# Vendor Balances

Four numbers sit on every vendor and only one of them is what you owe.

Reading them correctly before a payment run is the difference between paying the right amount and paying twice.

![The Vendors table with the two balance columns side by side: Payables (BCY) carrying a figure on the vendors that are owed money and 0.00 on the rest, and Unused Credits (BCY) reading 0.00 on every row.](https://www.sorviai.com/help/vendors/vendor-list.png)

*Two of the four numbers are on the list itself. The other two are read from the vendor's own record.*

## Reading the balance

- **Outstanding** (you owe them): The unpaid total on approved bills. This is the figure in your payables ageing report.
- **Unused credits** (they owe you): Vendor credits not yet applied to a bill. Apply these before sending money.
- **Prepayments** (you already sent): Payments not matched to any bill. Match them before paying again.
- **Committed** (not a liability): Issued purchase orders not yet billed. Nothing is owed on these.

> **Tip:**
>
> **Check credits and prepayments before every run**
>
> Both reduce the cash you need to send and neither does so automatically. This one check is the most common way to stop overpaying a supplier.

## Stopping business with a vendor

There is no hold. A vendor is either **Active** or **Inactive**, and that is the whole of it.

| What you might want | What is available |
| --- | --- |
| Block new orders and bills for a supplier in dispute | Not available. Nothing refuses a document because of who the vendor is. |
| Take a supplier out of circulation | Mark them Inactive. They drop out of the pickers, so nobody selects them by accident on a new document. |
| Keep the history | Inactive keeps every existing bill, order and payment exactly as it was, and they stay payable and keep ageing. |
| Stop a recurring profile against them | Stop the profile itself. Making the vendor inactive is not a substitute, and does not reach the schedule. |

> **Warning:**
>
> **Inactive is a convenience, not a control**
>
> It removes a vendor from the lists people choose from; it does not enforce anything. Somebody who reaches an existing document, or who knows the vendor's name, is not stopped. If a supplier genuinely must be blocked, that has to be a conversation with your team rather than a setting.

## Statements from your supplier

When a supplier statement disagrees with your payables, work in this order and stop as soon as the difference is explained: bills you have not entered, bills still in draft, credits they have issued and you have not recorded, and payments in transit. Those four cover almost every case.