Bills (GL)

Record what you owe a vendor, post it to the ledger and pay it.

Overview

A vendor bill records an amount you owe a supplier. It has a header (vendor, dates, currency, references) and lines (account or product, quantity, price, tax). Debit notes, refunds and expenses use the same screen with a different type.

Posting creates a balanced journal entry (debit expenses or stock, debit tax, credit payables) and locks the bill. Corrections are made with a debit note, never by editing a posted bill.

When to use bills (gl)

A supplier sends you an invoice you need to pay.
You want expenses and input tax in the right accounts and periods.
You need to match a bill to a purchase order and receipt before paying.

Prerequisites

Step by step

In Accounting open Vendors → Accounting → Bills (GL). The list shows bill number, vendor, type, dates, total, amount due and status.
Screenshot for this step has not been captured yet — run npm run docs:flow.

Field reference

Field	Description	Required	Data type	Business meaning
Vendor	The supplier being paid.	Yes	Vendor record	Determines the payable and appears on the vendor statement.
Bill date / Accounting date	Date of the bill and the date it posts.	Bill date: yes	Date	Must fall in an open period; locked periods are refused.
Due date	When payment is due.	Yes	Date	Drives ageing in Aged Payable.
Vendor reference	The supplier’s invoice number.	No	Text	Shown in the list and helps detect duplicates.
Currency / exchange rate	Document currency and its rate to the company currency.	Yes	Currency	Reports use the company-currency amount.
Line: account	The expense, asset or stock account debited.	Yes	Account	Where the cost is recorded.
Line: tax	Tax on the line.	No	Tax template	Posts to the input-tax account.
Logistics shipment (HAWB / MAWB)	Switch on to record air waybill numbers.	No	Toggle and text	Adds the shipment references to the bill.
Payment reference / recipient bank	How and where the vendor will be paid.	No	Text	Carried to the payment.

Lifecycle

DraftPostedPartially paidPaidOverdueCancelled

Only a draft can be edited. A posted bill is corrected with a debit note; cancelling creates a reversing entry and leaves the original posted.

Accounting impact

Bill: debit the expense, stock or asset account and input tax; credit payables.
Debit note: the reverse, reducing what you owe.
Payment: debit payables, credit the bank account; realised exchange differences are posted on settlement.
Posting is refused in a locked period or fiscal-year lock.

Permissions

These permission keys control access (granted to roles in Administration → Roles & Permissions):

accounting.bills.read
accounting.bills.create
accounting.bills.update
accounting.bills.post
accounting.bills.payment

Automation

Pre-built accounting automations are available under Accounting → Automations.

Products

Debit Notes