Record a supplier payment
A supplier payment records money you pay to a supplier. As with customer payments, Sales Scribe records the money first (Post) and then matches it to the bills it settles (allocate). This lets one payment clear several purchase invoices, and lets a payment sit unmatched until you decide what it pays.
Before you begin
- You need at least one payment method set up, and the amount, date and currency of the payment.
- To allocate the payment, you need one or more Issued purchase invoices with an outstanding balance.
- This is the same post-then-allocate model used for customer payments. See How payments work.
Step 1 — Create the payment
- Go to Payments → Supplier Payments and select New (Create Supplier Payment).
- Set the Payment Date and choose the Payment Method.
- Optionally choose the Supplier — this is only a hint that helps find the right bills to pay later.
- Enter the Amount and choose its currency.
- Add a Reference, Bank Reference or Notes if useful.
- Select Create Payment.
The payment is created as a Draft. A draft payment has not yet reached your accounts.
Step 2 — Post the payment
- Open the payment and select Post.
- Confirm. This records the payment in your ledger — it debits your bank and credits a holding account (unapplied payments) until you match it to bills.
Once posted, the payment can no longer be edited — it can only be reversed (see below).
Step 3 — Allocate the payment
Match the posted payment to the bills it pays. See Allocate a supplier payment for the full steps. In short: on the payment, select Add Allocation, find the purchase invoice, enter the amount, and confirm. Allocating moves the amount out of the holding account and reduces what you owe on that bill.
[Screenshot required: Supplier payment details page showing Payment Details, status badge and the Allocations panel]
Reversing a posted payment
A Draft payment can be voided; a Posted payment cannot — it must be Reversed:
- Open the posted payment and select Reverse.
- Say what happened (see below).
- Enter a Reason and confirm.
Which of the two happened
Sales Scribe asks, because the two are different facts and they put the money in different months:
| You choose | The reversing entry is dated | The payment becomes |
|---|---|---|
| This payment was a mistake — it should never have been recorded | the payment's own date | Reversed |
| The supplier sent the money back — the payment was right at the time | today | Refunded |
Choosing mistake makes the month the payment was in read as though nothing had been paid. Choosing refund leaves that month alone and shows the money coming back today, which is what your bank statement will show.
Nothing is chosen for you, and there is no default. Getting it wrong moves real figures between periods — so if you are unsure, ask whoever prepares your accounts.
If the "mistake" option is unavailable, the payment's date falls inside a locked period. Reversing on that date would be a posting into it. Recording a refund is still available, because it is dated today. See Why can't I post into this date?.
Statuses at a glance
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Draft | Recorded but not yet in your accounts. Can be posted or voided. |
| Posted | In your accounts. Can be allocated and, if needed, reversed. |
| Voided | A draft that was cancelled. |
| Refunded | A posted payment the supplier sent back. The reversing entry is dated the day of the refund. |
| Reversed | A posted payment that should never have been recorded. The reversing entry is dated the payment's own date. |
Important notes
- A supplier payment is not edited. If a draft is wrong, void it and record it again; if a posted one is wrong, reverse it.
- Only a Draft payment can be voided. Trying to void a posted payment is refused with "This payment has been posted, so it can no longer be voided. Reverse it instead — that is how a posted payment is undone."
- Only a Posted payment can be allocated.
- A payment still applied to bills cannot be reversed. Reverse its allocations first, from the payment's page (the Reverse this allocation button on each one), then reverse the payment.
- A refunded, reversed or voided payment stays on record as it was. Nothing more can be done to it — posting, voiding, reversing, allocating, or reversing one of its allocations is refused, saying which it is.
- Payments can be left unallocated ("on account") and matched later. They then appear in your Unallocated items report until matched.
Troubleshooting
- The Post button won't work / a bank account message appears. The payment has to come out of a bank account. If its payment method names none, Sales Scribe uses your bank account — and if you have none, or more than one, it cannot tell which the money left from. You may see "The payment method '…' has no bank account behind it, so the payment has nowhere to go." Link the payment method to the bank account it pays from under Settings → Payment Methods, then post again.
- "This payment has already been posted. Reload the page to see it as it is now." — it was posted since you opened the page, perhaps in another tab. Reload to see it; reverse it if you need to undo it.
- "That allocation has already been reversed, so there is nothing to remove." — it was reversed since you opened the page. Reload the payment to see where it stands.