To help streamline and consolidate your payables, Purchase Orders (POs) can sync between BILL and Oracle NetSuite or Sage Intacct if you have enabled that setting in your account.
For accounts that sync with accounting software other than Oracle NetSuite or Sage Intacct POs won't sync. The bills linked to POs in the accounting software will sync, and the PO # displays in the PO # field, but the PO itself won't sync.
Accounts that don't sync won't have PO functionality in BILL currently.
Jump to:
- Enable purchase orders
- How is 2-way match different from 3-way match?
- Which matching workflow should I use?
- 2-way purchase order matching workflow
- 3-way purchase order matching workflow
- Switch between 2-way and 3-way purchase order matching on a single account
- Switch between 2-way and 3-way purchase order matching for a client on your console account
- Purchase order statuses
- Additional info for Sage Intacct
- Additional info for Oracle NetSuite
- Things to know if you don't use purchase order sync
Enable purchase orders
- Select Settings
- Select Features under Billing & Subscription
- Select Use it on the Purchase Orders row to enable POs, or select Don't use it to disable POs
Enable or disable purchase orders for console clients
If you are the console administrator:
- In your console, select Features
- Select Purchase Order
- Select Use it on the Purchase Orders row to enable POs, or select Don't use it to disable POs for each eligible client
If you are the client:
If your account is managed by your accountant, please contact your accountant to enable purchase orders for you, following the steps above.
How is 2-way match different from 3-way match?
When you first enable POs, 2-way match is the default setting. You can switch between 2-way match and 3-way match if you sync with Oracle NetSuite. More information on how they compare below.
With PO 2-way match:
- BILL compares details between POs and invoices.
- BILL calculates what has been paid for and what is outstanding from the PO and linked bills
With PO 3-way match, we added:
- BILL calculates what has been received and what is outstanding from the PO and receipt information from Oracle NetSuite
- The PO link is on the bills list
- The PO link is on the view bill pages
- When creating bills for a PO, you can pay for more than what you’ve received as long as it’s less than or equal to the PO qty ordered. If your received qty is more, then you can pay up to that received qty, as it’s more than PO ordered qty.
- When you create more than one bill for a PO, the newest created bill will consider what's already been received and paid for in previous bills, and what is still outstanding, helping you keep track of how much of what you ordered remains to be paid, how muc
Which matching workflow should I use?
There are no requirements to use either workflow, other than you must have POs enabled, and for 3-way match, you must sync with Oracle NetSuite. Select your preferred workflow based on suggestions below.
You may choose to use 2-way match if:
- You don't sync with Oracle NetSuite
- You only need to track services
- You don't need to track individual inventory items
- You only track a small amount of individual inventory items
You may choose to use 3-way match if:
- You sync with Oracle NetSuite (required)
- You need to track large amounts of inventory items
- You need to track individual inventory items an line level
- You need to track services and large amounts of inventory items
- You process many order receipts and want to track that detail
2-way purchase order matching workflow
To perform 2-way purchase order matching between POs and invoices, POs must be created and maintained in your accounting system. POs are view-only in BILL, and only sync from your accounting system to BILL.
- Create the PO in your accounting system
- Sync, which will create the view-only PO in BILL
- Create a bill for the PO in BILL, making sure to select the PO you created in the Purchase Order Number field, and select Save
- We'll automatically show the most recent open POs for the vendor. You can select one of the most recent, or type in the number to narrow the results in the drop-down, then select.
- Sync, which will create the bill and link it to the PO in your accounting system
- Schedule payment for the bill in BILL
- Sync, which creates the payment record in your accounting system and updates the bill and PO status, depending on partial or full payment/receipt
Note: Once a bill is linked to a PO, it cannot be unlinked and must be deleted if a new bill is required.
Discrepancies:
- We’ll block the bill save if the PO qty remaining is less than the bill qty
3-way purchase order matching workflow
To perform 3-way matching in BILL, POs must be created and maintained in Oracle NetSuite. POs are view-only in BILL. You must also be using item receipts in Oracle NetSuite to track receipt of inventory, goods and/or services.
POs & item receipt details only sync from Oracle NetSuite to BILL.
- Create the PO in Oracle NetSuite
- Enter Item Receipt information in Oracle NetSuite when you receive the items
- Sync, which will create the view-only PO in BILL, including quantity received info at the PO line item level.
- Create a bill for the PO in BILL, making sure to select the PO you created in the Purchase Order Number field, and select Save
- We'll automatically show the most recent open POs for the vendor. You can select one of the most recent, or type in the number to narrow the results in the drop-down, then select.
- Enter line item quantities on the bill, and match against item quantity ordered and item quantity received.
