#Buying

The purchase side mirrors the sales side: a request for quotation goes to vendors, the best quote becomes a purchase order, the goods arrive as a receipt, the vendor's invoice is entered as a bill, and Pay Bills settles them. As on the sales side you can start anywhere — many bills are entered straight from the supplier's invoice with no order behind them — and TRACE shows the chain.

#Requests for quotation

Purchase → RFQs → New RFQ. An RFQ has a title, a deadline for quotes, the vendors you're asking, and lines — products or free text, quantities, units, and an optional target price per line: your own expectation, never shown to vendors, that the comparison later marks each quote against.

#Entering and comparing quotes

Vendors reply by email or phone; you record each on the RFQ's Quotes tab: the vendor's quote number, received date, valid-until date, currency and rate, line prices, lead time, payment terms, notes, and an attachment of their document. The comparison lays quotes side by side, marks prices under or over your target, and totals each. Award picks the winner; Convert to PO creates the purchase order with the awarded prices. Losing quotes stay on the RFQ for the record.

#Purchase orders

Purchase → Purchase Orders, or from an RFQ award. Vendor, order date, expected delivery, currency, lines.

Send ▾ prints or emails the PO to the vendor. Create Bill offers two ways: bill received quantity (the normal case — only what has arrived) or bill full PO for advance billing when the vendor invoices before delivery; a line whose rest was closed bills what came either way. ⋯ holds Duplicate, Cancel and Delete (drafts only). Once anything has arrived, or a bill is posted, the order isn't cancelled — what came stays received and billable — so Cancel gives way to Close the rest (in the list's ⋯ too): the goods still owed won't come, and the order finishes at what arrived. When nothing has arrived but a bill is posted on the order — goods billed ahead, or a forwarder's freight under Landed cost for — there is no rest to close either: Cancel and Close the rest name that bill. Unpost it (Purchase → Bills), then cancel the order; to keep the freight, pick another order under Landed cost for on the bill and post it again.

#What has arrived, line by line

Each line counts what arrived for it, in its own unit: a line of 1 carton of 24 with 12 pieces in reads Received 0.5 (= 12 under it), and the order is not received until the other half comes. The same product on two lines counts for each line. Services and lines without a product don't go through the warehouse: they count as received with the goods (a PO of services only has nothing to wait for).

When goods are still owed and no receipt is open for them, a strip above the lines says so, with two doors:

• Receive the rest — makes a receipt for what is owed (the header's button says the same).
• Close the rest… — the goods aren't coming: each line is finished at what arrived, any open receipt lines for them are cancelled, and the order can be received and billed. Add a note if you like.

A line whose rest was closed — by Close the rest, or by validating a receipt without a backorder — shows rest closed under its received figure, and the strip offers Reopen the rest…: the goods are expected again and a receipt is made for them. Cancelling the receipt that closed a line opens its rest again, and so does correcting a receipt until nothing has come on the order. Closing needs the Purchase orders — edit right.

A line billed for more than arrived — billed ahead with bill full PO, then its rest closed — says so on the strip: Already billed for 4 Gadget that won't come. Goods received not billed holds the difference until it is settled (the health check shows it on the order): if the bill isn't paid yet, unpost it and bill what came; otherwise settle it with the vendor.

What arrived and what was billed keep 8 decimals in the line's unit, so part cartons bill to the cent: 13 pieces of a carton of 24 at 240 is 0.54166667 of a carton, billed at 130.00 — exactly what the receipt booked.

#Receipts

Created from a confirmed PO with Create Receipt; found under Inventory → Receipts and from the PO's View Receipt. Enter the quantities actually received (short deliveries are normal — with Create backorder for missing qty ticked the rest waits on a backorder; unticked, the rest of each short line is closed on the PO, as above), lot or serial numbers for tracked products (a product with serial numbers comes in whole pieces), and Validate. Stock goes up in the warehouse and, for stockable products, the value is booked to inventory at the PO's net price per piece — after the line's discount, in your currency at the PO's exchange rate, a carton's price shared over the pieces in it — against Goods Received Not Billed — the liability that says "we have this, the bill is still coming." That's the first leg of the three-way match.

More came than ordered or billed? The dialog says where the extra goes before you validate: on an order's receipt it comes into stock at the order's price and waits in Goods Received Not Billed until the supplier bills it; on the receipt of a bill typed without an order, the bill doesn't cover it, so it comes into stock at the bill's price and its value is posted as a price variance.

