Purpose
Purchasing keeps supplier records, purchase orders, receipts, new stock, and accounts-payable bills together. Use a purchase order when you are ordering from a supplier. Use manual receiving when stock arrived without a FlintPOS purchase order. Use Bills & Payments to record the supplier invoice and its payment status.
Where to find it
Open Purchasing from the merchant workspace. The page has Suppliers, Purchase Orders, and Bills & Payments tabs. Use the purchase-order detail view to receive items, and choose Receive Inventory for a receipt that has no purchase order.
Product locationPurchasing
Before you start
Managers and admins should keep suppliers and post receipts. Create active inventory locations and products first. Product units, SKU, cost, taxability, and supplier links come from Inventory. A purchase order must have a supplier and destination inventory location. Bills need a supplier, bill date, due date, and at least one valid line.
If QuickBooks Online is connected, review the matching and sync rules in QuickBooks before posting a bill or changing a supplier/product identity.
Steps to follow
- Open Purchasing > Suppliers and choose New Supplier. Enter the needed company and the contact, address, account, terms, website, and notes that purchasing staff need.
- Choose Purchase Orders > New Purchase Order. Select a supplier. Then set the destination inventory location, expected date, payment terms, ship-via text, shipping cost, supplier note, and internal note.
- Add products by searching name or SKU. Review the supplier SKU, unit, quantity, unit cost, and line tax choice shown in the order form. Create a product only when the catalog record does not exist. Complete its base unit and price before ordering.
- Review the worked out subtotal, tax, freight, and total. Choose Create & Send to issue the order, or save the draft when the supplier details are not ready. Edit preserves the current PO and is available only while it is a draft or sent PO with no received quantity and no bill. A partially received or billed PO is not editable. Use Duplicate when you need a new PO record.
- When goods arrive, open the purchase order and choose Receive. Set the received date, review the assigned Receive Into location, add freight if the receipt needs it, and enter each received quantity and actual unit cost. For a unit conversion, enter the base-unit quantity FlintPOS should add to inventory.
- Review the receipt preview before posting. Partial receipts leave the outstanding quantity on the order. A complete receipt can move the order to received. Use the close/short-ship action only when the supplier will not ship the remaining quantity and record the needed note explaining why it is being closed.
- For goods received without a PO, choose Receive Inventory, select the supplier, received date, invoice/receipt reference, and an active destination location. Then add products or create a missing product. Set quantity received, unit received, and unit cost for each line, review the base-unit stock preview, and post it.
- Open Bills & Payments > Enter Bill. Select the supplier and optional PO, enter the supplier invoice number, bill date, due date, tax, freight, notes, and bill lines. Save the bill. Then use its payment action when the supplier payment is made. Review any QuickBooks matching or sync status in QuickBooks.
Receive goods into stock
- Open Purchasing. If you have a purchase order, open it and choose Receive.
- If there is no purchase order, choose Receive Inventory. Choose the supplier and add the items.
- Set the received date and Receive Into yard. Check where the goods arrived.
- Enter the amount that arrived and its unit cost. Check the unit and how much base stock the receipt will add.
- Review the preview. Post the receipt only after the count is right.
- Reopen the product and check stock at that yard. A partial receipt leaves the unreceived amount on the purchase order.
Record and pay a supplier bill
- Open Purchasing > Bills & Payments. Choose Enter Bill.
- Choose the supplier. Link the purchase order if there is one.
- Enter the supplier’s invoice number, bill date, and due date. The due date must be on or after the bill date.
- Check each line, cost, tax, and freight amount. Save the bill.
- When you pay the supplier, open the bill and use its payment action. Record the payment once.
- Check the bill’s amount due. If QuickBooks is connected, check the linked bill and payment there too.
