Bills
The core purchase document. Cost recognized, AP created.
A bill is the formal record of a vendor's invoice in your books. When you save a bill, three things happen at once: cost is recognized in the purchases or expense account (or the value goes into inventory for stock items), recoverable purchase tax is recorded, and accounts payable is created — the vendor becomes a creditor. A draft bill has zero financial impact.
Use Cases
| Use Case | Who | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Record vendor invoice for goods received | Accountant | Vendor bills you for goods — cost recognized, AP created |
| Record service invoice | Accountant | Monthly rent, utilities, consulting fees — direct expense to AP |
| Record with input tax | Accountant | Recoverable purchase tax is recorded on its own account |
| Bill from a PO or GRN | Accountant | Convert the order or the receipt so the documents stay linked |
| Partial payment tracking | Accountant | Pay in installments — bill stays open until balance is zero |
Creating a Bill
Navigate to: Procurement → Bills → New
Header Fields
| Field | Required? | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor | Yes | Searchable select. |
| Date | Yes | Accounting date — determines which period the cost falls in. |
| Payment Terms | Yes | Due on Receipt, Net 15, Net 30 (default), Net 45, Net 60, Net 90. Drives the Due Date. |
| Due Date | Yes | Calculated as Date + terms. Editable. |
| PO Number | No | Optional field (the PO Number pill). Informational — converting from a PO is what creates the link. |
Items Table
Columns: Item, Qty, Rate, Discount, Tax, Amount. Search items by name, SKU or category; a description can be expanded per line. The item's purchase account and tax rate populate from the item record.
Items can be service items (expense recognition only) or stock items (the value goes to the inventory asset account and stock on hand rises).
Optional Fields
Optional fields are added from the Fields menu as pills: Subject, Center/Location, Project, PO Number, Tags, Note, Attachments, Recurring. Center/Location becomes a required header field when center filtering is switched on for your business; Recurring appears only when recurring documents are enabled.
Form Actions
| Button | What It Does |
|---|---|
| Save | Saves and posts the bill. The number becomes permanent (e.g. BIL000041). The menu beside it also offers Save & Print, Save & Duplicate and Save & New. |
| Save as Draft | Saves with a draft number (D-BIL000041). No financial impact. Fully editable. |
Bill Detail Page
Header: Document number and status badge (Unpaid / Partly paid / Paid / Voided).
Summary: Subtotal, Tax, Discount, Total, Amount paid, Balance.
Actions on a saved bill:
| Action | What It Does |
|---|---|
| Record Payment | The primary button while a balance remains. Opens a payment voucher pre-linked to this bill with the balance as the amount. |
| Download | PDF, Excel, or Customize PDF… |
| More → Update | Available while the bill is Unpaid or Partly paid. Voids this bill and creates a replacement with a new number — you confirm before it happens. |
| More → Share / Print | Share the bill by email or as a link, or print it. |
| More → New / Duplicate | Start a blank bill, or a new bill pre-filled from this one. |
| More → Convert to → Record Payment | Same as the primary button. |
| More → Write Off as Bad Debt | Clears the remaining balance you will never pay. On a bill this posts DR Accounts Payable, CR Other Income — a creditor written back, not an expense. |
| More → Void Document | Retires the bill and its journal. Status becomes Voided; a voided bill can be restored. |
A debit note against the bill is raised from the Lifecycle panel: Returns stage → Create debit note.
Bill and Inventory
| Account | Debit | Credit | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purchases / expense account | 10,000.00 | — | Net cost recognized in the period |
| Purchases tax (recoverable) | 750.00 | — | Tax paid to vendor — recorded on its own account |
| Accounts Payable | — | 10,750.00 | Full amount owed to the vendor |
| Account | Debit | Credit | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inventory asset | 10,000.00 | — | Stock received at cost — increases inventory value |
| Purchases tax (recoverable) | 750.00 | — | Tax paid to vendor |
| Accounts Payable | — | 10,750.00 | Full amount owed to the vendor |
Service items produce only the cost entry — no inventory impact. Stock items debit the inventory asset account; if the item has its own expense account configured, that account is used instead of the default Purchases account.
Bills from a GRN
When goods were received on a GRN before the bill arrived, the GRN already put the quantity into stock on hand. The GRN posts no ledger entry. Converting the GRN to a bill and saving it posts the cost and the payable — and the bill does not add the stock a second time.
Stock on hand rises by the received quantity. Nothing in the ledger. GRN status: Open.
DR Inventory asset (or expense), DR Purchases tax, CR Accounts Payable. GRN status: Matched.
Until the bill exists, an Open GRN is your signal that goods are on the shelf with no cost or liability recorded yet. See Received, not yet billed.
Piecemeal Payment on a Bill
Bills support partial payments. The status updates automatically based on how much has been paid.
Bill for 20,000 is saved. Status: Unpaid. Balance: 20,000.
Payment voucher of 8,000 allocated to the bill. Status changes to Partly paid. Balance: 12,000.
Payment voucher of 12,000 allocated. Status changes to Paid. Balance: 0. AP fully settled.
Each voucher posts its own journal: DR Accounts Payable, CR Bank / Cash. The vouchers applied to a bill are listed in its Lifecycle panel under Payments.
Bill Status Reference
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Draft | Work in progress. No financial impact. Draft number D-BIL…. Fully editable. |
| Unpaid | Saved and posted. Cost recognized. AP created. No payment applied yet. |
| Partly paid | One or more payments applied. Balance is greater than zero. |
| Paid | Fully paid. Balance = zero. AP obligation settled. |
| Voided | Reversed. The journal is retired. Document remains in the audit trail. |
To correct a saved bill, use More → Update: the original is voided and a replacement with a new number is created in one step. A voided bill can be restored from the same menu. Do not re-key a correction as a second bill.
Related
- Every field on the form, one by one: Creating a bill.
- Correcting or reversing a posted bill: Editing and voiding a bill.
- Clearing a balance you will never pay: Writing off a bill.
- The chain behind the bill, and its variances: Tracking a bill — the Lifecycle panel.
- Billing goods that have already arrived: Billing a goods received note.
- Sending it out, or printing it: Sharing a purchase document.