Vendor bills and accounts payable

Vendor Bills at /vendor-bills are the canonical accounts payable documents. They can originate from manual entry, the inbound email alias, PDF upload, EDI, or a purchase order.

#Access and permissions

Reading requires the Vendor Bills module. Creating, editing, posting, resetting, registering payment, moving to Trash, and restoring require exact SUPER_ADMIN or MANAGER access.

#Create a manual bill

1. Open /vendor-bills/new.
2. Choose a vendor contact.
3. Enter the supplier reference, bill date, accounting date, due date, payment terms, currency, and optional bank details.
4. Add bill lines with product or description, quantity, unit price, tax rate, and expense or payable account where configured.
5. Save the Draft.

The create page also exposes the workspace inbound email alias and PDF capture paths when configured. Digitized fields should always be reviewed before posting.

#Create from a purchase order

Open /procurement/purchase-orders/[id] and use the Bill tab or bill action. The Purchase Order source link is retained. Bill quantity follows the purchase and receipt policy implemented for the order, and a three way match result is stored where applicable.

Both Purchase (which works with Inventory) and Vendor Bills must be enabled for this cross module action.

#Post and pay

The Vendor Bill lifecycle is Draft, Posted, and Paid.

1. Review the Draft and select Confirm & post. Posting assigns the sequence and creates the accounting effect.
2. A Posted bill with no payments can be reset to Draft when correction is allowed.
3. Select Register payment for a Posted bill. Enter the amount, method, and reference.
4. For a partial payment, choose whether to keep the remainder open or write it off and mark the bill paid.

Retrying the same failed payment attempt is safe because the action uses an idempotency key. Do not create a second payment while the first attempt is still uncertain.

#Approval rules

A workspace can have an approval rule for vendor bills and for bill payments, for example for amounts above a limit. When a rule applies, posting the bill or registering its payment needs an approver, and the message names the rule and the role that may do it.

• The people who made the document cannot approve it. For a bill, that is whoever created or edited the draft. For a payment, it is whoever created the bill, or posted it when the bill arrived by email. Another approver has to post or pay it.
• Creating and posting a bill in one step counts as making it, so save the bill as a draft and let another approver post it.
• If the only other approvers are also people who made the document, or there is no other approver, you may approve your own document, and the activity log records a self approval.
• If the rules cannot be read, nothing is posted. Try again in a moment.

#Aged payable

Open /reports/finance/aged-payable from the Vendor Bills toolbar. The report uses posted open bills and their due dates. A Draft does not represent an established payable.

#Trash and restore

Eligible bills move to /vendor-bills/trash. A posted or paid bill may restrict destructive actions to preserve accounting integrity. Use the supported lifecycle correction rather than forcing deletion.

#Common problems