Skip to the article

Add a Vendor

Only a display name is required to save.

Currency and payment terms are the two fields worth getting right immediately, because one of them cannot be changed later and the other quietly decides when everything falls due.

The Create Vendor screen, laid out in collapsible sections. Primary Contact holds contact name, department, title, mobile, work phone, email and social media. Basic Details holds a Business or Individual toggle, company, website and a required Display As field. Other Details begins with Tax Treatment set to VAT-UK and a VAT registration number. Save Vendor and Cancel sit in a bar along the foot.
Display As is the field the rest of Finance shows you. It is marked required; the section headers collapse.

Create the record

  1. Open the form

    Go to PurchasesVendorsNew.

  2. Set the display name

    What your team searches for. Put the legal entity name in the company field if it differs.

  3. Set the currency

    Bills can only ever be raised in this currency, and it locks once anything posts.

  4. Set the payment terms

    These calculate the due date on every bill, which is what your payables ageing and your payment runs work from.

  5. Set the tax treatment

    It decides whether purchase tax on their bills is recoverable, which feeds straight into your tax return.

  6. Set a default expense account

    Optional, and worth doing for any vendor who always sells you the same thing.

Field reference

FieldRequiredWhat it does
Display nameYesThe searchable name, used in every picker.
Company nameNoPrints on purchase orders and remittances when set.
CurrencyYesLocks on first transaction. All bills use it.
Payment termsYesSets the due date on every bill.
Tax treatmentYesDecides recoverability of purchase tax.
Tax registration numberIf registeredNeeded for your return, and printed on orders.
Default expense accountNoPre-fills the account on their bills and expenses.
Opening balanceNoWhat you already owed on your start date.

Opening balances and imports

Migrating with money already owed? Enter an opening balance rather than inventing bills. It posts to your opening balance account and appears in payables at once, so day one is honest.

  • An opening balance is one number, so it cannot be aged bill by bill. Enter real bills if you need that detail.
  • Import from CSV for a bulk onboarding. Currency and terms must match values that already exist.
  • Duplicate display names are rejected rather than merged, which is deliberate.

Was this document helpful?