How to Pay Supplier Bills in a Payment Run

Why paying suppliers one bill at a time goes wrong

Paying suppliers usually means a weekly session with a list of due bills, a bank login and a lot of copying. Each bill is paid on its own, discounts are worked out by hand, and the payment has to be keyed again in the books.

Mistakes follow. A bill that does not match its order gets paid anyway, a discount window closes the day before the payment, or one supplier gets three separate payments for three bills.

A payment run collects the bills due by a date, adds any still inside their early payment discount, and creates one payment voucher per supplier allocated to those bills. It respects bill matching and your voucher approval settings, and it is saved as a whole or not at all.

Why this happens

• Due bills are collected by hand from a list or report.
• Early payment discounts are worked out separately and often missed.
• Bills that do not match their order are paid without anyone checking.
• Each payment is keyed twice: once at the bank, once in the books.

Biznsbook addresses this through bills due by a date, early payment discounts, one voucher per supplier, csv for the bank in the Purchase module, on the same orders, receipts, bills and stock records.

Purchasing problems rarely start with one big mistake. They start with a price nobody checked, a bill keyed twice, or goods used before anyone looked at them. Recording each step where it happens removes those gaps.

Step-by-step: Pay Supplier Bills in a Payment Run

Written for buyers, store keepers and accounts payable teams in small and mid-sized businesses. The steps follow Purchase in Biznsbook.

1. Open Payment runs. Go to Purchasing → Payment runs. Set Payment date, Bills due by and, optionally, one supplier, then choose Show bills.
2. Review the list. Bills due by that date are listed, with overdue ones highlighted, plus any bill still inside its early payment discount on the payment date. Only bills in the company's main currency are listed.
3. Tick the bills to pay. The amount defaults to what the bill owes less any discount still available. Untick the discount to pay in full, or type a smaller amount for a part payment.
4. Clear bills on payment hold. A bill that does not match its order, with the hold set to Block, cannot be ticked. Accept the difference under Bill matching first.
5. Choose where to pay from. Pick a cash or bank account under Pay from and choose Create payments. You need the Create payments permission.
6. Check the result. One cash payment voucher is created per supplier and allocated to its bills. Each is posted straight away when no approval is needed, or left for checking and approval; the run tells you which.
7. Download the bank file. On the run's page, CSV for the bank gives one row per supplier with name, tax number, email, phone, amount, voucher and bills, to key the transfers.

Review results after the first full monthly cycle. Adjust roles, mappings, or approvals where the same exception repeats.

Inside Biznsbook, each Purchasing screen explains its own steps. This article explains the business process behind those screens.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Mistake 1: Due bills are collected by hand from a list or report. Repeating this each month usually shows up first in a supplier paid the wrong amount, late, or for goods that never arrived.
• Mistake 2: Early payment discounts are worked out separately and often missed. Repeating this each month usually shows up first in a supplier paid the wrong amount, late, or for goods that never arrived.
• Mistake 3: Bills that do not match their order are paid without anyone checking. Repeating this each month usually shows up first in a supplier paid the wrong amount, late, or for goods that never arrived.
• Mistake 4: Each payment is keyed twice: once at the bank, once in the books. Repeating this each month usually shows up first in a supplier paid the wrong amount, late, or for goods that never arrived.

Each of these shows up later as a supplier balance nobody can explain. Fix it on the order, receipt or bill rather than in a side spreadsheet.

Best practices that hold up as you scale

• Open Payment runs — Go to Purchasing → Payment runs.
• Review the list — Bills due by that date are listed, with overdue ones highlighted, plus any bill still inside its early payment discount on the payment date.
• Tick the bills to pay — The amount defaults to what the bill owes less any discount still available.
• Clear bills on payment hold — A bill that does not match its order, with the hold set to Block, cannot be ticked.
• Choose where to pay from — Pick a cash or bank account under Pay from and choose Create payments.

Keep the order, the receipt and the bill linked, so every payment can be traced back to what was ordered and what arrived.

How Biznsbook supports this workflow

bills due by a date is part of Biznsbook Purchase. It works on the same purchase orders, goods receipts and supplier bills, so stock, payables and the ledger stay in step.

early payment discounts is part of Biznsbook Purchase. It works on the same purchase orders, goods receipts and supplier bills, so stock, payables and the ledger stay in step.

one voucher per supplier is part of Biznsbook Purchase. It works on the same purchase orders, goods receipts and supplier bills, so stock, payables and the ledger stay in step.

csv for the bank is part of Biznsbook Purchase. It works on the same purchase orders, goods receipts and supplier bills, so stock, payables and the ledger stay in step.

Access is permission-based: viewing, creating, editing and approving purchases are separate permissions. Purchase orders and goods receipts need the Inventory module; postings to accounts payable need Accounting.

Suggested implementation timeline

1. Week 1: Set up bills due by a date and give buyers and accounts payable the permissions they need.
2. Week 2: Run one supplier end to end in Biznsbook only: order, receipt, bill and payment, with no side spreadsheet.
3. Week 3: Review the exceptions with the people involved and adjust the rules where they disagreed.
4. Month 2: Roll out to every supplier and retire the old tracking sheet.
5. Ongoing: Monthly review using correcting a payment run.

Related guides

Cluster hub: Purchasing guides. Also see three-way match and, for approvals before an order, procurement guides.

The Purchase overview lists what the module includes; the Purchasing edition bundles it with receiving and accounting.

Industry: wholesale, manufacturing, retail.

Metrics to track monthly

• Open purchase order lines past their delivery date
• Bills waiting in bill matching
• Overdue supplier bills and bills due in the next 7 days
• Purchase price variance by supplier this month

Start with three metrics; trend direction matters more than a single point-in-time snapshot.

Spreadsheets and email vs Biznsbook Purchase

Compare a typical spreadsheet-and-email buying process with Biznsbook bills due by a date and the related Purchase capabilities.

Correcting a payment run

A run is not cancelled as a single unit. To undo part of it, cancel the payment voucher through Payments, which releases the bills it paid, and cancel a discount through its supplier credit note. The run's page lists every bill, voucher and status, so you can see what was created. Payment hold also applies when you pay a bill outside a run: under Warn the payment is allowed with a warning naming the bill, and under Block it is refused until the difference is accepted.

Write the rule into your purchasing procedure so buyers, store keepers and accounts payable follow the same steps, and revisit it each quarter.

Frequently asked questions

How this differs by industry