diff --git a/src/clj/auto_ap/ssr/components/multi_modal.clj b/src/clj/auto_ap/ssr/components/multi_modal.clj
index 898343bb..cb3b03bd 100644
--- a/src/clj/auto_ap/ssr/components/multi_modal.clj
+++ b/src/clj/auto_ap/ssr/components/multi_modal.clj
@@ -138,6 +138,33 @@
   [:div.space-y-1 {}
    children])
 
+(defn flatten-form-errors
+  "Walks a malli-humanized error structure and returns a flat sequence of
+   human-readable strings, prefixing each leaf message with the nearest
+   field name for context. Lets the footer's error bar surface every
+   validation error for the whole form, even ones whose field lives on a
+   hidden step/tab and so would otherwise be invisible."
+  ([errors] (flatten-form-errors nil errors))
+  ([field errors]
+   (let [label (cond (keyword? field) (name field)
+                     (string? field) field
+                     :else nil)
+         decorate (fn [msg] (if label (str label ": " msg) msg))]
+     (cond
+       (map? errors)
+       (mapcat (fn [[k v]] (flatten-form-errors k v)) errors)
+
+       (and (sequential? errors) (every? string? errors))
+       (map decorate errors)
+
+       (sequential? errors)
+       (mapcat #(flatten-form-errors field %) errors)
+
+       (string? errors)
+       [(decorate errors)]
+
+       :else nil))))
+
 (defn default-step-footer [linear-wizard step & {:keys [validation-route
                                                         discard-button
                                                         next-button
@@ -146,7 +173,8 @@
    [:div.flex.items-baseline.gap-x-4
     (let [step-errors (:step-params fc/*form-errors*)]
       (com/form-errors {:errors (or (:errors step-errors)
-                                    (when (sequential? step-errors) step-errors))}))
+                                    (when (sequential? step-errors) step-errors)
+                                    (seq (distinct (flatten-form-errors step-errors))))}))
     (when (not= (first (steps linear-wizard))
                 (step-key step))
       (when validation-route
diff --git a/src/clj/auto_ap/ssr/transaction/edit.clj b/src/clj/auto_ap/ssr/transaction/edit.clj
index 7dec5a09..8c9c52e0 100644
--- a/src/clj/auto_ap/ssr/transaction/edit.clj
+++ b/src/clj/auto_ap/ssr/transaction/edit.clj
@@ -72,6 +72,27 @@
       (or (not= approval-status :transaction-approval-status/approved)
           (seq accounts)))]])
 
+(def account-coding-schema
+  "Validation for manually-coded transaction account rows. Applied only for
+   the :manual action: link / apply-rule actions build their own accounts
+   server-side, so the (often blank) account row carried along by the manual
+   tab must not be required when one of those actions is submitted."
+  [:maybe
+   [:vector {:coerce? true}
+    [:and
+     [:map
+      [:db/id {:optional true} [:maybe [:or temp-id entity-id]]]
+      [:transaction-account/account [:and entity-id
+                                     [:fn {:error/message "Not an allowed account."}
+                                      #(check-allowance % :account/default-allowance)]]]
+      [:transaction-account/location :string]
+      [:transaction-account/amount :double]]
+     [:fn {:error/fn (fn [r x] (:type r))
+           :error/path [:transaction-account/location]}
+      (fn [iea]
+        (check-location-belongs (:transaction-account/location iea)
+                                (:transaction-account/account iea)))]]]])
+
 (def edit-form-schema
   (mc/schema
    [:and
@@ -81,23 +102,7 @@
      [:transaction/memo {:optional true} [:maybe [:string {:decode/string strip}]]]
      [:transaction/vendor {:optional true} [:maybe entity-id]]
      [:transaction/approval-status {:optional true} [:maybe (ref->enum-schema "transaction-approval-status")]]
-     [:amount-mode {:optional true} [:maybe [:enum "$" "%"]]]
-     [:transaction/accounts {:optional true}
-      [:maybe
-       [:vector {:coerce? true}
-        [:and
-         [:map
-          [:db/id {:optional true} [:maybe [:or temp-id entity-id]]]
-          [:transaction-account/account [:and entity-id
-                                         [:fn {:error/message "Not an allowed account."}
-                                          #(check-allowance % :account/default-allowance)]]]
-          [:transaction-account/location :string]
-          [:transaction-account/amount :double]]
-         [:fn {:error/fn (fn [r x] (:type r))
-               :error/path [:transaction-account/location]}
-          (fn [iea]
-            (check-location-belongs (:transaction-account/location iea)
-                                    (:transaction-account/account iea)))]]]]]]
+     [:amount-mode {:optional true} [:maybe [:enum "$" "%"]]]]
     [:multi {:dispatch :action}
      [:apply-rule [:map
                    [:rule-id {:optional true} [:maybe entity-id]]]]
@@ -110,7 +115,8 @@
                               [:autopay-invoice-ids {:decode/string (fn [x] (edn/read-string x))} [:vector {:coerce? true} entity-id]]]]
      [:link-payment [:map
                      [:payment-id entity-id]]]
-     [:manual (require-approval [:map])]]]))
+     [:manual (require-approval [:map
+                                 [:transaction/accounts {:optional true} account-coding-schema]])]]]))
 
 (defn clientize-vendor [{:vendor/keys [terms-overrides automatically-paid-when-due default-account account-overrides] :as vendor} client-id]
   (if (nil? vendor)