Suppliers

Who can use this: Owner, Manager, Accountant. Approvers do not see supplier records. URL / Route: /finance/suppliers (finance.suppliers.index) is canonical. The legacy alias /finance/vendors (finance.vendors.index) routes to the same controller and is still wired up for older links. Plan / feature gate: feature:tracker.manage_vendors_suppliers (default: enabled). Permissions: suppliers.view, suppliers.create, suppliers.edit, suppliers.delete, plus supplier_categories.view / supplier_categories.manage for categories.

Purpose

Suppliers are the master records for everyone you buy from. Bills, expenses, purchase orders, debit notes, supplier refunds and bill payments all reference a supplier. The record carries default contact details, default tax behaviour, default expense account, and (optionally) a category for reporting.

The codebase calls these suppliers consistently. Some older routes still use the word "vendor" — treat them as the same thing. A few reports also keep the legacy name (e.g. the route finance.reports.vendor-balance-summary shows up as Supplier Balance Summary in the UI). See the Glossary for the full list of inherited terms.

Step by step

Browse the list

1. Open /finance/suppliers. Each row shows display name, contact, currency, AP balance (what you owe), category, status.
2. Filter by category, currency, or status.

Create a supplier

Route: finance.suppliers.create / finance.suppliers.store.

1. Click New supplier.
2. Enter Display name, optional Tax number, Email, Phone.
3. Pick Currency (defaults to base currency).
4. Pick Default tax behaviour (Standard / Zero-rated / Exempt / Reverse-charge).
5. Optionally pick a Default expense account so new expenses for this supplier prefill that account.
6. Optionally set a Supplier category for reporting.
7. Add billing address and bank details (used when sending payments).
8. Save.

A faster quick-store endpoint exists (finance.suppliers.quick-store) — used by inline pickers on Bill / Expense / PO screens.

Edit a supplier

Route: finance.suppliers.edit / finance.suppliers.update. Permission: suppliers.edit.

Update any field. Currency is locked once a supplier has any transactions in that currency.

View a supplier

Route: finance.suppliers.show. Permission: suppliers.view.

Tabs:

• Overview — outstanding AP balance, lifetime spend, oldest unpaid bill.
• Documents — bills, debit notes, purchase orders, expenses.
• Payments — bill payments and unapplied balances.

Archive / delete

• Archive via the Status toggle on Edit (suppliers.edit).
• Hard delete via list-row delete only when a supplier has zero transactions (suppliers.delete).

Supplier categories

Categories are simple labels for reporting purposes (Utilities, Subcontractors, Office supplies, etc.).

Routes: finance.suppliers.categories.index / create / store / edit / update / destroy.

Permissions: supplier_categories.view, supplier_categories.manage.

You can:

1. List all categories.
2. Create a new category with a name and (optional) description.
3. Edit or delete a category.

If a category is deleted, suppliers previously in it become "uncategorised".

Common mistakes

• "I can't pay this supplier." The supplier's bank details on the Edit page may be empty — fill them in (account name, IBAN / account number) and the Bill payment flow becomes available.
• Duplicate Tax number. Two suppliers cannot share the same tax number. The new-supplier form blocks it; if you see the warning, search the list first by tax number.
• Currency locked. A supplier's currency is locked once they have any posted document. Add a second supplier record if you need to bill the same entity in a different currency.
• Category vs Dimension confusion. Supplier categories are simple labels for reporting (Utilities, Subcontractors). For analytic tagging across documents — by department, project, cost centre — use Dimensions on bill / expense lines instead.
• "This supplier doesn't appear when scanning a receipt." OCR only auto-matches on supplier display name / tax number. If a receipt's vendor text doesn't match, pick the supplier manually after the scan.

Tips

• Use Global search (Ctrl/⌘ + K) to jump straight to a supplier by name, email, or tax number.
• The supplier show page has tabs for Overview / Documents / Payments — use Documents to see bills, expenses, POs, and debit notes in one list.
• For bulk imports, use /finance/suppliers/bulk-upload.

Behaviour and rules

• A supplier cannot be hard-deleted if any document references them. Archive instead.
• Currency is sticky once any transaction posts to the supplier in that currency.
• The default expense account flows into new bills/expenses but every line remains editable.
• Bank details on the supplier are used both for cheque/transfer printing and for the Pay supplier flow under Payments.
• Categories appear in the Purchases by category report.

Permissions / restrictions

• The Suppliers section is hidden if feature:tracker.manage_vendors_suppliers is off for the org.
• Approvers cannot see Suppliers.
• Manager can do everything except hard-delete.

Related

• Bills, Expenses, Purchase orders — every AP document references a supplier.
• Debit notes, Supplier refunds — credits and refunds from suppliers.
• Landed costs — freight / duty supplier bills spread across inventory.
• Payments — bill payments and unapplied balances.
• Pricing & price lists — supplier-specific buying prices.
• Dimensions & custom fields — analytic tagging beyond categories.
• Reports — Purchases by Supplier, Supplier Balance Summary, AP Aging.