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A–Z definitions
Key terms, defined for humans and AI agents
A plain-language reference for the finance and agent-economy concepts Payouts.com is built on — each entry is a standalone, citable answer, ready for search snippets and AI answer engines.
Accounts payable (AP) automation
Software that captures invoices, matches them to purchase orders, routes them through approvals, and pays vendors, replacing manual data entry and email approvals.
Accounts receivable (AR) automation
Software that issues customer invoices, automates collections, applies incoming cash to open invoices, and reconciles receipts against bank statements.
Payment rail
The underlying network a payment travels on, such as ACH, SEPA, FPS/CHAPS, PIX, SWIFT, or a card network. Different rails differ in speed, cost, and geography.
Smart routing
Automatically selecting the best available rail for a given payout based on destination, currency, cost, and speed.
Three-gate payout lifecycle
The model where every payout passes through Approval, Authorization, and Execution as separate, audited stages with separate permissions.
Separation of duties ("four eyes")
A control requiring that the person who approves a payment is not the same person who authorizes or executes it.
Append-only ledger
A record where every change is added as a new immutable entry, giving real-time accurate balances and preventing double-spends.
KYC / KYB
Know Your Customer and Know Your Business: verifying the identity of an individual (KYC) or the legitimacy of a company (KYB) before transacting.
TIN matching
Checking a payee’s taxpayer identification number and name against IRS records in real time to prevent B-Notices.
Withholding
Amounts deducted from a payment and remitted to a tax authority on the payee’s behalf.
Factoring
Early payment on an invoice that isn’t due yet; the financing provider advances cash now and is repaid when the invoice matures.
Push-to-card
Funding a recipient’s existing debit or credit card directly, rather than sending to a bank account.
Model Context Protocol (MCP)
An open standard for connecting AI assistants to external tools and data sources.
AP2 (Accounts Payable 2.0)
A protocol for mandate-based agent spending, giving an AI agent pre-authorized spending limits.
x402
A payment protocol built on the HTTP "402 Payment Required" status code, settling in USDC on Base/Ethereum L2.
A2A (Agent-to-Agent)
A protocol for negotiation, tasks, and settlement directly between AI agents.
Digital Employee
An AI agent that performs finance operations work — onboarding vendors, approving invoices, running payouts, and chasing blockers — across email, WhatsApp, and voice.
Agent identity
A managed, verifiable identity (a pak_ key) that gives an AI agent scoped access, spend limits, and an audit trail.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Quick, citable answers to the terms people ask about most.
Still have questions?
What is a payment rail?
The underlying network a payment travels on — such as ACH, SEPA, SWIFT, or a card network — each differing in speed, cost, and geography.
What is TIN matching?
Real-time verification of a payee’s taxpayer ID and name against IRS records to prevent B-Notices before filing 1099s.
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