A supplier payment pays a supplier and settles what you owe them. You pick the supplier, choose the bank or cash account the money comes out of, then allocate that payment across the supplier's open documents: their GRNs and bills. In the same document you can apply any open credits the supplier has given you, such as a GRN Credit or a Bill Credit, against those open items. The bookkeeper, the accountant, or the owner usually enters supplier payments.
A supplier payment is the settlement engine on the purchasing side. A GRN or a bill records what you owe, and a GRN Credit or a Bill Credit records a credit in your favour, but none of those settle anything on their own. It is the supplier payment that moves them: allocating a payment (or a credit) to an open GRN or bill is what moves that document from Open to Partial to Closed, and applying an open credit here is what uses that credit up.
Use a supplier payment to pay down balances the supplier has already raised. It is not how you record a cash purchase with no payable behind it: for money that goes straight out with nothing owing (a direct expense, a one-off cash purchase, or an advance to a supplier before they have billed you), use a Bank Payment instead. An advance recorded that way later shows up here as a credit you can apply.
Find supplier payments under Purchase & Supplier → Supplier Payment.
Before you start
- The supplier you are paying must exist in Suppliers. Picking the supplier sets the AP Account to its default and loads the two allocation tables from that supplier's open items.
- The supplier must have something open to settle. A supplier payment must allocate to at least one open document, so enter the GRN, bill, or credit first if nothing is outstanding yet.
- A bank or cash account to pay from must exist in your Chart of Accounts. It is required, even when you are settling entirely with a credit.
- An Accounts Payable account is required. It prefills from the supplier and must be of type Accounts Payable. It is the account the payment debits, and it also decides which of the supplier's open items appear to settle.
- A payment method is required. If it is a cheque method, the form asks for the cheque details (see the steps below).
- You need the Create Supplier Payments permission, granted per user under Permissions. List Supplier Payments lets you open the screen, and Edit, Delete, View, and Print Supplier Payments cover the rest. See Users, seats & permissions.
Record a supplier payment
Open a new supplier payment
Go to Purchase & Supplier → Supplier Payment and select New Supplier Payment. The form opens full screen.
Check the template
The Template picker sits in the toolbar at the top of the form. ZyncLedger pre-selects your default supplier payment template, so you can usually leave it. The template decides which fields the form shows and how the printed receipt looks; switch it here if you keep more than one layout. See Print templates for how these are set up.
Choose the supplier
Select the Supplier (required). ZyncLedger sets the AP Account to the supplier's default and loads the supplier's open items into the two tables below. The supplier's current Balance shows below the field, so you can see what they are owed in total.
Confirm the AP account
Check the AP Account (required). This is the Accounts Payable account the payment debits, and it also filters the open items in the tables, so only documents posted to this account appear to settle. It prefills from the supplier, and the list only offers accounts of type Accounts Payable.
Choose the bank account
Select the Bank Account (required). This is the bank or cash account the money leaves. It is required even when you settle entirely with a credit and no cash actually moves.
Set the payment date
Enter the Payment Date (required). This is the date the payment posts to the ledger, so it decides which period the money and the settlement fall in.
Choose the payment method
Select the Payment Method (required), for example cash, bank transfer, or cheque. See Payment methods for how these are set up.
- For most methods, a Reference No field appears for your own reference, such as a transfer reference. It is optional.
- For a cheque method, the form replaces the reference with Cheque No and Cheque Date. Enter the cheque number and the date on the cheque. The cheque is then tracked as an issued cheque you can follow through Cheque management.
Set the transaction number
The Txn Number identifies the payment. How you fill it depends on the number mode for supplier payments:
- Automatic (the default): the field shows Auto Generated and ZyncLedger assigns the next number when you save. Leave it alone.
- Manual: you type the number yourself. It is required and must be unique across all transactions.
See Document numbering to change the mode or set up a multi-series numbering scheme.
Supplier payments share the bank payment numbering
A supplier payment draws its number from your Bank Payment numbering settings, not a separate supplier-payment series. Change the number mode or series for bank payments and supplier payments follow. This is deliberate.
Allocate the payment to open dues
The Dues tab lists the supplier's open items on the chosen AP account: their open GRNs and bills, each with its Amount and its outstanding Balance Due. For each item you are settling, fill one or both of these columns:
Column What it does Apply Amount The cash from the bank account to put against this item. This is money leaving your account. Apply Credit An open credit to put against this item instead of cash. Fund it in the Credits tab (see the next step). Tick a row's checkbox to fill its Apply Amount with the full Balance Due, or type a smaller figure to pay part of it. You cannot allocate more than an item's Balance Due. At least one item must carry an Apply Amount or an Apply Credit before you can save.
Apply open credits (optional)
The Credits tab lists the supplier's open credits on the same AP account: their open GRN Credits and Bill Credits, each with its Available Amount. To use a credit, enter its Apply Amount (tick the row to use it in full), then go back to the Dues tab and enter the matching Apply Credit against the item or items you are clearing with it.
