A bill is what you owe a supplier. In Seedflow, bills are purchase invoices under Purchases → Bills. You need a supplier and at least one line to finalize. You do not need a requisition or purchase order first.
Purchases in the sidebar usually lands on Bills. Switch tabs if you are on Requisitions or Purchase Orders.
How to open it
| Step | Click |
|---|---|
| 1 | Purchases |
| 2 | Bills |
| 3 | New Bill |
Have a supplier and something to record. You can Add a supplier from the bill picker. Products are in Products. Suppliers carry a VAT tax profile — unlike customers. Tax rates and Input VAT accounts are in Sales and purchase posting accounts and Customers and suppliers.
What the bill uses
| This | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| Bill number | Settings → Purchases → General (seeded PI-00001) |
| Supplier | Required. Quick-add is enough to save; the VAT profile on the supplier seeds tax on the bill |
| Lines | Pick a product (copies cost and tax) or type a description. Quantity and unit price required |
| Tax | Supplier VAT profile and the product, then this document’s tax price basis and line override |
| Location | Optional. Copies onto the auto-posted journal |
Choose the supplier. Set bill date and due date (both required). Payment terms, reference number, and location are optional. Use Add address & contact, Add notes & terms, and Add attachments only if you need them on the PDF (scan of the supplier invoice, for example).
Add lines. Picking a product fills description, cost, and tax. You can still change quantity, discount, and Override line tax. On VAT workspaces, a taxable line needs a tax type. If you change supplier after lines exist, Seedflow can recompute line tax from the new supplier’s VAT profile — confirm before you keep mixed rates.
Tax on this bill
| Control | What it changes |
|---|---|
| Starts from | The supplier VAT profile (classification, tax type, inclusive), then the product — not Organization → Tax alone |
| Tax price basis | Inclusive or exclusive for the whole bill. Seeded from the supplier |
| Override line tax | This line only. Zero tax means no Input VAT journal line |
You can pull an existing purchase order into the bill (Open or Confirmed). One PO can feed one bill. Requisitions and POs are optional; see Requisitions and purchase orders.
The Save button is a split control. Save keeps a draft. Save & Finalize locks the bill and is what auto-post watches. Sending email does not finalize.
Document status
| Status | What you can do |
|---|---|
| Draft | Edit freely. Lines can be empty. Cannot record a supplier payment. Row menu Cancel marks the draft cancelled (cannot be undone) |
| Finalized | Not editable. Auto-post can create the purchase journal. You can pay, preview, email, or (with rules) void |
| Void | Stopped. No further payments. From the status badge on a finalized bill. You must void related supplier payments first. The bill must already have a posted purchase journal. Voiding the bill does not reverse that journal — reverse or void the journal separately if the books should match |
| Cancelled | Draft that was cancelled. Closed |
Payment status (separate from document status)
| Payment status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Unpaid | Balance still equals the total |
| Partially paid | Some supplier payments allocated; balance remains |
| Paid | Balance is zero. List also has an Overdue filter from the due date |
Auto-post runs when you finalize, not when you save a draft and not when you email. It needs Auto-Post Transactions on and Accrual on Settings → Accounting → General. Cash method does not create a bill journal.
The journal uses Purchase Journal accounts (AP, inventory or expense, Input VAT). Inventory lines debit Inventory Purchases; non-inventory and service lines debit Expense / Service Purchases. A product Configure can override those accounts. Do not also key the same purchase as a manual journal, or the books will double.
If finalize fails to post
| Likely cause | Where to fix it |
|---|---|
| Missing AP, purchase/expense, or Input VAT account | Settings → Purchases → Purchase Journal, or product Configure |
| Closed fiscal period / backdating limit | Settings → Accounting → General |
| Auto-post off or Cash method | No bill journal by design. Post a journal yourself if you need one |
Open Preview from the bill or the list. From there you can download PDF or Excel. Send email is available after the bill is saved (it needs an id). The message goes to the address you type, or to the supplier’s email if you leave it blank. Seedflow creates a share link in that email so they can view or download — emailing does not change draft vs finalized.
Put an email on the supplier if you send often. See Customers and suppliers.
Use Post Payment on the row, Pay Bills on the list, or View Payments → Add Payment when you pay the supplier. That updates the bill balance. Accrual auto-post on the payment uses Disbursements (bank/cash vs AP) — unlike customer receipts, which do not journal yet. Details are in Pay a supplier.
Other guides in Purchases