A bill, or a payment?
Use a bill when a supplier invoiced you and you will pay later. If you paid on the spot and there is no bill, record a Direct payment in Receipts & Payments instead. Entering both would count the purchase twice.
Enter a bill
- Open Purchases › Bills and press New bill.
- Choose the Supplier. The Due date fills from their terms.
- Enter the Issue date from their invoice and the Supplier's document number — their invoice number. This is what duplicate detection checks.
- Leave Bill number blank for your own automatic numbering, and add a Reference if useful.
- Add lines: Item or Description, Account, Quantity, Unit price, Discount % and VAT treatment. Expense accounts are listed first, with Cost of sales at the top.
- Press Save draft, or Review and approve, check the dates and each line’s Chart of Accounts selection in the summary, then confirm approval to post it.
Which account to choose
| What you bought | Account |
|---|---|
| Goods to resell, direct labour, subcontractors | A Cost of sales account (5000, 5100, 5200) |
| Rent, utilities, fees, software, repairs | The matching Operating expense account |
| Equipment the company keeps for years | The asset category's cost account, for example 1520 Computer Equipment — then register the asset (below) |
| A prepayment or deposit | 1300 Prepaid Expenses or 1310 Deposits Paid |
What approving posts
| Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| Account on each line | Line amount before VAT | |
| 1400 Input VAT (Recoverable) | VAT on the lines | |
| 2100 Accounts Payable | Bill total |
Pay a bill
- Open Banking › Receipts & Payments and press + Enter payment.
- Choose Link an existing bill, the supplier, then the bill. Change the amount for a part payment.
- Choose Pay from, the date and method, and save.
This posts: debit Accounts Payable, credit the bank. The cost is not touched again.
When a bill bought equipment
You can say what a line is while you enter the bill, or register it after the bill is approved. Either way the bill posts the cost once, and each asset is linked to the line it came from.
Decide on the bill line
- In the bill's lines, press the Fixed asset button (the box icon) at the end of the line.
- Choose New fixed asset, Add to an existing asset, or Part of the assets' cost.
- For a new asset, choose the Class and How many assets, then fill in any of Name, Asset number, In service, Residual value (each), Method, Convention, Useful life (months), Rate (% a year) (which fills in from the life, and fills the life in when you change it), Serial number, Location, Description and Notes. Anything left blank uses the class's default. Choosing a class also codes the line to that class's cost account.
- For an upgrade or improvement, choose the Asset it adds to and, if you like, What was added.
- Mark a delivery, installation or setup line Part of the assets' cost; it is shared across the new assets on the bill by value.
- Press Apply to line. The line shows what it will do. Not a fixed asset removes the choice.
- Choose Review and approve, check the summary and confirm approval. Approving registers the new assets and records the additions at the same time; if any of it is refused, the bill is not approved and the reason is shown.
An approved bill shows, under each such line, which assets it became (On the register as) or which asset it was Added to. A bill whose lines assets carry cannot be voided until those assets are deleted.
- Or, afterwards: code each item's line to its asset category's cost account. A delivery or installation charge can stay on its usual account. Approve the bill.
- Open the bill and press Register as a fixed asset (Register as fixed assets when several lines qualify) — or open Fixed Assets and press Register beside a line under purchases not yet on the register.
- In Register assets from bill, say what each line is — Assets, Part of the assets' cost or Not now — and how many assets a line holds, then press Register N assets. The bill already posted the cost; the only thing registering posts is moving a charge marked as part of the cost onto the assets. See Fixed Assets and Depreciation.
Working with a bill
The list is newest first. Search finds a bill by its number, the supplier's own number, its reference or the supplier, or by its total; Sort orders by date, amount or number. Debit notes are listed the same way.
- Edit draft before approving; Approve to post a draft.
- Copy — on a row of the list, or inside a bill — opens New bill filled in from it, issued today with the Due date as many days out as the original's. The Supplier's document number is left blank: enter the number on their new invoice, which duplicate detection needs. A line with a Fixed asset choice keeps it, so approving the copy registers new assets like the original's, with their own numbers and no serial numbers; an addition to an existing asset stays an addition to it. Without Manage assets the copy leaves the fixed asset choice out. A line whose asset was registered from the register's queue after approval is copied as an ordinary line. Needs Create purchases. Debit notes copy the same way.
- Delete draft — throw an unapproved bill away. It has no number and nothing has posted, so no reason is asked for; you confirm, and it is gone for good. Needs only Create purchases. It is refused while something still points at the draft — a recurring schedule, a transport work order — and the refusal names what to unpick first.
- Void an approved bill, with Why this is being voided — its entry is reversed and its number kept. An approved bill is never deleted, and the void is listed under Reports › Modification Register.
- Settled by lists the payments and debit notes applied to it, with the Outstanding amount. A balance written off is listed as Written off, and the bill shows Written off and Outstanding after write-off.
- Write off balance — on an approved bill that still owes, knock off a small balance you will not pay, such as a rounding difference the supplier has waived. Enter the Amount to write off, the Date, the account it is Written off to (Rounding Differences to start with, or Other Income) and a Reason, check Balance after write-off, then press Write off. It posts: debit Accounts Payable with the supplier, credit the account chosen. The bill becomes Paid when nothing is left; VAT on it is unchanged. Needs Approve purchases. Reverse beside a write-off, with a reason, owes the balance again; that also needs Edit, delete or reverse what has already posted.
- Tracking — choose the Project and Branch a bill belongs to beside its Reference, and override a line at its foot. See Tracking.
- The supplier credits you — for returned goods or an overcharge — enter their credit as a debit note and apply it to the bill. See Debit Notes.
- A bill from abroad — on Reverse charge (RC) or Import (IMP) — owes the supplier the amount before VAT, and shows the 5% as VAT self-assessed (reverse charge) — not owed to the supplier. Approving posts it to both Input VAT and Output VAT. See Purchases from abroad in VAT and the VAT Return.
- Evidence — attach the paperwork behind it: a PDF, PNG, JPG or WebP file of up to 10 MB, with an optional note saying What it is (optional), then Attach. A posted bill takes evidence like a draft does, because attaching changes nothing on it. Anyone who can read the bill can download its files; attaching and removing need Create purchases. Removing deletes the file, and the Audit Trail keeps its name, size and fingerprint. Its history on the Audit Trail opens every recorded change to this bill.
- Supplier: Emaar Properties, supplier's document number INV-2203, issue date 1 April.
- Line: “April office rent”, account 6100 Rent, AED 10,000, Exempt (commercial rent in this example is treated as exempt — use the treatment on the supplier's invoice).
- Choose Review and approve, check the summary and confirm approval. Later, pay it from Receipts & Payments, linked to the bill.
Approving posts: debit Rent 10,000; credit Accounts Payable 10,000. Paying posts: debit Accounts Payable 10,000; credit Bank 10,000.