- BILL keeps track of Item qty Ordered, Items qty Received (these are from Oracle NetSuite), Item qty Billed, Remaining Items qty to be billed (these are calculated and kept track by BILL)
- PO line items that are fully received and fully billed are not shown for future bill matching against the PO to help bring clarity, accuracy and speed to the matching process
- Sync, which will create the bill and link it to the PO in your accounting system
- Schedule payment for the bill in BILL
- Sync, which creates the payment record in Oracle NetSuite and updates the bill and PO status, depending on partial or full payment/receipt
Discrepancies:
- We’ll block the bill save if the bill qty is less than or equal to the PO qty, but bill qty is greater than the unbilled qty received (whichever is higher)
- We’ll show a warning if bill quantity is less than PO qty remaining but greater the qty received (whichever is lower)
Switch between 2-way and 3-way purchase order matching on a single account
When you first enable POs, 2-way match is the default setting. You can switch between 2-way match and 3-way match if you sync with Oracle NetSuite.
Enable 3-way matching/disable 2-way matching:
- Select Settings in the navigation menu
- Select Features under Billing & Subscription
- Select Use it for Enabled Purchase Order 3 way Match to enable 3-way matching
Disable 3-way matching/enable 2-way matching:
- Select Settings in the navigation menu
- Select Features under Billing & Subscription
- Select Don't use it to disable 3 Way Match, which enables 2-way match if you still have POs enabled.
Switch between 2-way and 3-way purchase order matching for a client on your console account
When you first enable POs for a client, 2-way match is the default setting. You can switch between 2-way match and 3-way match if the client syncs with Oracle NetSuite.
Enable 3-way matching/disable 2-way matching:
- Select Features and then Purchase Order on your Accountant's Console
- Select Use it under Enabled Purchase Order 3 way Match to enable 3-way matching for a listed client
- Purchase orders must already be enabled for the client. If they aren't, select Use it under Enabled Purchase Order to enable
Disable 3-way matching/enable 2-way matching:
- Select Features and then Purchase Order on your Accountant's Console
- Select Don't use it under Enabled Purchase Order 3 way Match to enable 3-way matching for a listed client to disable 3 Way Match, which enables 2-way match if you still have POs enabled.
Purchase Order Statuses
POs in BILL will have one of four statuses:
- Unfilled
- Partially filled
- Filled
- Closed
Those statuses sync from Sage Intacct/Oracle NetSuite, to BILL as follows:
| Oracle NetSuite | Bill.com |
|---|---|
| Pending Receipt | Unfilled |
| Pending Billing | Partially Filled |
| Partially received | Partially Filled |
| Billed | Filled |
| Received | Filled |
| Closed | Closed |
| Sage Intacct | Bill.com |
|---|---|
| Pending | Unfilled |
| In progress | Unfilled |
| Partially converted | Partially Filled |
| Converted | Filled |
| Closed | Closed |
Note: POs in draft status, and any approval statuses on the POs in Sage Intacct or Oracle NetSuite won't sync to BILL
Additional info for Sage Intacct
- 2 new sync preferences will be required to sync POs
- PO Template Name on Intacct
- PO Vendor Invoice Template Name on Intacct
- Vendor Invoices in Sage Intacct don't sync to BILL
- The PO number must be entered into the "Reference Number" field of the bill/vendor credit in Sage Intacct
Additional info for Oracle NetSuite
- If you create a bill for a PO in BILL instead of Oracle NetSuite, be sure to sync twice to update the PO status in BILL.
- The first sync will sync the bill from BILL to Oracle NetSuite and update the PO status.
- The second sync then updates the PO status in BILL, from Oracle NetSuite
- If Oracle NetSuite is setup to receive items on a PO, the status won't be updated to "filled" in BILL until items are received in Oracle NetSuite, even if a bill is attached to the PO in BILL
- The PO will have a "receive" button in Oracle NetSuite if it is setup for item receipt
- If a bill is created in BILL and linked to a PO that has not yet been marked as received in Oracle NetSuite, "Bill in Advance of Receipt" needs to be enabled in Oracle NetSuite, or the bill will cause a sync error and won't sync to Oracle NetSuite (see article at the bottom of this page)
Things to know if you don't use Purchase Order sync
- The PO number must be entered into the "Reference Number" field of the bill/vendor credit in Intacct
- To avoid sync errors, bills/vendor credits originating from POs should not be edited in BILL. A reminder will be displayed when Edit is selected on any bill/vendor credit originating from a PO.
- If you need to edit a bill/vendor credit originating from a PO, make the edit in Oracle NetSuite or Sage Intacct and let the update sync into BILL.