#Vendor bills

Purchase → Vendor Bills → New, from a PO's Create Bill, or from an inbound e-invoice. Vendor, bill date, due date (from the vendor's terms), currency and rate, the vendor's own reference number, lines.

#Link to PO

A new bill can start from an order: pick it in Link to PO and its lines come in with what is left to bill on each (ordered less already billed, or received when the rest was closed), the order's VAT and each product's expense account. The bill keeps the order. The goods came in on the order's receipt, so posting the bill makes no receipt of its own; an order with nothing left to bill says so.

#Three-way match

When a bill comes from a PO, Tamra lines up three things — what you ordered, what you received, and what you're billing — and flags any line where the billed quantity exceeds the received quantity or the unit price differs from the PO. A mismatch is flagged, not blocked: you can approve it knowingly, and the flag stays on the bill. The (i) link What is three-way match (and GRNB)? on the bill explains it in place.

#Where the cost goes

For stockable lines the cost was already booked to inventory at receipt; posting the bill clears Goods Received Not Billed against Accounts Payable, at exactly what the receipt booked. An order received in parts and billed once clears to 0.00: the fils left by rounding each receipt go to price variance. So does a bill typed without an order whose goods come in parts: the receipt that completes it sends the fils to price variance. A bill at a different exchange rate from the PO's: that part goes to exchange gain or loss. A bill at a different price: the difference goes to price variance — or, if Settings → Company → Inventory price variance is on, the share still on the shelf goes into its value. A standard-cost product always stays at its standard, so its difference always goes to price variance. A bill with no PO behind it values its goods the same way, at the bill's own price and rate. The account on a line therefore matters only for service and expense lines — rent, subscriptions, freight — which post to that account directly. Tax input is recorded per line. A bill in another currency books each line at its rate and the VAT at its own amount; a cent or two left over by converting line by line goes to Rounding Differences.

#Landed cost

Freight, customs duty, insurance, handling — costs that aren't the goods but are part of getting them onto the shelf. Open a line's costing drawer and tick Landed cost: instead of expensing the line, Tamra shares it over the goods on the linked PO by their value, so each unit's cost reflects the true cost. Buy 100 units for 2,500 with 300 freight ticked as landed and each unit now costs 28, not 25; sell one and the fuller cost flows to cost of goods sold. Where the goods are decides where their share goes: on the shelf, their value rises; not received yet, the share waits in Goods Received Not Billed and joins them when they arrive; already sold, it goes to the freight line's own account, since no stock is left to carry it. A standard-cost product stays at its standard and its share goes to price variance. Leave it unticked for ordinary expenses.

A freight forwarder's or customs broker's bill isn't from the goods' supplier: on such a bill (landed-cost lines and no line from an order), Landed cost for picks the order its costs are for, whatever the supplier. A landed-cost line on a bill with no order isn't posted: pick the order, or untick Landed cost to post the line as an expense. If an order line is closed before its goods come, the freight waiting for them joins the goods that came, or goes to the freight line's own account.

#Tax-inclusive prices

A switch on the editor for suppliers whose prices already include VAT; Tamra backs the tax out so totals match the supplier's document. A line whose VAT rate is set as included in the price keeps the price as typed and books the amount before VAT: 105 with 5% included is 100 of cost and 5 of VAT, 105 payable. A line discount counts as soon as it's typed.

#VAT you can't recover, and the reverse charge

Two rates on a bill line change what posting does with the VAT (Settings → Tax; a UAE company has both):

• Standard Rated (5%), not recoverable — for VAT the law doesn't let you claim back (Executive Regulation Art. 53: client entertainment, a car for personal use and the like). The bill still shows the VAT the supplier charged, but posting books it as part of the cost, to the rate's own account if it names one, else the line's account (a stock line's goes to the default expense account, so the goods keep their cost), not to input VAT. The VAT return leaves it out of Boxes 9 and 13. A rate of your own can keep only a share as not recoverable.
• Reverse Charge (5%) — for a supplier abroad, whose invoice carries no VAT. The line shows no VAT and the bill's total has none; under the totals the editor shows Reverse charge: VAT you account for. Posting books that VAT both as due (output) and as recoverable (input), so it usually nets to nothing, and the VAT return puts it in Boxes 3 and 10. A purchase order adds no VAT for it either. A bill saved with VAT on a reverse-charge line is refused at posting until you open it and save it again.

