A supplier is anyone you buy from. The supplier record holds their name, contact details, and tax number, and it is the party you pick on every purchasing document, from a Purchase Order through to a GRN, a Bill, and a Supplier Payment. The bookkeeper or accountant creates suppliers once, and everyone selects from the list when they raise a purchase.
A supplier record also carries the defaults that prefill each purchase: a payable account, a payment method, and a payment term. Setting these once on the supplier means every document for that supplier starts correct, so you type less and post fewer mistakes.
Find suppliers under Purchase → Suppliers.
Before you start
A new business starts with no suppliers. Add them as you take on each one, or import them in bulk.
Several fields on the supplier point at other master files. You do not have to set them up first, but you can only pick them once they exist:
- A Supplier Type to classify the supplier.
- A payable account from the Chart of Accounts for the Default AP Account.
- A Payment Method and Payment Term for the payment defaults.
Access to suppliers is set in a permission profile under Administration → Permissions, in the Suppliers row of List Items Access Control:
| Permission | Lets the user |
|---|---|
| List | Open the Suppliers list. |
| Create | Add suppliers. Import CSV needs both Create and Edit. |
| Edit | Change an existing supplier, and use Batch Edit. |
| Delete | Remove a supplier. |
| Approve | Tick Approved on a supplier. |
See Users, seats & permissions for how profiles are assigned.
Where the defaults come from
Two layers of defaults save you picking the same values on every purchase:
- Your own defaults. When you open a new supplier, ZyncLedger prefills its Default Payment Method, Default Payment Term, and Default AP Account from your own defaults under Settings → Defaults. These are personal settings for your user, not for the whole business, so two people can start new suppliers with different values.
- The supplier's defaults. Once saved, the supplier's own defaults prefill each document you raise for them. When you pick the supplier on a document, their payable account, payment term, and payment method replace your own on the documents that use them.
You can change any prefilled value on the supplier, and again on an individual document.
Create a supplier
Open the Suppliers list
Go to Purchase → Suppliers.
Start a new supplier
Select Add Supplier. The Create New Supplier panel opens from the right.
Enter the code and name
The Supplier Code identifies the supplier. If your workspace generates supplier codes automatically, this field reads Auto-generated and fills itself on save. If it is set to manual, type a unique code (required). You set this mode under Document numbering.
Type the supplier's Name (required).
Classify the supplier (optional)
Use Supplier Type to group the supplier, for example as Local or Imported. Only types that are Active and Approved appear in the list. Leave it blank if you do not classify suppliers. See Supplier Types.
Set the contact details (optional)
Field What it does Email The supplier's contact email. If you enter one, it must be unique across all users in your workspace: you cannot reuse an email that already belongs to a staff user, a sales rep, a customer, or another supplier. Phone The supplier's phone number, up to 15 characters. Set the payment defaults (optional)
These two fields decide what a new purchase for this supplier starts with. Each one is optional and can be changed on the document.
Field What it does Default Payment Method Prefills the payment method on the supplier's payments. Default Payment Term Prefills the credit term, which sets the due date on the supplier's bills and bill credits. Set the accounting and tax details
- Default AP Account is the payable account this supplier's purchases post to. The search lists only payable accounts from your Chart of Accounts. It prefills the AP Account on the supplier's GRNs, GRN credits, bills, bill credits, and supplier payments.
- Tax Number is the supplier's tax registration number. Optional.
Set the status flags
Two checkboxes finish the record:
Field What it does Active On by default. An inactive supplier stays for history but is not offered when you pick a supplier on a document. Approved Off by default. Ticking it needs the Approve permission. Once a supplier is saved as approved, the box is locked and cannot be cleared. A supplier is offered in the Supplier field on documents only when it is both Active and Approved.
Save
Select Create Supplier. The supplier is created, and once approved it appears in the Supplier field on purchasing screens.
You can also add a supplier without leaving a document: open the Supplier dropdown and select Add Supplier. The same panel opens, and the new supplier is selected on the document straight away if you saved it as both Active and Approved.
Approval gates availability
A new supplier is created as Pending until someone with the Approve permission approves it. Until then it does not appear when you pick a supplier on a document. If a supplier is not showing up on a document, check that it is both Active and Approved on this screen.
