Pay Bills records paying your vendors. Choose a vendor, tick the bills you are paying and how much of each, take any early-payment discount their terms allow, set their credits against the bills, and say which account the money comes from. SeroBooks records one payment against each bill, lowers what you owe the vendor, and takes the money out of the bank or card account.
Opening Pay Bills
- Vendors ▸ Pay Bills, or Pay Bills on the Home Page, opens the list of every vendor you owe, with Pay beside each (the same list as Vendor Balances). Choose Pay beside the vendor.
- From an open bill, Pay $… pays that one bill. See Pay one bill from the bill.
The page is titled Pay Bills · vendor name.
Pay bills, step by step
- Open Vendors ▸ Pay Bills and choose Pay beside the vendor.
- Tick the bills you are paying under BILLS, or choose Select All Bills. Each ticked bill's Amt. To Pay starts at what it owes. Change it to pay part of a bill. You can instead type the total into Payment Amount: SeroBooks spreads it over the bills, oldest first, and ticks the ones it reaches.
- Check the Payment Date.
- Choose the Payment Account the money comes from (shown when you have more than one bank or card account).
- Choose how you paid under PAID BY.
- Type the Cheque no. (or Reference / Auth no. for other methods) and a Memo if you want.
- Under EARLY-PAYMENT DISCOUNTS, tick any discount you are taking, and choose the Discount account.
- Under VENDOR CREDITS, tick any credit to set against the ticked bills.
- Check the totals along the bottom, then choose Pay Selected Bills.
SeroBooks confirms $… paid to vendor across N bill(s). and closes the page.
The top of the page
| Field | What to enter / what it means |
|---|---|
| Owed $… on N bill(s) | Everything the vendor is owed on the bills listed. |
| Payment Amount | The money you are paying. It follows the bills you tick. Typing a figure spreads it across the bills, oldest first. |
| Payment Date | The date of the payment. It decides whether a bill still qualifies for its early-payment discount. |
| Payment Account | The bank or credit card account the money leaves. It starts on the account set in Edit ▸ Preferences ▸ Checking ("Open the Pay Bills form with"), or the account you used last, and follows the method you choose until you pick an account yourself. Shown when there is a choice. |
| Cheque no. / Reference / Auth no. | The cheque number, or the e-transfer confirmation or card authorization. It is kept on each payment, so it shows in the payments list and the vendor's ledger. |
| Memo | A note for the payment. |
| PAID BY | How you paid: the payment methods switched on in your Payment Method List, with Debit and Credit in place of a single card method. |
The bills
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Tick box | Tick to pay this bill. |
| Date | The bill date. Bills are listed oldest first. |
| Bill | The vendor's invoice number (or Bill #…). A General Journal line that credits Accounts Payable for this vendor is listed as a bill too, shown as GJ and its number. |
| Amt. Owed | What the bill still owes. |
| Disc. | The early-payment discount you are taking on it. Shown when any bill has one. |
| Amt. To Pay | How much of this bill you are paying. Editable once the bill is ticked. |
Select All Bills ticks every bill at its full amount; Clear Selections unticks them all.
Pay Bills lists only bills whose goods are Received, which is every bill SeroBooks enters now. A bill saved as Pending by an earlier version, and goods received with the bill to follow, do not appear until the bill is received or entered.
Early-payment discounts
A bill raised on terms with a discount (such as 2% 10 Net 30 from the Terms List) qualifies while the payment date is within the discount period. Each qualifying bill has a line under EARLY-PAYMENT DISCOUNTS: Take $… off bill — term, by date. Ticking it ticks the bill and reduces its Amt. To Pay by the discount. Choose the Discount account the discounts go to; it starts on the account set in Edit ▸ Preferences ▸ Bills.
Changing the Payment Date re-checks which bills still qualify.
The discount is recorded as a journal against the bill: Accounts Payable is debited and the discount account credited.
Setting credits against bills
Every open credit the vendor has is listed under VENDOR CREDITS: debit notes and vendor credits, General Journal credits, and bills paid for more than they now total (Overpaid bill …). Tick a credit to use it. Ticked credits are set against the ticked bills, oldest bill first, before any money moves, and the Payment Amount drops to what is left to pay. A credit moves no money.
If the vendor has no credits, the section says … has no open debit notes or credits to apply.
The totals and buttons
| Item | What it shows / does |
|---|---|
| BILLS TICKED | The ticked bills, before discounts and credits. |
| DISCOUNTS | Discounts taken. |
| CREDITS | Credits set against the bills. |
| TOTAL TO PAY | The money that leaves the account. |
| Cancel | Leaves without paying. Nothing is recorded. |
| Pay Selected Bills | Records everything: discounts first, then credits, then one payment per bill. |
If one part fails (for example one bill's payment is refused), SeroBooks says what was paid and what was NOT paid, reloads the bills, and leaves the rest ticked so you can try again. A payment that did go through is never recorded twice.
Pay one bill from the bill
On a saved bill that still owes money, Pay $… opens Pay bill number:
| Field | What it means |
|---|---|
| Amount | What you are paying; it starts at what the bill owes. You cannot pay more than it owes: This bill only has $… outstanding. To pay several bills at once, use Pay Bills. |
| METHOD | How you paid. |
| Payment Account | The account the money leaves. |
| VENDOR CREDITS | The vendor's credits; tick one to set it against this bill first. |
| Cheque no., authorization or note (optional) | A single word or number is kept as the cheque number or authorization; a sentence is kept as a note. |
Choose Record payment.
A bill in another currency
For a bill entered in the vendor's currency, the Amount in USD (or their currency) is what you type, and Rate on the day it moved is the rate the payment converted at (it starts at the bill's rate). SeroBooks shows Leaves the bank: $…, and if the rate has moved, the exchange loss or gain it will record rather than leaving the difference on the vendor's account. The rate is required: Enter the rate the payment converted at.
What happens in the books
Each bill payment debits Accounts Payable (the vendor's account) and credits the payment account. A foreign-currency payment relieves Accounts Payable at the rate the bill was carried at and books the difference to exchange gain or loss. Discounts and credits reduce the bill without moving money. The payment's date decides the period; a date on or before your closing date is refused.
To print cheques for payments, see Print Cheques.
Permissions
Paying bills needs Record Supplier Payment. See Roles and permissions explained.
Messages you may see
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
| Tick the bills this payment is for. | Tick at least one bill. |
| … is ticked with no amount. | Type an amount for that bill or untick it. |
| … only owes $…. | Reduce the amount (the discount counts towards it). |
| Choose the account the discounts go to. | Choose the Discount account. |
| Enter an amount greater than zero. | (Paying from the bill.) Type the amount. |
Common problems
A bill is not listed. It is Pending, it came in as an item receipt still waiting for its bill, or it is already paid. See Enter Bills and Enter Bill for Received Items.
No discount is offered. The bill has no term with a discount, or the payment date is after the discount date. The term must be chosen from the Terms List on the bill; a number of days typed by hand carries no discount.
The money came from the wrong account. Change the payment's account in the payments list (Edit Payment), or delete the payment and pay again.