Buy: vendors, orders, bills and payments

The big picture#

Buying something follows a short story. Each step has its own page in Hubtoll:

1. Ask. Someone says "we need this". That is a requisition.
2. Order. You promise a vendor you will buy. That is a purchase order.
3. Receive. The goods arrive. That is a goods receipt.
4. Be billed. The vendor sends you a bill. You record it as a bill.
5. Pay. You pay the vendor. That is a payment made.

If something goes wrong, there is a sixth step: a vendor credit, which is money the vendor owes back to you.

You do not have to use every step. A small shop might only record bills and payments. A bigger company might use all five. Use the steps that fit how you work.

Two things matter for your books:

• Requisitions and purchase orders never touch the ledger. They are plans. Only a posted bill puts what you owe into your accounts. The one other step that moves your books is a goods receipt for stocked goods. See Stock and inventory.
• Nothing is edited after it is posted. To fix a posted document you reverse it (void it) or raise a credit.

Where everything lives#

Open Sales and Finance›Payables & Bills in the left menu. You will see:

Requisitions, purchase orders, bills, payments, vendor credits, vendors, goods receipts and stock adjustments each open into a small menu with an Overview, the list and a Forge Workflow.

With an approval chain in place:

• A purchase order, vendor credit, goods receipt or stock adjustment waits for approval when you issue or post it, and changes nothing until it is approved.
• A payment is saved as Pending Approval and pays nothing until it is approved.
• A new vendor waits for approval and cannot be used on a document until it is approved. Edits to an existing vendor apply at once.

A waiting row shows Awaiting approval, and the approver finds it under the Awaiting Me tab of that list. In a workflow's Condition step, the field How the purchase order was created (each type has its own) tells Created by hand apart from Created automatically (for example a purchase order raised from an approved requisition).

Add a vendor#

You must add a vendor before you can raise anything against them.

1. Open Sales and Finance›Payables & Bills›Vendors and click Add vendor.
2. Type the Vendor name. You can also add a Display name (optional), Email, Phone and Tax ID (TIN).
3. Pick the Tax treatment: Registered, Exempt, Zero-rated or Export.
4. In Currencies (optional), choose the currencies this vendor bills you in. The first one is their default. Your base currency is always allowed. See Currencies and exchange rates.
5. Choose the Payables account (a bill credits this). This is the ledger account that holds what you owe this vendor.
6. Type Payment terms (days). This is how many days after the bill date you must pay. Leave it empty for "due on receipt".
7. Click Add vendor.

Here are the extra settings and what they do:

• Payment terms. A new bill's due date starts as the bill date plus these days. You can still change the due date on the bill.
• Withholding tax applies to this vendor and Default WHT type. Withholding tax (WHT) is tax you keep back from a payment and pay to the tax office for your vendor. If you switch this on, pick a type such as Services (5%) or Rent (10%). See VAT and withholding tax.
• Credit limit (optional) and Billing address (optional) are extra details you can keep on the vendor.
• A warning icon beside Tax ID (TIN) means the number does not look right. It will not stop you from saving.

To stop using a vendor, click the Deactivate icon on their row. You can Reactivate them later. Vendors are never deleted. You deactivate them instead. You cannot start a new purchase order or goods receipt for an inactive vendor: Hubtoll says "The vendor is inactive".

Two vendors cannot share a name. If you try, Hubtoll says "A vendor with this name already exists".

Ask to buy something: requisitions#

A requisition is a request. It does not commit any money. Use it when someone must say yes before you order.

1. Open Sales and Finance›Payables & Bills›Requisitions and click New requisition.
2. Fill in the optional Department (optional), Vendor (optional) and Project (optional). Pick the Requisition date.
3. Add lines. For each line choose an Item or type a Description, then enter Qty and Est. cost.
4. Check the Estimated total, then click Create draft.
5. In the list, click the submit icon on the draft row. It is called Submit for approval when your company has an approval chain, and Submit when it does not.
6. Confirm.

