Buying with a paper trail.

Purchase orders, goods receipts and supplier bills

Goods receipts are optional. If your storekeeper checks deliveries before the bill arrives, switch them on: stock comes in on the receipt, and the bill follows. If you buy over the counter and are billed on the spot, leave them off and the bill brings the goods in directly. Either way, the bill is capped at what was received and not yet billed. For services, or for a supplier who always bills before delivery, the cap is what was ordered instead. The goods received not billed report lists deliveries still waiting for a bill.

• Optional goods receipts, switched on per workspace
• Bills capped at received minus already billed
• Suppliers marked to bill in advance
• Pending receipts and goods received not billed reports

Landed costs: freight and duty in the product cost

The price on the supplier’s invoice is rarely what the goods really cost you. Add freight, customs duty, clearing or insurance to a bill as cost lines, and Flowyana spreads them across the goods received, by value or by quantity. A separate expense, such as a clearing agent’s invoice, can also be added to the cost of a receipt. If the bill’s price differs from what was received, product cost is adjusted to match. Stock valuation and gross margin then reflect the true cost.

• Freight, duty and other cost lines on a bill
• Spread by value or by quantity
• Expenses added to the cost of a receipt
• Cost corrected when the billed price differs

Purchase returns and debit notes

A return to a supplier takes the goods out of stock and issues a debit note automatically, reversing the payable and the input VAT. Damaged goods are handled line by line. A debit note can also be raised on its own, against a bill line or as a flat amount, for a short delivery or a price dispute. Apply it to the supplier’s open bills, or record the refund when the supplier pays you back.

• Returns that issue their own debit note
• Debit notes by line or as a flat amount
• Applied to bills, or refunded by the supplier

VAT and withholding tax on purchases

Each bill line carries its own tax rate, so standard-rated, zero-rated and exempt purchases are kept apart, and input VAT lands in the right box of your VAT return. Imported services can be set to reverse charge, recording the VAT you owe and recover together. Where your country requires it, withholding tax is calculated on bills from non-resident suppliers and reported on the withholding return. Bills can also carry non-stock lines, such as a repair or a subscription, alongside stock items.

• Input VAT per line, into the VAT return
• Reverse charge on imported services
• Withholding tax on non-resident supplier bills, where configured
• Non-stock lines on the same bill

Suppliers, price lists and approvals

Each supplier keeps its contacts, the products it supplies with their prices and lead times, and its whole history of orders, receipts, bills, returns and payments. Low-stock alerts suggest a reorder quantity and the preferred supplier, so the next order is quick. When you need control over spending, approval workflows can cover purchase orders, bills, returns, debit notes and supplier payments, with amount thresholds and more than one level.

• Supplier contacts, price lists and lead times
• Reorder suggestions with the preferred supplier
• Multi-level approvals with amount thresholds

Purchase reports and AP aging

The Purchases app has its own Reports group: purchases, purchase orders, goods receipts, pending receipts, purchase returns, supplier and tax, plus AP aging and goods received not billed. AP aging breaks what you owe into current, 30, 60 and 90-plus days, per supplier. Reports filter by branch and export to Excel, CSV or PDF, so the buyer, the storekeeper and the accountant each read the view they need.