Bills and suppliers

A bill is not an expense

The difference matters, and it decides which screen to use:

• Money out is for money already spent — you bought fuel, you have the receipt. One screen, one amount, done.
• Bills are for money you owe but have not paid yet. A supplier sent you an invoice with terms on it, and you want it on the ageing report until it is settled.

If you paid on the spot, use Money out. If somebody is waiting to be paid, enter a bill.

Entering one

Bills → Enter a bill. Choose the supplier or add one as you go, put in their reference, the date and when it is due, and the lines.

Each line goes to an account, and that choice is the one worth a second of thought:

• An expense account for anything consumed — materials, fuel, software, rent.
• Stock for goods you are going to resell.
• Equipment and vehicles for something the business now owns. A van is not an expense; it is an asset, and coding it as an expense makes a profitable year look like a loss.

Approving freezes it

A draft bill can be changed or thrown away and never touches the books. Approving it copies the supplier's details and the tax rates onto the bill and posts it — the same rule as finishing an invoice, for the same reason: changing a rate next year must not rewrite last year's purchase ledger.

Made a mistake? Unlock it, correct it, approve it again. An approved bill that turned out to be wrong altogether is cancelled rather than deleted, and the cancellation is a posting of its own.

Paying it

Open the bill and record what you paid and which account it came out of. Part payments are fine — the bill stays open for the remainder and shows what is left. Paying it in full closes it and takes it off the ageing report.

Tax on what you buy

Tax you paid a supplier is tracked separately from tax you charged your customers, and the tax position report shows the net: what you collected, what you paid, and the difference to hand over. When the figure goes the other way it says To claim back rather than showing a minus sign and leaving you to work out what it means.

Suppliers

Each supplier keeps their contact details, their payment terms and the account their bills usually go to, so the next bill fills itself in. Their page shows what is outstanding with them and what you have spent with them all told.

Purchase orders

Bills and suppliers are in Simple mode. Purchase orders are one of the screens Pro mode adds — Settings → How much of it you see.

For when you order first and are billed later. Write the order, mark it as sent, and mark it arrived when the goods turn up. When the supplier's invoice comes, one button turns the order into a bill with the lines already on it, so nothing is retyped and nothing is ordered twice by accident.