Bills

A bill is what a vendor charges you: goods you buy to sell, rent, utilities, repairs, supplies. One bill can mix lines: inventory for resale on one line, a delivery charge on another. The Windows app spread such a bill over the purchases, operating expenses and other expenses screens; here it is one bill.

Menu	Purchases > Bills
Permission	View bills, vendor balances and 1099 totals (to see them); Enter bills and pay vendors (to enter and change them)
Feature	Purchases & payables

Can't find it?

What you see depends on your role. If the menu, a button or a setting on this page is missing, ask your administrator to give you the permission listed above or to turn on the feature. Only administrators can turn features on and change site settings.

Enter a bill

1. Open Purchases > Bills and select New bill.
2. Choose the Vendor. Vendors of categories listed on the purchases or expense screens are offered; add vendors under Contacts > Vendors.
3. Enter the Date and choose how it was Paid with. Choose On account when you will pay the vendor later: the bill is then owed to the vendor. When you start a bill from a vendor, the method you used most on its last bills is chosen for you.
4. Optionally enter the vendor's Invoice number, a Description, and check Ask your accountant to flag the bill for review.
5. On each line, choose what it is For:
   • a Purchases category (a sales category used on purchases) for goods you buy to sell;
   • an Expenses and assets account for everything else, such as rent or a cash register.
6. Enter the Amount, and optionally the Month an expense belongs to and a Line memo. A negative amount is a return or a credit.
7. Select Save and post.

The grid works like the other line editors: Enter on the last line adds one, Ctrl+Delete removes the current one, and the Total updates as you type.

Possible duplicates

When a bill from the same vendor with the same date and total already exists, the page says so and the button becomes Save anyway. Check that the bill is not entered twice; select Save anyway to keep both.

The bill list

Purchases > Bills lists the bills and vendor payments of a date range (the current month by default). Choose the Dates and optionally a Vendor, and select Show. The Owed column shows what each bill on account adds to what you owe, and what each payment takes off. Select Edit to change one; saving posts it again. Delete removes it and reverses its entry; neither works in a closed period.

What is posted

Line	Debit	Credit
A purchase category line	The category's account (Purchases by default)
An expense or asset line	That account
The bill total		The payment method's account (Undeposited Funds by default), or Accounts Payable when on account

Negative lines take the other side.

Message	What to do
Choose what each line is for.	Choose a category or an account on every line with an amount.
A line's category or account cannot take a bill.	Choose a purchase category, or an expense, cost or fixed-asset account.
Enter an amount.	The lines must not add up to zero.

To keep the vendor's invoice with the bill, attach it under the saved bill: see Attachments.

See also Vendor payments and 1099 totals.