Before a supplier bill goes into QuickBooks Online: a checklist

In QuickBooks Online a bill has no draft stage. Once you save it, it is open: it appears in what you owe, in your reports and in the next payment run. So the checks on a supplier invoice have to happen before the bill is saved, not afterwards. Here is the list.

1. The right vendor, once

Check the vendor against the supplier's name and tax ID on the invoice. “Acme Supplies Ltd” and “ACME Supplies Limited” set up as two vendors split the supplier's history in two, and a duplicate check on one vendor never sees bills on the other. If the vendor is new, ask why before you create it: a new vendor with a familiar name is a classic route for invoice fraud.

2. The invoice number, exactly as printed

Put the supplier's invoice number in Bill no. exactly as printed, and nothing else. A consistent number is what lets you search for a bill before entering it again. Search for that vendor and number before you save.

3. Dates and terms

Enter the invoice date from the document, not today's date. Check that the due date fits the printed terms: an invoice dated 1 March on 30-day terms is due on 31 March. A due date that doesn't fit the terms is a question for the supplier.

4. The arithmetic

Recalculate before you type. Quantity times unit price for each line, the lines against the subtotal, and subtotal plus tax against the total. A bill that you key in to match a wrong invoice total carries the supplier's mistake into your books.

5. Tax, as the invoice charges it

• Outside the US (UK, Australia, Canada and others), give each line the purchase tax code for the rate the invoice charges. An invoice with standard-rated and zero-rated lines needs both codes, not one averaged rate. The tax on the bill should equal the tax on the invoice, to the penny.
• In the US, bills don't carry sales tax codes. Sales tax the supplier charged is part of your cost. Keep it on its own line so it is visible and the bill total equals the invoice total.

6. The purchase order, if there is one

Purchase orders are available on QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced (Intuit). If the purchase was ordered, compare the invoice with the PO: the same items, the agreed prices, and no more than was ordered. QuickBooks Online has no goods receipt record, so whether the goods actually arrived has to come from a delivery note or the person who received them.

7. The currency

A bill in a currency other than your home currency needs multicurrency turned on. Intuit is clear that once multicurrency is on, it can't be turned off and your home currency can't be changed (Intuit). Decide that before the first foreign-currency invoice arrives, not on the day it does. And never enter a foreign-currency invoice as if it were in your home currency: the payable is wrong from the start.

8. The original, attached

Attach the invoice PDF to the bill. Whoever pays it, and whoever audits it later, should see the document the bill came from without asking for it.

How Tenet handles it

Tenet reads your chart of accounts, purchase tax codes and vendors from QuickBooks Online, and purchase orders on every sync. Each invoice is recalculated and checked for duplicates, supplier details, tax and dates before anyone approves it. A person on your team approves every invoice; only then is it posted.

When posting, Tenet keeps each tax rate the invoice charges, and the bill's lines plus tax must equal the invoice total to the penny, or the invoice is held with the reason instead of posted. It attaches the original document. It never posts the same invoice twice: before creating a bill it searches QuickBooks for one with the same vendor and number. An invoice in a foreign currency, for a company that works only in its home currency, is held with a message to turn on multicurrency rather than posted at the wrong value.