The All requisitions tab shows everything. The Awaiting me tab shows only requisitions waiting for you to decide. A number badge tells you how many.

A draft can be edited or deleted. A submitted one cannot. "Only a draft requisition can be edited" is what Hubtoll says if you try.

Turn an approved requisition into an order#

1. In Requisitions, find a row with the status Approved.
2. Click the Create purchase order icon.
3. In Create Purchase Order, pick the Vendor.
4. Click Create purchase order.

Only an approved requisition can be converted. Hubtoll says "Only an approved requisition can be converted to a purchase order" if it is not.

Your administrator builds the approval steps in Sales and Finance›Payables & Bills›Requisition Forge Workflow. See Approvals and workflows and Forge: approval workflows and emails.

Order from a vendor: purchase orders#

A purchase order records what you promised to buy. It does not post to the ledger.

1. Open Sales and Finance›Payables & Bills›Purchase Orders and click New purchase order.
2. Pick the Vendor, the Order date and the Expected date. Choose a Currency (optional) if it is not your base currency.
3. Add lines: Item, Description, Qty and Unit cost. The optional Budget and Budget item columns tie a line to an approved departmental budget.
4. Check the Committed total, then click Create draft.
5. When you are ready, click the Issue to vendor icon on the draft and confirm.

What you can do with an order:

• Issue to vendor. Gives it a number. Only a draft can be issued, and it needs at least one line.
• Close order. Marks an open order as finished. A closed order no longer appears in the From purchase order (optional) list on a new bill.
• Cancel order. Cannot be undone. A closed order cannot be cancelled.
• Delete draft. Only drafts. "Only a draft purchase order can be deleted".

You can only order from an active vendor. Lines may only be coded to an expense or an asset account.

Record goods arriving#

A goods receipt says "these things arrived". Use it for stocked items: things you count in a store, like boxes of paper. It adds them to your stock and to your books.

1. Open Sales and Finance›Payables & Bills›Goods Receipts and click New goods receipt.
2. Pick the Vendor and the Receipt date. Pick a Location (optional) if you track more than one.
3. Add lines: Item, Qty received and Unit cost.
4. Click Create draft, then click the Post icon on the row and confirm.

Only items marked as stocked can be received. If not, Hubtoll says "Only INVENTORY items can be received into stock".

A posted goods receipt cannot be voided. If you press Void, Hubtoll says: "A posted goods receipt cannot be voided in v1. Record a stock adjustment to correct the stock, or process the vendor bill/credit against it". Use a Stock Adjustment to fix the count.

Record a bill#

A bill is what the vendor charges you. Posting it puts the debt in your books.

1. Open Sales and Finance›Payables & Bills›Bills and click New bill.
2. Pick the Vendor. Type their invoice number in Vendor reference (their invoice no.).
3. Check the Currency. If you ordered first, choose From purchase order (optional) to copy the order's lines and prices.
4. Set the Bill date and Due date. The due date follows the vendor's payment terms.
5. Fill in the lines. For each line, pick an Item, or type a description and choose an Account. Add Qty, Rate, Discount and Tax.
6. Click Create draft.
7. On the draft row, click Post (or Submit for approval) and confirm.

The Account column#

Every line must say where its cost belongs.

• A line with an item uses the item's own purchase account. The column is called Account (override). Change it only to post somewhere else.
• A free-text line has no item, so the column is Expense account (required). If you skip it, Hubtoll says: "Line 1 has no account to post to. Choose an expense or asset account in the line's Account column."
• A stocked item posts to your Inventory Asset account, not to an expense.

Totals and tax#

You can also enter a Document discount (optional). Tax on a bill is tax you can usually claim back from the tax office (input VAT). Hubtoll keeps it in its own account instead of adding it to your cost. Details are in VAT and withholding tax.

If the bill is in another currency, the exchange rate panel shows the rate. The rate is frozen when you post. See Currencies and exchange rates.

