The buying cycle: order, receive, bill, pay
You will be able to: Name the four steps of the purchase cycle and what each one posts; Read the draft, submitted, amended and cancelled states; Trace one purchase through the ledger from receipt to payment; Choose between the three-document route and the direct invoice route.
- Read not done yet
- Self-check: not taken not done yet
- Lesson complete not done yet
Buying looks like one event, but the books record it in steps. Zeyto keeps each step as its own document so that you can see what was ordered, what actually arrived, what the supplier billed and what you have paid. All of them live under the Purchase menu, except payments, which live under Accounting.
| Document | Stock | Ledger | VAT |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purchase Order (PO) | No change | Nothing posted | None |
| Goods Receipt (GRN) | Goods go in at the line Rate | Debit Inventory, credit Goods Received Not Invoiced | None recorded yet |
| Purchase Invoice (PI) | Goods go in only if no GRN already received them | Debit Inventory or clear GRNI, debit VAT Input, credit Payables | Input VAT recorded |
| Payment voucher | No change | Debit Trade Payables, credit cash or bank | None |
| Purchase Return | Goods go out | Debit Payables, credit Inventory and VAT Input | Input VAT given back |
Goods Received Not Invoiced (GRNI) is a liability account that holds the value of goods you have received but not yet been billed for. It is why stock reports and the Inventory account agree on the day the goods arrive, even though the supplier's bill is still in the post.
Draft, submitted, amended, cancelled
- Draft: saved but not posted. It changes nothing in stock or accounts.
- Submitted: posted. The document gets its number.
- Amended: a submitted document is never edited in place. Amend reverses the original and posts the corrected version, keeping the number with a suffix such as /A1.
- Cancelled: reversed. The number stays in the books as cancelled.
A document cannot be amended or cancelled while a document made from it still stands. Zeyto names the blocking document in the message; cancel that one first.
Two routes
The full route is PO, then GRN, then PI, then payment. Each later document is created from the earlier one: set Create Against on the new form, or press Convert in the earlier document's row in its list. Zeyto then tracks what is still open and shows it in the Flow column (Partial, Completed, Partially Invoiced and so on). The short route skips the order and the receipt: enter a purchase invoice directly and, with Update Stock ticked, the invoice itself brings the goods into stock.
Try it in the demo
- Open demo.zeyto.app/demo-app/ and sign in with the public demo user (admin, password demoAdmin123).
- Open Purchase, Purchase Order and look at the Flow and Status columns.
- Open Purchase, Goods Receipts and Purchase Invoice in turn and compare the columns, especially Outstanding and Payment on the invoice list.
- Open any submitted invoice and press More, then the posting trail option, to see the ledger lines it made.
- Find the Convert button in a submitted order's row and read the choices it offers.
Public demo company, sign in as admin / demoAdmin123. Data refreshes nightly.
- A PO posts nothing; a GRN posts stock and GRNI; a PI posts the bill and the input VAT; a payment settles it.
- Submitted documents are corrected by Amend or Cancel, never edited in place.
- Later documents are made from earlier ones with Create Against or Convert.
- GRNI holds goods received but not yet billed.
Check yourself
2 questions on this lesson. Not timed, not the exam, and you can try again. Score 60% or more, and read the lesson, to complete it.