Suppliers are the businesses you buy from. Purchase orders, bills, expenses, debit notes, supplier refunds and bill payments all reference a supplier, and each supplier's page shows their payable history, statement and actions such as New Bill and Make Payment.
Where to find it
AP (Purchases) (left rail) → Suppliers group:
| Item | URL |
|---|---|
| All Suppliers | /suppliers |
| Add Supplier | /suppliers/create |
| Categories | /suppliers/categories |
| Add Category | /suppliers/categories/create |
The supplier list
Header buttons (top right): Bulk Upload, Excel, Add Supplier.
Filters (one row, shared list layout): search ("Search suppliers..."), All statuses (the list opens on Active; choose Archived to see archived suppliers), All Categories, All supplier types (Local, Import), All balances (Owes money, Settled, In credit), All activity (With transactions, No transactions), and Sort by (Name (A-Z) by default, Highest balance, Most billed, Recently added). The list updates as you pick a filter; Filter applies typed text and Clear resets everything.
Columns:
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| (tick box) | Select rows for bulk Excel export. |
| Name | The supplier name as a link; the company name underneath when it differs from the name. |
| Categories | Category chips, or a dash. |
| Contact | Phone (left to right) with the email underneath. |
| Currency | The supplier's default currency code, if one is set. |
| Balance payable (with your base currency, for example AED, under the heading) | What you owe the supplier in base currency, from the posted accounts-payable ledger. Positive means you owe them; a credit balance (they owe you) is shown in a different style with a minus sign. |
| Status | Active or Archived. |
| (menu) | Row actions. |
The balance is the same figure as AP Balance on the supplier profile and the closing balance of the Supplier Statement: bills, expenses and supplier refunds increase it; payments, applied advances and debit notes decrease it. Total billed and total paid are no longer list columns; they are on the profile as AP increases and AP decreases.
Row menu (the three dots at the end of the row): View, Statement (PDF), Edit, and Archive supplier or Restore supplier. Tick rows (or Select visible records) for bulk export and archive. Excel downloads the list with the filters you have set; ticked rows export alone.
Create a supplier
- Click Add Supplier.
- Fill in the form:
| Section | Field | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| — | Name * | Required. |
| Company Name | Legal/trading name. | |
| Phone, Email | Optional; email must be valid. | |
| Categories | Optional. "Use categories for supplier reporting and filtering; you can leave this blank and classify the supplier later." New Category creates one inline. | |
| Supplier type | Import / Overseas supplier | "Check if supplier is located outside your country (import). Uncheck for local suppliers." Imports drive reverse-charge/import VAT handling on bills. |
| VAT registered | "Supplier is registered for VAT." | |
| Tax Number (TRN) | "Optional for overseas suppliers." | |
| Contact Person | Name, Title / Post | |
| Address | Address Line 1/2, City, Country | |
| Locations | Add Location — label, address, coordinates | Optional, several allowed |
| Bank Info | Bank Name, Branch, Account Name, Account Number | |
| Cliq Info | Cliq Name, Cliq Type, Cliq Alias/Number | |
| Custom fields | If defined for suppliers |
- Click Add Supplier at the bottom. If saving fails nothing is created: "Unable to create supplier. No changes were saved."
You can also create a supplier from a bill or expense: the Supplier field is a searchable selector with an add option (requires supplier manage permission).
The supplier profile page
Open a supplier from the list (/suppliers/{id}).
- Date range from → to with Apply.
- Actions: New Bill, Make Payment (active suppliers), Edit Supplier, PDF statement, Print.
- More Actions: New Purchase Order, Excel, Relationship Map, Use also as customer, Review Stock party (SolaStock-connected orgs), Archive Supplier / Restore Supplier.
Cards: Supplier Profile, Contact (Company Name, email, phone, contact person), type and VAT registration, address, Locations, Bank Info, Cliq Info, Financial summary (AP increases, AP decreases, Total Credits, Total Refunded, AP Balance, plus Remaining opening credit when the supplier still has an unused opening credit from data migration), Purchase Documents, Payments, Email History, Recent Activity, and Journal Entries & Balance Changes — the supplier's Accounts Payable sub-ledger with running balance. Sidebar: Quick Stats (purchase orders, bills, payments, debit notes) and custom fields.
Make Payment opens a bill payment with the supplier preselected. See Payments.
