills table and confirm no red rows remain for vendors you intend to pay.
- For a new vendor's first payment, consider a run in test mode. The PDF report shows the exact transit, institution and account values placed in the C record, so you can compare them with the void cheque before real money moves.
Key takeaways
- Zefty needs a transit number (5 digits), an institution number (3 digits) and an account number (up to 12 digits) for each vendor.
- By default, Zefty reads these from the vendor's bank account in Zoho Books. No mapping is required.
- If your data lives in custom fields, map the three fields under Zoho Books Settings in Zoho configuration.
- Use one method, not both. Zoho Books remains the single source of truth; Zefty encrypts what it stores.
- After any change, sync and check for "Missing banking information" before generating a file.
Vendor banking details are one part of the sync. To see everything Zefty reads from and writes back to Zoho Books, from bills and custom views to vendor payments, visit the features overview.