Fields and choices
| Field or action | Guidance |
|---|---|
| Supplier company | Required for a new supplier. Contact, email, Phone, Phone 2, address lines, city, state, ZIP, country (default US), account number, website, and notes are stored on the supplier record. Keep the account number aligned with the supplier's statement. |
| Supplier Payment Terms | Choose the displayed terms: Net7, Net15, Net30 (default), Net45, Net60, Net90, Due on Receipt, or Prepaid. A purchase order can override the supplier default. |
| Supplier Active | On an existing supplier, clear Active when the supplier should no longer appear in normal active choices. Preserve the record for historical purchase orders. |
| Deliver To Inventory Location | Required on a purchase order. Choose an active inventory location. This destination is the location used for receipt details and stock. Do not rely on a staff member's current working location when the order is for another site. |
| Expected Delivery Date | Not needed calendar date for supplier planning and the purchase-order list. It is separate from the actual Received Date. Change it when the supplier confirms a new delivery date. |
| Purchase-order Payment Terms | Starts from the supplier terms and offers the same choices: Net7, Net15, Net30, Net45, Net60, Net90, Due on Receipt, or Prepaid. Confirm the term printed to the supplier. |
| Ship Via and Shipping Cost | Ship Via is descriptive text such as UPS, FedEx, or Delivery. Shipping Cost is a nonnegative amount in the order currency. It contributes to the displayed total and can be carried into receiving/billing. |
| Notes to Supplier and Internal Notes | Notes to Supplier can be sent with the PO. Internal Notes stay for staff. Do not put sign-in details or payment-card data in either field. |
| PO line product, supplier SKU, unit, quantity, and unit cost | Choose an existing product so the catalog identity and unit are preserved. Supplier SKU shows the supplier's item. Quantity is the ordered amount. Unit cost is the supplier cost. Use the product's set up unit and conversion when the supplier sells a pack, bundle, or other alternate unit. |
| Line tax and order totals | Review each line's tax treatment as shown by the current form. Then check subtotal, tax total, shipping cost, and grand total before sending. Do not silently adjust a bill to make it match. Correct the source line or document the supplier difference. |
| PO status filter | The purchase-order list can show All, Draft, Sent, Partial, Received, or Closed as offered by the current page. Combine it with the inventory-location filter to find work for one site. |
| Edit, Duplicate, and Close | Edit updates the existing draft or sent PO only while nothing has been received and no bill is linked. Duplicate creates a new PO from the existing details and leaves the original record intact. Close an outstanding quantity only when the supplier will not ship it, and enter the needed closing note. |
| Received Date and Receive Into | Received Date is needed and defaults to the current date in the manual receipt form. Receive Into uses the chosen active location. If there is only one active location it is chosen on its own. Verify it before posting because the receipt changes that location's stock. |
| Received quantity and actual unit cost | Enter a positive received quantity using the displayed unit. Leave actual unit cost blank on a PO receipt to retain the PO cost. If the PO cost is also blank, FlintPOS can receive quantity without recording a material cost. Enter an actual cost when the supplier invoice differs. |
| Base-unit quantity for converted receipts | When the receiving unit differs from the product base unit, enter the actual base-unit quantity to add. FlintPOS shows a suggested conversion and calculates the base-unit cost from the received total. Review rounding before posting. |
| Manual receiving product line | Search by product name or SKU, or create a product with Name (needed), SKU (optional), Cost (nonnegative, up to four decimal places), Price (needed, nonnegative, two decimals), and Unit. Each line needs quantity greater than zero (three-decimal step), a received unit, and a nonnegative unit cost. |
| Manual receiving reference and freight | Invoice / Receipt Ref shows the supplier document. Add line quantities and unit costs. Then review the stock-quantity preview before Post Receipt. A manual receipt is an inventory event even when no bill has been entered. |
| Bill supplier, linked PO, invoice number, dates | Supplier is needed and cannot be changed while editing an existing bill. Linked PO is optional. Selecting one loads billable lines and carries available quantities, tax, and freight where present. Supplier Invoice # is the vendor reference. Bill Date and Due Date are needed, and Due Date cannot precede Bill Date. |
| Bill lines | Add a catalog product by searching name or SKU, or use Manual line. Every line needs a description, quantity greater than zero, and a valid nonnegative unit cost. A linked PO line cannot be billed beyond its quantity available to bill. |
| Bill tax, shipping, notes, and status | Tax Amount and Shipping Cost are numeric additions to the line subtotal. Notes record the AP details. Bills begin unpaid and may become partially paid, paid, or overdue based on the saved payment and dates. Review the bill detail before entering a second payment. |
| Bills & Payments | Use the tab filters and supplier search to locate a bill, open its detail to review lines and linked PO. Then use the available payment action to record settlement. Keep the FlintPOS bill and QuickBooks payable aligned through QuickBooks. |
Check stock and bills
A receipt adds the posted amount to stock at the chosen yard. Check the product’s stock history and any amount still due on the purchase order. A saved bill records what you owe the supplier. Recording a payment lowers that bill’s balance.
If a receipt or bill is wrong
- Supplier missing: clear the search. Check that the supplier is active, or add the supplier first.
- Yard missing: check its active status and your access. Reopen the receipt after you fix it.
- Wrong stock preview: stop before posting. Check the unit, count, base-unit amount, and yard.
- Cannot bill a line: check how much you have received and billed. Use only the amount still allowed.
- Bad dates: set Due Date on or after Bill Date.
- QuickBooks warning: compare the supplier, item, and accounts with the linked records. Ask for help if the match is unclear.