Any retail store that has run for a few years buys from many sources: soft drink distributors, dairy distributors, garment workshops, wholesale market suppliers. Most are not paid in full at delivery. Some suppliers give rolling credit, some get half now and the other half at month end. The debt is recorded in a notebook, in Zalo messages with the delivery driver, on delivery notes clipped behind the counter. At month end the supplier sends a reconciliation statement, and the owner looks at the number without knowing whether it is right. This article explains how to record supplier debt at the moment you receive goods, so you can always answer three questions: who you owe, how much, and when it is due.
Every debt must be tied to a purchase receipt
The most common mistake is recording debt as a running total: "we owe distributor A this much in total". When it is time to reconcile, neither side knows which deliveries that number covers or which have been paid. A safer way is to make each delivery a separate debt, tied to that exact purchase receipt:
| Information recorded at receipt | Why |
|---|---|
| Supplier | Group all debts of one supplier when you need to reconcile |
| Supplier's delivery note number | Both sides refer to the same document, no arguing over which delivery is which |
| Delivery total and amount paid at receipt | Shows the outstanding amount for that delivery immediately |
| Due date | Know which debts are coming due so you can prepare the money |
| Branch, receiving staff | Multi-location stores know where the goods went and who received them |
At receipt: how much to pay, how much to record as debt
On Ordersys, the purchase receipt selects the supplier and records their delivery note number. If the option is turned on, the supplier's most recent purchase price fills in automatically when creating the receipt. That way the person receiving the goods sees right away whether this delivery's price differs from last time, before signing for it.
At the payment step, if only part is paid, the rest is recorded as debt on that purchase receipt, with a due date. The goods still go fully into stock and cost is still calculated correctly. Only the money is not fully paid yet, and the outstanding amount sits in the system rather than in anyone's memory.
One rule worth agreeing with staff: do not accept goods on credit without a delivery note. Without a note number, there is nothing to reconcile with the supplier at month end.
Paying in instalments: each payment is one line
For a debt paid over several times, each payment is recorded as its own line on that debt, with the amount and an attached document such as a screenshot of the bank transfer or a signed payment slip. The paid amount adds up, and the purchase receipt changes status automatically: unpaid, partly paid, fully paid.
When the supplier asks "has last month's amount been paid?", open the debt and you see each payment, which day, how much, with the supporting document attached. No more digging through your phone for transfer messages.
Check due debts weekly, reconcile at month end
The debt list can filter supplier debts separately from customers who buy on credit, and split them quickly into: due today, due soon, overdue. Opening the due-soon list at the start of each week tells you how much money to prepare that week, so several payments do not land at once. Each supplier's profile also has a debt section listing every debt with that supplier.
At month end, when the supplier sends a reconciliation statement:
- Open that supplier's debt section and compare each delivery note number with their statement.
- Deliveries they have that you do not: ask the person who received goods that day; the purchase receipt may not have been created.
- Payments they have not recorded: send them the attached supporting document.
- Faulty goods returned: create a supplier return slip so stock is reduced correctly, then agree with them which debt it is deducted from.
Recording supplier debt per purchase receipt looks like a few extra steps when receiving goods. In return, month-end reconciliation takes only a few minutes, and the store never double-pays or underpays any supplier.
Ordersys includes supplier management, purchase receipts that record debt with a due date, instalment payments with attached documents, and a list of debts coming due. See the retail management software and try it free for 7 days. Read more: grocery stores selling wholesale and retail: managing customer debt and per-customer prices and minimum stock: when to reorder.
Sell by barcode, track stock across units, manage debts and see profit every day.
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