ACH Standard Entry Class code

ADV SEC code: Automated Accounting Advice

Accounting advices an ACH Operator sends to a DFI (Service Class Code 280).

What ADV is for

Accounting information about a financial institution’s ACH activity, delivered in ACH format (Service Class Code 280).

Sent by an ACH Operator to a financial institution.

Authorization

An ACH Operator service for its participants; there is no Receiver’s authorization involved.

A summary in general terms: the Nacha Operating Rules set the exact requirements, and Regulation E adds its own for consumer accounts.

Debits, credits and addenda

Debits and credits.

Addenda on a forward entry: none on the forward entry. Returns (addenda type 99) and Notifications of Change (type 98) follow their own layouts whatever the SEC code.

Returns

The general return timeframes apply: 2 banking days after settlement for most codes, with the account-type rules of the entry’s Receiver.

NOC codes and return codes have their own pages.

Common mix-ups

ADV entries are advices to a bank, not payments to or from a company’s customers.

Where ADV sits in a NACHA file

The SEC code is a batch-level field: positions 51–53 of the Company/Batch Header record (type 5), so every entry in the batch shares it, and a file that mixes SEC codes puts them in separate batches. The batch header also carries the Company Name, Company Identification and Company Entry Description that Receivers see on their statements.

To read a ADV batch record by record, open the file in NACHA Navigator, a free sister site that parses NACHA files in your browser without uploading them.

Look up ADV from code or an AI agent

REST · GET · no key

curl -s 'https://payopskit.com/api/v1/codes/ADV?set=ach-sec'

MCP · tools/call · lookup_payment_code

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "lookup_payment_code",
    "arguments": {
      "code": "ADV",
      "set": "ach-sec"
    }
  }
}

Response (JSON)

{
  "code": "ADV",
  "set": "ach-sec",
  "found": true,
  "matches": [
    {
      "set": "ach-sec",
      "code": "ADV",
      "name": "Automated Accounting Advice",
      "description": "Accounting advices an ACH Operator sends to a DFI (Service Class Code 280).",
      "details": {
        "direction": "both",
        "addendaTypes": null,
        "minAddenda": 0,
        "maxAddenda": 0
      }
    }
  ]
}

The MCP server is at /mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key); the API and MCP docs show how to connect Claude, Cursor or VS Code.

Source: Nacha Operating Rules, Appendix Three (Standard Entry Class codes). The code’s name is the Rules’ own; the rest is this site’s plain-language summary, informational and not a substitute for the Rules or your ODFI agreement.