---
title: "Academy S2. Specialist: Purchasing and Payables"
description: "Specialist lesson 2: purchase orders and receiving, bills and payments, quick payment, vendor returns and credits, vendor tax information and AP aging."
url: "https://theasst.com/docs/academy-s2-specialist-purchasing-and-payables/"
updated: "2026-10-30"
category: Academy
---

# Academy S2. Specialist: Purchasing and Payables

*TBA Specialist: Purchasing and Payables · about 5 hours*

## After this lesson you can

- Follow a purchase from order to receipt to bill to payment, and say what posts at each step.
- Use a Quick Payment for a one-off disbursement and know when a bill is the right tool.
- Return goods to a vendor and track the credit.
- Handle vendor credits and overpayments.
- Use vendor tax information, AP Aging and the Cash Flow Forecast for payables.

## Why it matters

What you owe, and when it is due, drives your cash. Purchasing mistakes hide easily, because an order posts nothing and a bill can receive stock.

## Read

- [Purchase Orders](https://theasst.com/docs/purchase-orders/)
- [Bills](https://theasst.com/docs/bills/)
- [Bill Payments](https://theasst.com/docs/bill-payments/)
- [Quick Payment](https://theasst.com/docs/quick-payment/)
- [Vendor Returns](https://theasst.com/docs/vendor-returns/)
- [Vendor Tax / 1099](https://theasst.com/docs/vendor-tax-1099/)
- [Payment Terms Setup](https://theasst.com/docs/payment-terms-setup/)
- [AP Aging](https://theasst.com/docs/ap-aging/) and [Cash Flow Forecast](https://theasst.com/docs/cash-flow-forecast/)

## Purchase orders and receiving

A **purchase order** is a commitment to buy. It posts nothing: no expense and no payable exists until goods arrive or a bill is entered. Its status is Open, Partial, Received or Cancelled, depending on how much has been received. Staff with permission can use **Change Status** to correct a status, for example on an imported order that wrongly shows Cancelled.

Saving a **bill** with stocked item lines **receives them into inventory**, with the cost from the bill line, so enter the bill when you have the goods. A bill can be attached to more than one purchase order; each line's receipt rolls back to its own order. For an item on a client's special order that is not in stock, the cost goes to that client's order and to cost of goods sold, not to shelf stock. Comparing the order, the receipt and the bill before paying catches quantities or prices you never ordered or received.

## Bills and payments

Saving a bill debits the expense or inventory accounts and credits accounts payable. A **bill payment** debits accounts payable and credits the bank or card account that pays it. Pay several bills at once from the list of bills to pay. A bill is recognised in the month the cost was incurred on the accrual basis, whatever month you pay it. If you void a payment, the bill is owed again.

A **Quick Payment** is for a one-off disbursement, such as a card swipe for an online purchase, with no bill. It debits the expense accounts on its lines and credits the bank or card account directly. The payee can be a vendor, an employee or a client (clients for refunds), and the method can be cash, check, credit card, debit card, ACH or other.

## Returns and vendor credits

Starting a **vendor return** takes the units out of inventory at once, but the bill and the ledger are untouched, so you still owe the full bill while the return is Pending. When the vendor's credit memo arrives, record it on the return, which books a **vendor credit**: a bill with a negative total. Returns can be partial, down to the chosen serial numbers. An **overpayment** to a vendor also becomes a vendor credit that you apply to a future bill.

## Vendor records and reporting

Vendor tax information supports 1099 reporting for contractors you pay for services (wages go through payroll instead). It has its own permissions because it can include tax ID numbers. A vendor's payment terms set the due date on its bills. **AP Aging** shows unpaid bills by how overdue they are, and the **Cash Flow Forecast** includes them as cash going out. The audit log shows who changed a bill and what it said before.

## Try it

1. Create a purchase order, receive half of it, and see the status change to Partial.
2. Enter the vendor's bill and look at the inventory lot it created.
3. Start a vendor return from that bill, then look at the stock and at the bill. Record the credit memo.
4. Make a Quick Payment to a vendor for an expense with no bill.
5. Run AP Aging before and after paying a bill.

## Check yourself

Explain to a colleague what a purchase order, a bill and a bill payment each post, and what still happens to the bill while a vendor return is pending. A Specialist exam is planned for a later release; the areas it will cover are the four sections above.