Does a later version of Lawson (8.1.x, 9.0.x, etc.) automate the dates on these two programs? If not, is this in process or is there another way?

Don't know about 9.x but on 8.1, you still have to enter the payment-date for PR140 and the Starting Payment / Staring Receipt # on PR160.

I have seen third-party utilities that dump the GEN tables, update them and reload so the parameters are updated automatically.

You could potentially customize pR140 and PR160 to determine the date and the check/receipt#.

Or you could develop a 4GL routine to update the jobs with the new parameters each time.