The total credit you apply on the dues must equal the total you draw from the credits, so the two tabs balance. The footer shows both running totals as Total Applied Credit and Total Available Credits; ZyncLedger will not let you save until they match.
Add a note (optional)
Use the Payment Note at the foot of the form to record anything about the payment. If you keep standard wording, pick it from the note selector to autofill.
Check the totals and save
The footer totals the allocation:
Total What it shows Total Applied Amount The cash you are applying across the dues. Total Applied Credit The credit you are applying across the dues. Total Available Credits The credit you are drawing from the Credits tab (must equal Total Applied Credit). Total Payment Amount The cash that leaves the bank account, which is the Total Applied Amount. Select Save to save the payment, or use Save & New, Save & Print, or Save & Close from the save button. The payment saves with a status of Posted and settles the allocated items immediately.
What it posts
A supplier payment splits into two parts: the cash you pay, and the credits you apply. It posts money for the cash and settles the rest.
The cash part. For the Total Payment Amount (the sum of every Apply Amount), the payment credits (reduces) the Bank Account it comes from and debits (reduces) the Accounts Payable account, clearing that much of what you owe. It also lowers the supplier's balance by the same cash amount. The debit to Accounts Payable always equals the credit to the bank, so the entry balances. It flows through to the Trial Balance, the General Ledger, the Balance Sheet, and your banking reports.
The credit part. Applying a credit posts no new ledger entry and does not change the supplier's balance again. The credit already reduced your Accounts Payable and the supplier's balance when you raised it, and the GRN or bill already added to them when it was posted. Applying the credit here simply nets the two off against each other: it links the open credit to the open due, moving both toward Closed without any cash leaving the bank.
What it settles. Each amount you allocate is recorded as a settlement against the item it clears, and that is what moves the item's status:
- An Apply Amount or Apply Credit on an open GRN or bill settles that document, moving it from Open to Partial (settled in part) to Closed (fully settled).
- An Apply Amount drawn from an open GRN Credit or Bill Credit uses that credit up, moving the credit itself from Open to Partial to Closed.
Because every item is capped at its own outstanding balance, you can never settle more than is owed on a GRN or bill, or apply more than is left on a credit.
The payment is what settles a document, not the credit
Raising a GRN Credit or a Bill Credit lowers your overall balance with the supplier, but it does not settle any one GRN or bill on its own. It sits as an open credit until you apply it here. Allocating it on a supplier payment is what clears the specific document and uses the credit up.
Tips & gotchas
Supplier Payment, Bank Payment, or a Bill/GRN?
Use a supplier payment to pay down GRNs or bills the supplier has already raised. Use a Bank Payment for money that goes straight out with nothing owing: a direct expense, a cash purchase, or an advance to a supplier before they have billed you. Record a GRN or a Bill to create the payable in the first place.
To pay a supplier in advance, use a Bank Payment
There is no advance or on-account option on a supplier payment: it must be allocated to at least one open item. To pay a supplier before they have raised a bill or GRN, record a Bank Payment instead. On its Accounts tab, add a line that selects an Accounts Payable account and carries the supplier's Name, for the advance amount. The money leaves the bank and sits as a credit in that supplier's favour. That advance then appears in the Credits tab here, ready to apply against the bill or GRN once it comes in, exactly like a GRN Credit or Bill Credit.
Paying with a credit balances two tabs
When you clear a due with a credit, the total Apply Credit you enter on the Dues tab must exactly equal the total Apply Amount you draw on the Credits tab. If they do not match, ZyncLedger blocks the save. Settle a due fully with credit and its Apply Amount stays zero, so no cash leaves the bank.
A reconciled payment is locked
Once a supplier payment's bank line has been matched on a bank reconciliation, ZyncLedger will not let you edit or delete the payment. The payment stays Posted either way, so it is the reconciled bank line, not a status change, that locks it. Undo the reconciliation first if you need to correct it.
Deleting a payment reverses its settlements
There is no reversing entry. Deleting a supplier payment sets its status to Deleted, removes its ledger entries, raises the supplier's balance back by the cash amount, and unwinds every settlement it made, so the GRNs, bills, and credits it touched return to their earlier status. ZyncLedger blocks the deletion if the payment's bank line has been reconciled on a bank reconciliation, or if its date falls in a period closed by the Ledger close date, so reconciled and locked history stays intact.
Related
- Suppliers are the parties you pay, and carry the default AP account the payment uses.
- Goods Receive Note (GRN) and Bill are the open documents a supplier payment settles.
- GRN Credit and Bill Credit are the open credits you apply here against those documents.
- Bank Payment records money paid out with nothing owing, and is how you record a supplier advance.
- Payment methods set how the money leaves, including cheque payments.
- Chart of Accounts holds the Accounts Payable and bank or cash accounts a supplier payment posts to.
- Document numbering controls the supplier payment's transaction number, shared with bank payments.
- Purchasing reports list your supplier payments and what is still outstanding.