When your company approves bills#

If your administrator has built a Bill Forge Workflow, the Post icon changes to Submit for approval. The bill waits with an hourglass icon. It posts to the ledger only when the last approver says yes. If an approver rejects it, it goes back to Draft. If an approver sends it back to you, open it and use Revise Bill, then submit again.

Approvers use the Awaiting me tab. Whoever the workflow names can approve, even without a Finance permission. See Approvals and workflows.

A bill waiting for approval cannot be voided. Hubtoll says: "A bill awaiting approval cannot be voided. An approver can reject it (back to draft) or redirect it to you".

When a bill is held for match review#

This only happens if your company has switched on the Procurement connection. See Turn the Procurement connection on or off below.

When it is on, Hubtoll compares a bill with its purchase order before posting. It looks for:

• more quantity billed than ordered,
• more quantity billed than received (or nothing received yet),
• a price above the ordered price (by more than the allowed tolerance),
• a bill line that is not on the order,
• another bill from the same vendor with the same Vendor reference.

If something does not match, the bill is not posted. You see:

This bill can't be posted yet: it doesn't match its purchase order. Line 1 bills 10 in total but nothing has been received on PO-000004. A buyer reviews it in Procurement › Match Exceptions (accept the difference, or correct the bill), then the bill can be posted. If your company doesn't check bills against Procurement, an administrator can switch off the Procurement connection in Sales & Finance › Settings.

The first difference is named, and the message tells you how many more there are. A buyer opens Match Exceptions in Procurement, accepts the difference or asks you to fix the bill, and then you post again. Learn how in Supplier invoices and bill matching.

Turn the Procurement connection on or off#

Open Sales and Finance›Finance Settings›Currency & Fiscal Year. Find the card Procurement connection and the switch Connect Procurement to Sales & Finance, then click Save connection.

Only a finance accountant or settings administrator can change the switch. Everyone else sees a lock note. Turn it on only if your company buys through Procurement. See Procurement: how it works.

Void a bill#

On a posted bill, click the Void icon. A void reverses the ledger entry. Some bills cannot be voided:

• A bill with payments. "Reverse the payments before voiding this bill (a paid bill cannot be voided)". Open Payments Made and use Void payment first.
• A bill with stocked items. "A posted bill with inventory lines cannot be voided. Raise a vendor credit or a stock adjustment to correct the stock and the ledger together".
• A draft. "Delete the draft instead of voiding it".

Things that go wrong with bills#

• "A bill total must be greater than zero". Check the quantities and rates.
• "A bill needs at least one line". Add a line.
• "The fiscal period ... is locked. Post a correction into an open period instead." The bill date falls in a locked period. Pick a date in an open period, or ask your accountant. See Reports and closing the year.
• "The fiscal period is soft-closed; only an accountant can post into it." Ask an accountant to post it.
• "The fiscal year for ... is closed. Reopen it before posting into it". The whole year has been closed.
• "The selected tax group does not exist or is deactivated". Pick another tax on the line.

Pay a vendor#

A payment records money leaving your bank and settles one or more bills.

1. Open Sales and Finance›Payables & Bills›Payments Made and click Record payment.
2. Pick the Vendor, the Payment date and the Currency. A payment only settles bills in the same currency.
3. Type the Amount paid.
4. Choose Pay from (bank / cash account, optional) and add a Reference (optional).
5. If you withheld tax, pick a WHT rate (optional, fills the amount) or type WHT withheld from vendor (optional).
6. In Apply to Open Bills, type how much goes to each bill in the Apply column. The lightning-bolt button fills a bill's full balance.
7. Check the Allocated and Prepaid totals at the bottom. Click Record payment.

Cash plus withholding tax#

When you withhold tax, the vendor's bill is cleared by the cash you pay plus the tax you keep back. You pay the cash to the vendor and owe the tax to the tax office.

Withheld tax can only go to bills. It can never become a prepayment. If you try, you see: "The withheld tax must be applied to bills. Only the cash portion of a payment can be prepaid". The modal also warns "Withheld tax must be applied to bills: apply at least ...". A payment with WHT needs an open bill to apply it to.