Opening balances
The supplier form does not capture what you already owe a supplier when you start using ZyncLedger, so a new supplier starts with a zero balance. To bring in what you owe them, write a journal dated at your start date:
- Credit the supplier's payable account, with the supplier as the line's Name.
- Debit the Opening Balance account, an equity account ZyncLedger creates for every business.
The journal raises the supplier's balance and their payable in the ledger together. When you later pay the supplier, the journal is listed among their open items on the Supplier Payment for that payable account, so you settle it like a bill. For a supplier you owe nothing, there is nothing to enter.
Find your way around the list
By default the list shows each supplier's Supplier, Code, Email, Balance, Status (Active or Inactive, and Approved or Pending), and Created By.
- Search by code, name, or email.
- Filter by Supplier Type, Status (Active or Inactive), and Approval (Approved or Unapproved). You can pick more than one value in each filter.
- Switch views between card, list, and table with the buttons at the top right. In the table view, the settings button adds Supplier Type, Phone, Payment Method, Payment Term, AP Account, and Tax Number, or hides columns you do not need. ZyncLedger remembers your view and columns on this device.
- View Balance Report (the chart icon on a row) opens the Supplier Balance Detail report for that supplier in a new tab.
Import suppliers
To bring in many suppliers at once, select Import CSV on the Suppliers list and upload a CSV file. Download Sample CSV gives you a file with the expected columns.
Map each column in your file to a field. Supplier Name is required on every row. You can also map Email Address (Optional), Supplier Code, Phone Number, Supplier Type, Payment Method, Payment Terms, AP Account, Tax Number, and Active Status. Check the preview, then choose how to treat a row whose email already belongs to a supplier: Skip existing suppliers or Update existing suppliers. Select Start Import.
The import runs in the background and shows its progress. You can close the dialog while it runs; the import carries on and the list refreshes.
How the file is matched:
- Supplier Type, Payment Method, and Payment Terms are matched by their exact name. A name that does not match is left blank.
- An AP Account name that does not match creates a payable account with that name.
- For a new supplier, leave Supplier Code empty to have a code generated.
The import does not carry balances. Enter what you owe each supplier as described in Opening balances above.
Edit several suppliers at once
Select Batch Edit to open Batch Edit Suppliers, a full-screen grid of the suppliers on the page of the list you are viewing. Narrow the list with search and filters first if you only want to work on some of them.
In the grid you can change each supplier's name, code (when you type codes yourself), email, phone, billing and shipping addresses, payment method, payment term, and Active flag. Changed rows are marked as modified. Select Save Changes to save them all; the grid stays open so you can carry on. If you close it with unsaved changes, ZyncLedger asks you to confirm.
Edit, deactivate, or delete
Select the edit icon on any row to change a supplier's details, addresses, defaults, or flags, then select Update Supplier. The supplier's Billing Address and Shipping Address fill the billing and delivery addresses on their purchase orders, GRNs, GRN credits, bills, and bill credits.
To stop a supplier being used without losing their history, clear the Active flag rather than deleting the record.
Heads up
Deleting a supplier cannot be undone. ZyncLedger blocks deleting a supplier in these cases:
- It is used on any purchasing document, including purchase orders, which post nothing, as well as GRNs, GRN credits, bills, bill credits, supplier payments, and AR/AP settlements.
- It is the Name on a journal, bank payment, bank receipt, bill or bill credit line, issue note, issue return, or production plan.
Because documents point back to their supplier, deleting one would break that history. Deactivate the supplier instead.
If the Bill of Materials app is installed, deleting a supplier also clears it as the Default supplier on any product that named it.
Related
- Supplier Types: classify suppliers so you can filter the list by type.
- Chart of Accounts: the payable account a supplier's purchases post to.
- Payment Terms and Payment Methods: the credit and settlement defaults a supplier carries.
- Customers: the sell-to counterpart of a supplier.
- GRN and Bill: where a supplier's defaults prefill the purchase.
- Supplier Payment: record a payment against a supplier's open bills and GRNs.
- Journal: enter a supplier's opening balance.
