A vendor record holds everything SeroBooks needs to know about someone you buy from: the name that goes on your purchase orders, how to reach them, their address, their tax numbers, the payment terms they give you, the currency they bill you in, and whether you owe them a contractor slip at year end. You add vendors from the Vendor Centre, and you can open a vendor's record from almost anywhere their name appears, including straight from a bill you are entering.
Opening the vendor form
- Add a vendor: in the Vendor Centre choose New supplier. The form is titled New Supplier.
- Edit a vendor: in the Vendor Centre click the pencil (Edit details) on the row, or open the vendor's ledger and choose Edit. On Enter Bills or Create Purchase Orders, click Edit vendor beside the vendor's name to correct the record without leaving the bill. The form is titled Edit Vendor.
- Copy a vendor: the copy icon (Duplicate) on a Vendor Centre row, or Duplicate in the vendor's ledger.
Add a vendor, step by step
- Choose New supplier in the Vendor Centre.
- Under Who they are, choose Company name or Person's name. This decides which name prints on your documents and shows in lists. Most vendors are companies.
- For a company, type the Company name * (what the documents are made out to), then the Contact person and Last name of the person you deal with. For a person, type the First name * and Last name.
- Type the Mobile and Email.
- For a company, use Add person under People at this company to record anyone else you deal with: the person who takes orders, the one in accounts. Each has a Name, Role, Phone and Email.
- Fill in the Billing address: start typing in Address and pick the suggestion, which fills City, Province * and Postcode; or type them yourself.
- Under Ship to, leave Same as billing address on, or turn it off and type a Delivery address.
- Under Trade terms, fill in the GST number, PST number, Tax number, Payment terms, Counted in, Currency and Vendor type. See the table below.
- If you pay this vendor for services and owe them a year-end slip, tick Contractor — gets a slip at year end and choose the form.
- Choose Create supplier.
If another contact already has the same name, phone number or email, SeroBooks warns you before saving: This contact may already exist (or N contacts look like this one), and lists them. Saving creates a second account, with bills and payments split across both. Choose Go back to use the existing one, or Create anyway if they really are different.
The fields
Who they are
| Field | What to enter / what it means |
|---|---|
| Person's name / Company name | Which name prints on documents and heads lists. A new vendor follows the company field: type a company name and Company name is chosen for you, until you pick one yourself. |
| Company name \* | Required for every vendor. The name bills, purchase orders and reports use. Shown when Company name is chosen. |
| Contact person, Last name | The person you deal with at the company. Shown under the company name in lists. |
| First name \*, Last name | For a vendor who is a person. |
| Mobile | Phone number. Letters are allowed for an extension ("ext 204"). Offered as the number when you WhatsApp a purchase order. |
| Offered as the address when you email a purchase order or bill. | |
| People at this company | Any number of extra people, each with Name, Role, Phone and Email. The cross removes one. |
Billing address and Ship to
| Field | What to enter / what it means |
|---|---|
| Address | Start typing and pick a suggestion to fill the city, province and postcode, or type the street yourself. Prints under the vendor's name on purchase orders. |
| City, Postcode | As on the vendor's invoices. |
| Province \* (State \* in the US) | Required. Pick from the list. |
| Same as billing address | On: the delivery address is the billing address. Off: type the Delivery address. |
Trade terms
| Field | What to enter / what it means |
|---|---|
| GST number | The vendor's GST/HST registration number. This is the number an input tax credit is claimed against, so record it for every GST-registered vendor. |
| PST number | The vendor's provincial sales tax number, where they have one. |
| Tax number | The number that goes on a contractor slip: a business number, or a SIN for an individual. Shown in the Vendor Centre's Tax no. column and on the supplier address card of a bill. |
| Payment terms | How long the vendor gives you to pay, as a number (for example 30). Leave it empty for due on receipt. The list icon beside Counted in (Choose from the Terms list) picks a term from your Terms List instead. |
| Counted in | Days or Months for the payment terms. |
| Currency | The currency the vendor bills you in, shown by its code (CAD, USD…). A new bill for this vendor opens in their currency at the rate for the bill's date. Once the vendor has a bill, the currency cannot be changed: a vendor in two currencies is two vendors. See Currency List. |
| Vendor type | The vendor's type from your Vendor Type List (for example Contractors:Electrical), or (none). Shows No vendor types set up (Lists ▸ Customer & Vendor Profile Lists) until the list has some. |
| Contractor — gets a slip at year end | Tick for a subcontractor you must report. Then choose the form: in Canada T4A (Box 048 — fees for services, reported net of tax) or T5018 (contract payments, reported including tax); in the United States 1099-NEC. The note under the tick says what the chosen form reports. The two Canadian forms are not interchangeable. See Contractor Slips. |
The terms on the vendor record are the default: a new bill for this vendor starts with them, and you can change the terms on any one bill.
Messages you may see
The line at the bottom of the form says what is stopping Create supplier or Save changes:
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
| Enter the company name to save. / Enter a first name to save. | Type the name. |
| A vendor needs a company name. | Every vendor needs a company name, even when you print the person's name. Type the business name (or the person's name again). |
| Pick a province — it decides the tax on their orders. | Choose the province or state. |
Any message from the server (for example a currency change refused because the vendor already has bills) appears in red above the buttons.
Duplicate a vendor
Duplicate starts a new vendor record filled in from an existing one, including its people. The form is titled New Supplier (copy of name). Change what differs and save. The original is not changed. It is useful for a second branch of the same supplier, which bills you separately.
Edit a vendor
Open the record, change what you need and choose Save changes. Changes apply from then on: bills already saved keep the terms they were saved with. Editing a vendor never turns them into a customer, or a customer into a vendor.
Custom fields
Values for your own vendor fields (defined in Custom Fields) are entered from the vendor's ledger: open the ledger and choose Custom Fields.
Permissions
Adding or duplicating a vendor needs Add Supplier; changing one needs Edit Supplier. See Roles and permissions explained.
Common problems
Create supplier stays greyed out. Read the line at the bottom of the form. It is always the company name or the province.
Bills for a vendor open in the wrong currency. The currency on the vendor record decides it. If the vendor has no bills yet, change Currency on their record; if they already have bills, it cannot be changed, so add a separate vendor for the other currency.
A contractor is missing from Contractor Slips. Tick Contractor — gets a slip at year end on their record and choose the form. Slips count what was paid in the year, so payments made before you ticked it still count.