TREASURY / ELPIS
Obligations
Scheduled commitments the treasury knows about, and how they are funded and paid.
What an obligation is
An obligation is money the treasury has already committed to pay: payroll, a subscription, a tax date. List them and Elpis stops treating committed money as spare — it is excluded from surplus and from what may be invested.
- Obligations raise the minimum the treasury must keep, automatically.
- They can be paid automatically, or require a person every cycle.
- An obligation is its own document anchor: a scheduled payment cites the commitment.
Fields
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
title | Human name, e.g. “Payroll”. |
amount | Amount due each cycle. |
dueDay | Day of month (or period) the commitment falls due. |
frequency | WEEKLY · MONTHLY · QUARTERLY · YEARLY · ONE_TIME. |
recipientName | Payee label; links to a counterparty when known. |
priority | LOW · NORMAL · HIGH · CRITICAL — affects funding order. |
autoPayAllowed | Whether the treasury may pay it without a person. |
approvalRequired | Overrides autopay; always a person. |
Statuses
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| UPCOMING | Due later; funded by plan. |
| FUNDED | The pool holds enough to cover it. |
| AT_RISK | Not enough liquid — recall or funding needed. |
| READY | Due now and payable. |
| STAGED | A payment for it is in escrow. |
| PAID | Settled and verified. |
| OVERDUE | Past due and still unpaid. |
| FAILED | The payment attempt failed; the commitment remains. |
How one gets paid
When an obligation is due, the payment runs the same pipeline as any other — the obligation does not bypass a single control. One thing is specific to this path:
- If the pool’s liquid balance cannot cover it without breaching its reserve, Elpis recalls invested capital first (an R1 internal move), then retries.
- A recalled amount is only what is needed, and the recall is recorded as its own action.
- If the pool cannot cover it even after recall, the obligation goes
AT_RISKand a payment that would breach the floor is blocked.
Paying an obligation still needs a recoverable class unless the pool allows weaker. An irreversible payroll payment above the escrow ceiling is R4 and waits for a person, every cycle.