Create and Manage Bills

Enter vendor bills, decide whether they stay in draft or post to Accounts Payable, and record bill payments from the Bills page.

Purpose

Use this workflow when you need to enter a vendor bill, recognize the payable, and record payment against the bill from inside SPRK.

Prerequisites

  • A vendor record exists.
  • The expense or other posting accounts for the bill lines are available.
  • Your company has an Accounts Payable account configured.
  • If you plan to record payment, the cash or bank account you want to pay from is available.

Steps

  1. Open Bills.
  2. Select New.
  3. Complete the bill header:
  • Bill #
  • Vendor
  • Date
  • Due date
  • Status
  • Terms, if needed
  1. Add one or more bill lines.
  2. For each line, choose the Account that should receive the expense or other debit.
  3. Complete the line description, quantity, unit cost, and review the calculated amount.
  4. Add Tax total or Memo if needed.
  5. Decide how the bill should be saved:
  • Draft stores the bill without posting Accounts Payable.
  • Open stores the bill and posts the payable based on the current bills workflow.
  1. Save the bill.
  2. Review the bill list to confirm the expected Status, Total, and Balance.
  3. When you are ready to record payment, use the dollar action for the bill.
  4. In Record payment, complete:
  • Payment date
  • Amount
  • Paid from
  • Reference #, if needed
  • Memo
  1. Record the payment and confirm the updated balance and status in the bill list.

Expected Result

The bill is saved and appears in the bill list. Current general ledger impact as of 2026-05-02:

  • Saving a bill as Draft does not post a journal entry.
  • Saving a bill as Open, or updating a bill from a non-open status to Open, posts one recognition entry:
  • Debit each bill line Account for that line amount.
  • Credit Accounts Payable for the total bill amount.
  • Recording a bill payment posts a separate payment entry:
  • Debit Accounts Payable.
  • Credit the selected Paid from account.
  • Full payment changes the bill to Paid. A smaller payment leaves the bill as Partial.

Common Mistakes

  • Leaving a bill in Draft when you expected the payable to post.
  • Choosing the wrong expense account on the bill line and then assuming SPRK will correct the ledger impact later.
  • Recording a payment without checking the remaining balance first.
  • Entering a payment amount larger than intended. Review overpayments carefully before recording them.
  • Assuming delete or void behavior reverses prior ledger impact automatically. This article documents bill creation and payment behavior only.

Info

  • App sections: bills
  • Last validated: 2026-05-02
  • Screenshot status: not-started