Bills and paying suppliers

Bills is what you owe, and how you pay it. It opens on the four figures you act on:

Owed now	Everything still unpaid
Late	Past its due date
Due this week	The next seven days
Waiting approval	Bills above your approval limit, waiting for the owner

Finding a bill

Filters across the top: To pay, Late, Due this week, Waiting approval, Paid, All. Search by supplier, bill number, note or category.

Bills sort with the unpaid first, earliest due at the top, so the most urgent thing is the first row. Each row says the supplier, the bill number, and when it is due in plain words — "4 days late", "Due today", "Due in 3 days" — with what is still owed on the right. Where part of a bill is paid, the row shows how much has gone so far.

Tap a row to open it: what it was for, when it was issued, your note, every payment made against it, and anything scheduled.

Paying

• Pay records a payment against the bill: the amount (it starts at what is still owed), the account it leaves, the date, and a note.
• Paying part of it is normal — type a smaller amount and the dialog tells you what will still be owed. The bill stays open for the rest.
• The payment is an ordinary entry in your books, out of the account you chose, under the bill's category.
• Withholding tax. On a bill set to withhold 6%, the amount you settle is split: the supplier receives it less 6% of the part before VAT, and that 6% is recorded as owed to URA (Withholding Tax Payable) instead. The dialog shows both figures before you pay; untick it to pay in full for a payment that should not be withheld.

Scheduling a payment

Schedule plans a payment for a date: the amount, the account and the day. Nothing leaves your account until then, and the bill shows a Scheduled tag. From the open row you can:

• Pay now — record it today instead of waiting.
• Cancel — drop the plan. The bill itself stays.

Recording a bill

New bill records a supplier's invoice as it reads:

• Supplier, and their invoice number — the number printed on their invoice. SBB refuses the same supplier invoice twice, which is how a bill gets paid twice.
• Invoice date and due date (30 days unless you change it).
• Lines — what, how many, the price, which expense it is (a mixed invoice can have lines in different expenses) and its VAT (none or 18%).
• Prices on the invoice include VAT (most invoices) or are before VAT. The totals — before VAT, VAT, total owed — are worked out as you type.
• Withhold 6% tax when paying, when your business is a withholding agent and the supplier is not exempt (see Paying).
• The invoice — a photo from your phone's camera or a PDF, kept with the bill.

If the same supplier already has a bill for the same amount within two weeks, SBB says so before saving. If it really is a different bill, choose It is a different bill — save it.

Nothing leaves your account when you record a bill. It becomes money owed until you pay it.

A bill's own page

Open the bill (from its row) shows everything about it: each line with its expense and VAT, the totals, their invoice to open or replace, every payment (and what was withheld), anything scheduled, and approval.

Approving

Where your business sets an approval limit, a bill above it arrives Waiting approval. The owner approves it — or rejects it with a reason; a rejected bill stays on your books, marked, with the reason you gave.

Two approvals for big bills. In Settings → Controls, Two approvals for big bills sets an amount. A bill at or above it needs two different people: the owner approves first, it shows Needs a second approval, and the accountant (or another owner) approves second. It cannot be paid in between, and nobody can approve twice. The bill shows who approved and when.

Correcting a bill

Nothing is deleted — your books keep a record of every change. From the bill's page:

• Edit — while nothing has been paid or credited: the lines, prices, VAT, dates, their invoice number, withholding. If the amount changes, the old amount is reversed in your books and the new one recorded; if it goes up past the approval limit, it needs approving again.
• Credit note — the supplier takes something off what you owe: goods returned, a discount, an overcharge. Enter the amount (up to what is still owed), what it is for, and their credit note number. What you owe — and what your books say you owe — goes down by it.
• Void — for a bill entered in error, before anything is paid. What it put in your books is reversed and the bill stays, marked Void, with your reason. Once something has been paid, use a credit note instead.

What happened to it, on the bill's page, lists every approval, edit, credit and void, who did it, when, and why.

Bills are for the owner and the accountant: either can record, edit, credit, void and pay them.

Paying several bills at once

Tick the bills you want to pay (only ones that can be paid have a tick box), then Pay them in the bar that appears. Choose the account and the date, adjust any amount, and confirm once. Each bill is paid as if you had paid it alone — withholding, approvals and all — and any that cannot be paid yet are skipped and listed.

Then Download the bank file (CSV): one line per supplier with the amount they receive, your bill numbers, their invoice numbers, phone, email and TIN — the columns banks ask for in a bulk upload.

What you owe, by age

Ageing (at the top of Bills) lists every supplier you owe, split by how late: not yet due, 1–30, 31–60, 61–90 and over 90 days — the oldest debt first, with totals. Download (CSV) gives it to your accountant. Click a supplier for their statement.

A supplier's statement

Every bill, payment (with any tax withheld), credit note and void for one supplier, in date order, with the running balance — what you check against the statement the supplier sends you. Print / PDF prints it. Open it from Ageing, or Their statement on any of their bills.

From a purchase order

When an order's goods are received, Bill this order on the purchase order raises the bill from it: what was received, at the order's prices, linked both ways. An order already billed (stock taken in on credit bills itself) cannot be billed again. Link a bill already entered links one you typed in.

Asking Kiongozi

What should I pay? asks Kiongozi to look at what is owed and say what to pay first this week and what can wait, with the reasons.

Suppliers and purchase orders

Who you buy from lives in Customers and suppliers. Ordering before the goods arrive is in Purchases; receiving stock against an order is in Products and stock.