How the Financial summary is calculated
Since October 2026 the figures come from the posted accounts-payable ledger in base currency up to the end of the date range you apply, not from adding up document totals. That keeps the profile equal to the supplier statement and the aging reports (Payables reports).
| Figure | Meaning |
|---|---|
| AP increases | Everything that raised the payable: posted bills, posted unpaid expenses, supplier refunds received. |
| AP decreases | Everything that lowered it: payments, applied supplier advances, applied or posted debit notes. |
| Total Credits | The part of the decreases that came from debit notes. |
| Total Refunded | Supplier refunds received in cash against debit notes. |
| AP Balance | AP increases minus AP decreases. Red when you owe the supplier, green when it is zero or a credit. |
Drafts, voided documents and entries dated after the range end are not included. A foreign-currency document counts at its posted base-currency value, so the profile may differ from the document total shown in its own currency.
Supplier categories
AP (Purchases) → Categories lists categories; Add Category creates one (name must be unique: "A category with this name already exists."). Use them to filter the list and in purchase reports.
Bulk import suppliers
- On All Suppliers, click Bulk Upload (
/suppliers/bulk-upload). - Type rows or download Template (Excel) / CSV and Upload File.
- Columns: Name, Contact, Tax / VAT (TRN, VAT reg, Overseas), Categories (comma-separated; + add category), Contact Person, Address, Bank, CliQ, Custom Fields.
- Rows are validated: "A supplier with the same normalized name already exists.", "A supplier with this phone already exists.", "A supplier with this email already exists.", plus duplicate checks within the file.
- Click Import N suppliers (the count of valid rows). You return with "Imported N supplier(s). Skipped M row(s)."
Worked example
Al Noor Trading LLC adds Gulf Paper Supplies LLC (local, VAT registered, TRN 100345678900003, category Stationery). A bill for AED 4,000 + 5% VAT is posted:
| Account | Debit (AED) | Credit (AED) |
|---|---|---|
| Office supplies expense | 4,000.00 | |
| Input VAT | 200.00 | |
| Accounts payable — Gulf Paper Supplies LLC | 4,200.00 |
The profile shows AP increases 4,200.00 and AP Balance 4,200.00 until Make Payment is recorded.
Second example: a credit and a refund. Two weeks later Gulf Paper Supplies LLC credits AED 525.00 (AED 500.00 + 25.00 VAT) for damaged cartons, then sends the money back to Emirates NBD instead of reducing a bill.
| Step | Journal (AED) | AP increases | AP decreases | AP Balance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bill BL-2041 posted | Dr Office supplies 4,000 + Dr Input VAT 200 / Cr Accounts payable 4,200 | 4,200.00 | 0.00 | 4,200.00 |
| Debit note DN-0007 posted | Dr Accounts payable 525 / Cr Office supplies 500 + Cr Input VAT 25 | 4,200.00 | 525.00 | 3,675.00 |
| Supplier refund SRF-0002 posted | Dr Bank 525 / Cr Accounts payable 525 | 4,725.00 | 525.00 | 4,200.00 |
Total Credits shows 525.00 and Total Refunded 525.00. The supplier still holds AED 4,200.00 of unpaid bill, because the refund returned cash instead of reducing the bill. In the list, Balance payable also reads 4,200.00.
Rules and permissions
- suppliers.view to view; suppliers.manage to create, edit, archive, import and quick-create. Supplier categories need supplier_categories.manage.
- The default Purchasing role (added October 2026) can view and manage suppliers, create and edit draft purchase orders and bills, and prepare draft debit notes. It cannot post, pay or void, and has no general report access (the AP aging reports open for anyone who can view bills). See the role matrix in Team access.
- Archived suppliers keep their history but are not offered on new documents.
- New-supplier approval, when enabled, turns saves and imports into proposals — see Workflow approvals.
Common problems
- Supplier not in the bill selector — archived; restore it.
- Import skips rows — name, phone or email already used by another supplier.
- Wrong VAT on bills — check Import / Overseas supplier and VAT registered.
- A balance differs from a bill total — the balance is the ledger balance after payments, debit notes, refunds and applied advances. Open the Supplier Statement for the same dates to see each movement.
- The list shows no archived suppliers — the list opens on Active; change the status filter to Archived or All statuses.