How Procurement Works: Suppliers, Purchase Orders, Bills and Payment
Procurement (Accounting > Procurement) runs suppliers, purchase orders, goods receipts, supplier bills, payables ageing and petty cash, and every step posts to the general ledger.
For School administrators, Accountants, Directors and proprietors. Updated 2026-10-09.
Overview
Open Accounting > Procurement. The page has five tabs: Suppliers, Purchase orders, Supplier bills, Payables ageing and Petty cash.
The flow is: (1) add the supplier under Suppliers (some schools call this a vendor); (2) raise a purchase order (PO-0001 style numbers) as a Draft; (3) Submit it for approval; (4) an approver approves it (or sends it back to Draft); (5) when goods arrive use Receive goods, which creates a goods receipt (GRN-0001) and records the cost immediately against "Goods received not invoiced"; (6) when the supplier invoice arrives use Record a bill (BILL-0001), optionally linked to the PO; (7) an approver approves the bill, which posts it to Accounts payable; (8) use Pay to settle it from a cash or bank account, with optional withholding tax; (9) Payables ageing shows what is owed and how overdue.
There is no separate requisition screen: the Draft purchase order is how a request is raised, and Submit for approval is the request going to the approver. Purchase orders can be edited only while Draft. Everything is double-entry, so the Overview tab under Journals and Statements shows owed-to-suppliers, overdue bills and items waiting for approval.
Procurement needs the Accounting module to be enabled for the school. Procurement, Journals, Statements and Budgets appear in the sidebar for Senior High and Tertiary schools; the Accounting dashboard, Chart of Accounts and Transaction History are available to all school types.
Before you start
- The Accounting feature is enabled for the school
- You are an Administrator, Accountant or Director with the “view procurement” permission
- A chart of accounts exists (it is created automatically the first time Accounting is opened)
Steps
- Open Accounting > Procurement
- Add the supplier on the Suppliers tab
- Create a purchase order on the Purchase orders tab and Submit it for approval
- After approval, use Receive goods when the items arrive
- Record the supplier invoice on the Supplier bills tab and have it approved
- Pay the bill and check the Payables ageing tab for what is still owed
Common problems
I cannot find a Requisitions screen
There is no separate requisition step. Save a purchase order as a draft and use Submit for approval; the approver then approves or sends it back (it returns to Draft).
Procurement is missing from my sidebar
Procurement shows for Administrator, Accountant and Director users with the “view procurement” permission, when the Accounting module is on and the school is a Senior High or Tertiary institution. Ask an administrator to check your role and the school features.
Where is the vendor list?
Vendors are called Suppliers. Open Procurement > Suppliers.