Purchases
Purchase orders, bills, GRN, payments, expenses, and vendor management.
Purchases is the cash-out engine. It tracks every step from vendor order to cash payment. Purchase orders commit to buying, goods received notes record what arrived, bills recognize cost, and payment vouchers settle the obligation. Each document can be created independently or converted from the previous step.
Your job in Purchases is precise: ensure that every cost is recognized in the right period, every liability is recorded when the obligation arises, and every payment is matched to the bill it settles. Every posted document is a balanced double-entry journal, and a payment can never allocate more to a bill than that bill has outstanding.
Where things are
In the sidebar the module is labelled Procurement. Its entries are Purchase Orders, Goods Received Notes, Bills, Payment vouchers, Debit notes, Expenses and Vendors. Three document types have no entry of their own and are reached as tabs:
| Document | Where to find it |
|---|---|
| Debit Notes | Procurement → Bills → Debit Notes tab |
| Vendor Refund | Procurement → Bills → Vendor Refund tab |
| Payment Advice | Procurement → Payment vouchers → Payment Advice tab |
| Vendor opening balances | Finance → Opening Balances → Vendor tab |
The Three Purchase Cycles
Not every purchase needs a full procurement workflow. Trabalance supports three distinct cycles — use the one that matches the complexity of the transaction.
| Cycle | Documents | Best For | Journal Created By |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quick Expense | Expense only | Small, immediate costs — office supplies, transport, meals, petty cash. No vendor required. | Expense (on save) |
| Standard Procurement | PO → GRN → Bill → Payment | Physical goods, inventory, raw materials, equipment. Three documents to check against each other before you pay. | Bill (cost + AP) + Payment voucher (cash) |
| Direct Bill | Bill → Payment | Services, rent, utilities, subscriptions, professional fees. No goods to receive. | Bill (cost + AP) + Payment voucher (cash) |
The Standard Procurement cycle provides the strongest controls: a purchase order documents the commitment, the GRN records physical receipt and puts the stock on hand, the bill records what the vendor charged, and the payment closes the liability.
What Creates Journals
Not every document in Purchases creates a journal entry. Understanding which documents have financial impact — and when — is essential for accurate books.
| Document | Creates Journal? | Trigger | Entry |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purchase Order | No | Commitment only — no obligation until billed | — |
| Goods Received Note | No | Moves stock on hand only; no ledger entry | — |
| Bill (expense / service items) | Yes | On save | DR Purchases or the item's expense account + DR Purchases tax, CR Accounts Payable |
| Bill (inventory items) | Yes | On save | DR Inventory asset + DR Purchases tax, CR Accounts Payable |
| Expense | Yes | On save | DR expense account (+ DR Purchases tax), CR Bank / Cash — or CR Accounts Payable when Unpaid |
| Payment voucher | Yes | On save | DR Accounts Payable, CR Bank / Cash (CR the WHT account for any tax withheld) |
| Payment Advice | No — not in your books | The vendor confirms it on their side | On the vendor's books: Uncategorized Income → Accounts Receivable |
| Debit Note | Yes | On save | DR Accounts Payable, CR Purchases / expense + CR Purchases tax |
| Vendor Refund | Yes | On save | DR Bank / Cash, CR Accounts Payable |
| Opening balance (vendor) | Yes | On save | DR Opening Balance Equity, CR Accounts Payable |
Posting Strategy Registry
How and when cost hits the ledger depends on the cycle you use. This registry maps each document to its posting event and ledger impact.
| Document | Posting Trigger | Debit Side | Credit Side | AP Impact |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GRN | None | — (stock on hand rises) | — | None — vendor has not yet billed |
| Bill | Save | Inventory asset (stock items) or Purchases / expense account + Purchases tax | Accounts Payable | AP created — vendor is now a creditor |
| Expense | Save | Expense account | Bank / Cash (Paid) or Accounts Payable (Unpaid) | None when Paid; AP created when Unpaid |
| Payment voucher | Save | Accounts Payable | Bank / Cash (+ WHT account) | AP reduced — obligation settled |
| Debit Note | Save | Accounts Payable | Purchases / expense + Purchases tax | AP reduced |
| Vendor Refund | Save | Bank / Cash | Accounts Payable | AP credit cleared |
Document Statuses
| Status | Appears On | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | All documents | Work in progress. No financial impact. Numbered D-… and fully editable. |
| Open | PO, GRN | PO: nothing received or billed yet. GRN: received, not yet billed. |
| Partly fulfilled | PO | Some ordered quantity is on a GRN or bill. Remainder outstanding. |
| Fulfilled | PO | Every ordered quantity is on a GRN or bill. |
| Matched | GRN, Payment voucher | GRN: a bill has been created from it. Payment: fully allocated to bills. |
| Unmatched / Partly matched | Payment voucher | None / some of the cash is allocated to bills. |
| Unpaid | Bill | Saved, no payment applied. Full balance outstanding. |
| Partly paid | Bill | Partial payment applied. Balance remains. |
| Paid | Bill | Fully paid. Balance = zero. |
| Issued | Debit Note, Vendor Refund | Saved and posted. |
| Recorded | Expense | Saved and posted. |
| Unconfirmed | Payment Advice | Sent. Awaiting the vendor's confirmation. |
| Confirmed | Payment Advice | The vendor confirmed it against their bank inflow. |
| Voided | All documents | Reversed. Document remains in the audit trail. |
Purchases Module Topics
Bills
The core purchase document. When saved, a bill recognizes cost (or puts the value into inventory), records recoverable tax and creates accounts payable. Every vendor obligation starts here.
Purchase Orders
A formal commitment to buy from a vendor. No financial impact — no journal, no AP. Tracks what is on order and how much has been fulfilled. Converts to a GRN or a Bill.
Goods Received Notes
Records what was physically received from the vendor and puts it into stock on hand. No ledger entry — the bill created from it carries the cost.
Expenses (Quick Expense)
For small, immediate purchases that don't need a full PO-Bill-Payment cycle. No vendor required. Category-based recording. Ideal for petty cash, transport, and ad hoc costs.
Payment vouchers
Every outgoing payment: DR Accounts Payable, CR Bank. Supports partial allocation, payment on account, withholding tax on the allocation row, and conversion from uncategorised bank withdrawals.
Vendor Management
Create and manage vendor profiles, set payment terms, read the payable and overdue figures, generate vendor statements, and record opening balances for vendors migrated from a prior system.
Debit Notes
Reduces what you owe a vendor. Use for returned goods, vendor overcharges, and price adjustments. Posts DR Accounts Payable, CR Purchases / expense + Purchases tax.
Payment Advice
A notice to the vendor that a payment has been made, allocated to specific bills. It posts nothing in your books; the vendor confirms it against the inflow on their bank feed.
For significant purchases, always use the full PO → GRN → Bill cycle. Trabalance links the three documents and then compares them for you: the PO's Lifecycle panel lists every GRN and bill created from it, states the rate and quantity variances it finds, and computes the PO's status from their quantities. Read the panel before you approve the bill — see Tracking a bill — the Lifecycle panel.
Related
- Start with the shape of the cycle: Purchase cycles.
- The task pages behind each document: Creating a purchase order, Creating a bill, Manual payment.
- Reading a purchase chain end to end: Tracking a bill — the Lifecycle panel.
- Where purchase figures land in the books: Auto-generated journals.