Purchasing · Daily operations · 9 min read

Post a vendor bill and clear matching holds

Enter a supplier bill, understand how it is matched with the order and receipt, release a held bill, and issue a debit note.

Before you begin

• A confirmed purchase order exists, and goods are received if your policy is three-way or four-way.
• You need document.draft and document.confirm to enter and post a bill, and purchase.match.release to release a hold.
• A matching policy (see Tolerances, matching and qualification) decides what is held. With no active policy nothing is held, and the order's own ceiling is the only limit.

Steps

Enter and post a bill

1. Open Purchase > Billing > Vendor bills and press New, or raise the bill from the purchase order. A bill raised from an order with no quantities takes what the policy would let post.
2. Enter Vendor bill number and Vendor bill date exactly as on the supplier's invoice.
3. Check each line against the order line. Adjust quantity and price to the invoice.
4. Open the Matching tab. Each line shows ordered, received, accepted, billed before and May bill, with its status: Matched, Held or No order.
5. Press Confirm, then Post.

If the bill is held

1. Posting is refused with 'This bill is held by matching.' Each held line is a row under Purchase > Billing > Bills on hold.
2. If the cause is temporary (the rest of the goods have not been received), receive them, reopen the draft bill and press Match again. The hold clears.
3. If the variance is accepted, a person who raised neither the bill nor its order and holds purchase.match.release opens Bills on hold, presses Release, types the reason and confirms.
4. Post the bill again.

Issue a debit note

1. Open Purchase > Billing > Debit notes and press New.
2. Choose Against bill (a posted bill of the same supplier). The note is then limited to what was billed.
3. Enter the lines, then Save, Confirm and Post.

Capitalise freight

1. On a posted bill with a service line for freight or duty, press Capitalise freight, pick the bill line and the done receipts. The cost is added to the stock cost, split by receipt value. This needs stock.adjust.

What happens next

• A posted bill makes a journal entry and increases what you owe the supplier. The supplier's vendor number is claimed so it cannot be reused.
• A reversed bill gives its number back and no longer counts against the order.
• Without GRNI, the bill and receipt are matched by quantity only. With GRNI on, the bill clears the GRNI account at the receipt cost, and a price difference goes to purchase variance.

Worked example

Order: 10 units at AED 100. Received: 8. Policy: three-way, quantity tolerance 5%, price tolerance 3% or AED 3.00 per unit, whichever is larger.

A lower price never holds.

Good to know

• Duplicate: 'INV-2026-0451 from this supplier is already on BILL-0007. A supplier invoice is posted once.' AB-001, ab 001 and AB/001 count as the same number. Another supplier may use the same number.
• If the setting requires it: 'Enter the supplier's invoice number before posting this bill.'
• You cannot release a hold on a bill you raised or on an order you raised: 'Somebody other than whoever raised the bill or its order must release this hold.' Without the right: 'Releasing a matching hold needs the release right.'
• A release covers only a variance no bigger than the one released. A larger variance is held again.
• A posted bill is not matched again: 'Only a draft bill is matched; a posted one has already been decided.'
• A posted bill cannot be edited. Issue a debit note, or reverse the bill.
• A debit note against a draft bill: 'Only a posted vendor bill can be credited. This one is draft.' Over-crediting: 'BILL-0007 has only 4 of <code> left to credit.'
• Suppliers can send invoices from the portal. They arrive as a draft bill linked to the order, for you to check and post.