A debit note on such a bill takes back its share of both, on a bill in another currency too, and a debit note with a free line posts. Once a rate is on posted bills, its share and its reverse charge can't change: add a new rate for a new treatment. An expense claim can use the not-recoverable rate but not the reverse charge: enter a supplier abroad's invoice as a bill.

#Posting and after

Save & Post posts the bill: it takes its BILL- number, the journal entry is written, the fields lock. A bill whose lines, with their VAT, don't come to its total is refused (Bill … doesn't add up): open it, check the lines and save it again. Once posted, a bill changes only through Unpost, payments and debit notes, and an edit saved while someone posts it doesn't change what was posted. Adding or changing a bill needs the bill create or edit right, deleting a draft delete — on the screen or any other way. A bill from an order can't bill goods another bill already took: two bills for the same 6 received units are refused at posting (The order's "…" is billed already), and a second draft from the order starts with what the first draft doesn't hold. Then the header follows its life — Record Payment while something is open (in the bill's own currency: a USD bill is paid in USD, with the AED it comes to shown under the amount; what is open is after payments and debit notes) (bank transfer, cheque, cash, card, or Mobile or online, which the books keep as an online payment), Send ▾ (print, email the vendor), and ⋯ with Unpost (nothing paid yet, and no debit note set against it) and Apply Advance when the vendor holds one of yours. The Payments tab shows every settlement — payments, advances applied, debit notes offset — and the small bar beside TRACE shows the settled share. Remove, under an advance there, takes it back off a bill it was applied to by mistake: the entry that applied it is reversed on its own date, the bill is open again for that amount, and the advance can be applied to the right bill. It needs the right to post bills; one applied on or before the Books Lock Date stays. Paying a bill needs the right to post bills, or Bank Reconciliation.

A bill with a debit note set against it isn't unposted: the message names the note. Correct the bill with another debit note for what it billed too much, or a new bill for what it left out. Archive (the list's ⋯) hides a settled bill; a bill or debit note with money still open can't be archived, since it would drop out of the Bills total and the phone's payables while the books still owe it. Archiving and unarchiving need Bills — edit.

#Debit notes

When the vendor owes you — goods returned, an overcharge — raise a debit note from the posted bill's header (Debit Note), for all of it or selected lines. A line with a discount is debited at its net price, as the bill charged it (4 of a line at 10 less 10% is 36.00); the dialog shows the discount beside the line. A line priced VAT included is debited at its price before VAT, so a 105.00 bill gives back 105.00 (100.00 and 5.00 VAT), not 110.25. With goods returned, they go back from the warehouse they arrived in. Post it, then on the note's own header either Apply to bill (reduces what you owe) or Record refund (the vendor pays you back; recorded as money in, dated on or after the note). The bill's Payments tab shows the offset as a settlement. The ⋯ menu on a debit note in the bills list offers the same two. Debit notes that between them take a whole line — one with recoverable VAT, or none — take exactly that line and its VAT: the last one takes what is left, so the bill settles to the fils (three notes of 1 on a line of 3 × 294.525 come to the line's 883.58, not 883.59). The Debit Note window shows that amount, and a fixed asset bought on the line comes down by exactly as much. On a line with VAT you can't recover, or a reverse charge, each note is rounded on its own. A debit note is never paid: Record Payment isn't offered on one, Pay Bills and payment runs leave debit notes out (the server refuses them: Debit note … is money the vendor owes you), and a supplier advance pays bills, not debit notes. A debit note posts from its bill only — a draft one has no Save & Post — and once it is set against its bill, or sends goods back, it can't be unposted: to undo it, enter a new bill for the same items.

#Costs you charge on to a customer

On a bill line, expand the line and tick Rebill to customer, then pick the customer and an optional markup. On a draft invoice for that customer, Uninvoiced Bills lists the bill: click it and its lines come in at the bill's price plus the markup, in the invoice's currency (a USD cost on an AED invoice comes in at its AED value). Each comes in at your normal sales VAT, not the bill's purchase rate: a cost charged on is part of what you supply. A true disbursement, paid in the customer's name and passed on at cost, can be set to Out of Scope on the draft. Posting the invoice marks the bill invoiced; until then the bill stays on the list, and a draft made from it can be deleted. A bill's costs go on one invoice per customer: a second one is refused unless credit notes fully reversed the first.

