Creating a Bill
Step-by-step: every field on the bill form, what it does, and when it matters.
A bill is the formal record of a vendor's invoice in your books. You can create a bill from scratch, by converting a Purchase Order, or by converting a Goods Received Note. All three paths arrive at the same form.
Navigate to: Procurement → Bills → New
Header Fields
These fields define the identity and timing of the bill. Vendor, Date and at least one line item are mandatory before you can save in any form.
| Field | Required? | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor | Yes | Searchable select. Type to search by name. |
| Date | Yes | Accounting date — determines which period this cost falls in. Typically the vendor's invoice date. |
| Payment Terms | Yes | Drives the Due Date. Options: Due on Receipt, Net 15, Net 30 (default), Net 45, Net 60, Net 90. |
| Due Date | Yes | Calculated as Date + Payment Terms — a bill dated 1 March with Net 30 falls due on 31 March. You can edit it without changing the terms. |
| Center/Location | Conditional | Shown as a required header field when center filtering is enabled for your business; otherwise available as an optional pill. |
| PO Number | No | Optional pill. Informational — it does not link the bill to a purchase order. Use Convert to → Bill on the PO to create the link. |
Items Table
Each line item records one purchased product or service.
| Column | Details |
|---|---|
| Item | Searchable select — search by name, SKU or category. The purchase account, rate and tax rate populate from the item record. A description can be expanded on each row. |
| Qty | Quantity purchased. For stock items, the quantity is added to stock on hand when the bill is saved (unless the bill was converted from a GRN, which already did). |
| Rate | Unit cost. For stock items this is the purchase cost used in the weighted average cost calculation. |
| Discount | Line-level discount. A document-level discount can be toggled in the totals. |
| Tax | Purchase tax rate applied to this line, from Settings → Taxes. |
| Amount | Calculated line total. Read-only. |
Add as many line items as required. Each line posts to its own account — a bill can span multiple expense accounts in a single document. Currency is changed from the totals area (Change Currency), not from the header.
Optional Fields
Optional fields are added from the Fields menu and appear as pills. Click a pill to expand that section.
| Pill | What It Adds |
|---|---|
| Subject | Free-text subject line — appears on the printed document and in lists. |
| Center/Location | Assign this bill to a branch or location for center-based reporting. |
| Project | Link this cost to a project. Shown only when projects exist. |
| PO Number | Your reference to a purchase order. |
| Tags | Labels for filtering and reporting. Shown only when tags exist. |
| Note | Internal note. Not printed on the vendor-facing document. |
| Attachments | Upload the vendor's original invoice, delivery note or any supporting file (up to 10 MB each). |
| Recurring | Turn this bill into a recurring template. Shown only when recurring documents are enabled for your business. See Recurring Bills. |
Bill Totals
The totals area below the items table shows:
- Subtotal — sum of all line amounts before tax
- Document discount — an optional document-level discount
- Tax — total tax across all lines
- Total — the amount you owe the vendor
The backend calculates all totals. The form displays what the API returns — no client-side calculation.
Form Actions
| Button | What It Does |
|---|---|
| Save | Saves and posts the bill. It receives a permanent number (e.g. BIL000041). Cost is recognized, tax is recorded, AP is created. The menu beside Save also offers Save & Print, Save & Duplicate and Save & New. |
| Save as Draft | Saves with a draft number (e.g. D-BIL000041). No financial impact. No AP. Every field can still be changed. Use this when the bill needs review before it is posted. |
If the bill was created by converting a GRN, the GRN already put the goods into stock. Saving the bill posts the cost and the payable without adding the stock a second time, and the GRN's status becomes Matched.
The bill date determines which accounting period the cost falls in. If you are recording a January bill in February, decide whether to back-date it to January (cost in January) or date it in February (cost in February). This affects your period-end reports, tax filings, and AP aging. There is no automatic correction — the date you enter is the date that counts.
After Saving
The bill detail page shows:
- Document number and status badge (Unpaid)
- Summary: Subtotal, Tax, Total, Amount paid (0.00), Balance (full amount)
- Record Payment as the primary action; Download (PDF, Excel, Customize PDF…); More (Update, Share, Print, New, Duplicate, Convert to, Write Off as Bad Debt, Void Document)
- Lifecycle panel: the PO and GRN it came from, and the payments and debit notes created from it
- Journal entries: the exact debits and credits posted when the bill was saved
Related
- Statuses, the detail page and its actions: Bills.
- When the goods arrived before the invoice: Billing a goods received note.
- Correcting a bill after it is posted: Editing and voiding a bill.
- Automating a bill that repeats: Recurring bills.
- Paying it: Manual payment.