Prepayments#

If you pay more cash than your open bills, the extra is kept as a Prepaid amount for that vendor. It shows in the Prepaid column. Later, click the Apply prepayment to bills icon on the row to use it against new bills.

Undo a payment#

Two icons undo a payment. Both need the accountant permission:

• Unapply (release on account). Reopens the bills the payment settled. The money becomes prepayment again.
• Void payment. Reverses the cash going out and every application, and puts each bill's balance back. It cannot be undone, and a voided payment cannot be applied again. Hubtoll records the reason as "Voided from the payments list".

Things that go wrong with payments#

• "Applied amount exceeds the balance due on bill ...". Lower that line's amount.
• "Bill ... is in a different currency to this payment". Match the payment currency to the bill.
• "Bill ... is not open for payment". Only posted or part-paid bills can take a payment.
• "A payment amount must be greater than zero".

Vendor credits#

A vendor credit is money a vendor owes you. It might be for returned goods, an overcharge, or goodwill.

1. Open Sales and Finance›Payables & Bills›Vendor Credits and click New vendor credit.
2. Pick the Vendor, Currency and Vendor credit date. Add lines the same way as on a bill.
3. Click Create draft, then click the Issue icon and confirm.

Once issued, you have two choices:

• Apply to bills. Use the credit to reduce what you owe on open bills. Click the Apply to bills icon.
• Refund. The vendor pays you back in cash. Click the Refund icon, enter the Refund amount, and pick Deposit to (bank / cash account, optional). The refund must be between 0.01 and the Available credit.

You can Void a credit only while it is Issued and has not been used. "A vendor credit that's already been applied or refunded can't be voided."

For a stocked item, issuing a vendor credit also takes the goods out of your stock. See Stock and inventory.

See what you owe#

AP aging#

Open Sales and Finance›Payables & Bills›AP Aging. It lists each vendor and splits what you owe into buckets by how late the bills are:

The bottom row adds up every vendor. Amounts are shown in your base currency, using each bill's frozen rate.

Use the As of date to look back in time. Hubtoll rebuilds the picture using only the payments made up to that date. A normal result is mostly Current and a small amount in 1–30. A big 90+ column means old bills are still unpaid. If every bill is paid, you see "Nothing outstanding. Every posted bill is settled."

Vendor statements#

Open Sales and Finance›Payables & Bills›Vendor Statements. Each row shows one vendor: Opening, Billed, Paid, Closing balance, Last activity and the number of transactions.

Use Filters to pick vendors or set the time window with the period condition. The heading shows the window, for example "Showing ... · NGN". With no window, the list shows all activity so far.

Click a vendor to open their running list. It shows the Opening balance, then every Bill, Payment and credit with a running Balance, then the Closing balance. A bill raises what you owe. A payment lowers it.

Who can do what#

You also need an active Sales and Finance seat. If your seat lapses, you can still read but not change anything. See Seats, plans and subscriptions and the permission reference.

Common questions#

Do I need purchase orders to record a bill?expand_more

No. You can record a bill straight away. Purchase orders are for companies that want to commit spending before the bill arrives.

My bill will not post and mentions Procurement. What do I do?expand_more

Your company has the Procurement connection on, and the bill does not match its order. Ask a buyer to open Match Exceptions in Procurement. Or ask your accountant to switch the connection off if you do not use Procurement. See Supplier invoices and bill matching.

Can I edit a bill after posting?expand_more

No. Void it (if no payments exist) and enter a corrected one. Or raise a vendor credit for the difference.

I paid a vendor too much. Where did the extra go?expand_more

It is a Prepaid amount on the payment. Apply it to the vendor's next bill, or ask the vendor for a refund.

Why can I not pick a currency on a bill or payment?expand_more

You can only use currencies the vendor is set up for, plus your base currency. Open the vendor and add the currency under Currencies (optional). See Currencies and exchange rates.

What is the difference between a requisition and a purchase order?expand_more

A requisition is an internal request that needs approval. A purchase order is a promise to a vendor. An approved requisition can be turned into an order.