#Vendor advances

You paid a supplier a deposit before the bill. From the bank statement line, Reconcile → New advance to [vendor]: Tamra records an outbound payment to Advances to Suppliers, and matches the line. When the bill arrives, ⋯ → Apply Advance on the bill lists the vendor's open advances; applying one, on the date you give, allocates it against the bill and releases the advance, and the bill shows Partial or Paid as if paid in money. Applied to the wrong bill, it comes off with Remove on that bill's Payments tab. Until it is applied, the vendor's statement shows the advance as money the vendor holds for you.

#Paying bills

Purchase → Pay Bills is for paying many bills at once: filter by vendor or currency, tick the bills (edit the amount on any for a part payment; each starts at what is open after debit notes), choose the bank account (one of the bank or cash accounts under Banking; the default bank is picked when it is clear), the payment date (never before a bill's own date: money paid earlier is a prepayment — record it under Books → Payments → Advance / deposit, then apply it to the bill) and an optional reference, and run. Tamra makes one payment per vendor, allocates it across that vendor's ticked bills, posts the entries, and marks the bills partial or paid. Each payment then has a voucher and appears in the Payments register. A bill in another currency paid in parts clears to exactly 0.00, also when a payment in the middle is voided and paid again. If the page says No bank account set up, add one under Books → Reconciliation first.

#Purchase dashboard and reports

Purchase → Dashboard — spend this period, open payables, top vendors, orders awaiting receipt or bill. Spend and payables are counted as Aged Payable counts them: a debit note takes off spend, what it took off a bill isn't owed, and one not yet used is owed to you; every bill is read, not the first 1,000. Purchase → Reports — Purchases by Period, Spend by Vendor, and A/P Aging (what you owe, by age), with the same period presets as Sales and export.

#Common questions

The vendor's bill has a line that wasn't on the PO. Add it to the bill; the match flags the line as unmatched and you approve it. Freight and handling are the usual case — consider ticking landed cost.

We received 80 of 100 ordered. Receive 80; the PO stays Confirmed for the remaining 20 and a second receipt closes it. Bill the received quantity.

The vendor invoiced before shipping. Create Bill → bill full PO (advance billing). The receipt later clears against it.

Do I need RFQs and POs? No. Enter bills directly when there's no order. The chain earns its keep when several people buy, or when receipts and bills arrive at different times.

A bill's due date is wrong. It came from the vendor's payment terms; change it on the bill before posting, and fix the vendor's terms.

#If something goes wrong

• Post refuses on a bill from a PO → a line bills more than was received; receive first, or bill the received quantity.
• Posting says the bill doesn't add up → its lines with their VAT don't come to its total. Open it, check the lines and save it again.
• Unpost is refused: a debit note is set against the bill → correct the bill with another debit note, or a new bill for what it left out.
• Unpost is refused: an exchange revaluation revalued the bill → the revaluation is still in the books. Reverse it on Multi-Currency → Revalue (pick its date, Reverse it), unpost, then revalue that date again — or enter a debit note instead.
• Cancel or Close the rest names a bill to unpost → nothing has arrived, but that bill is posted on the order. Unpost it, then cancel the order.
• "A payment can't be dated before its bill" → the money went out before the bill's date: record it as a prepayment under Books → Payments → Advance / deposit, then apply it to the bill.
• Archive is refused: money still open → pay the bill, or settle it with a debit note, first.
• Link to PO says everything on the order is billed already → its bills cover every line; open them from the order, or start the bill without the order.
• The bill's expense account shows a stockable item → correct; stockable lines route to Goods Received Not Billed automatically, and the account on the line is ignored for them.
• Posting says the bill has no exchange rate → it's in another currency with no rate; add the rate under Settings → Exchange Rates or type it on the bill, then post.
• Saving says a line has an amount but no description → give the line a description (or pick a product), or remove it; Tamra won't drop a priced line silently.
• Pay Bills shows a bill twice → it's in two currencies' views; filter by currency.
• An advance doesn't appear on Apply Advance → it was recorded to a different vendor, is already applied, or isn't confirmed. Check the vendor's page.
• The receipt validated but stock didn't move → the product is a consumable or service, which carry no stock.