Bill Detail Page

The bill detail page is where a single bill lives its life. From here you approve it, record payments against it, view the payment history, and (if it all goes wrong) void it. This guide explains what each action on the page does and how the bill's status changes as you work through its lifecycle.

If you're new to bill tracking entirely and want to understand the concept and when to use bills versus direct payments, start with Managing Bills and Accounts Payable. This page is specifically about what you do once a bill is open in front of you.

Bills aren't like receipts or payments — they're two-step transactions. Approving a bill creates the obligation on your books. Paying a bill satisfies the obligation (in full or in part). The bill detail page is the only place that exposes both steps in one view, so it's where you go whenever you need to do something to an existing bill: approve a draft, record a payment on an approved bill, or fix a mistake.

• A bill already created — either drafted manually or generated via Quick Entry's "I received a bill" action

A bill moves through five possible states in NP Ledger:

1. Draft — Bill created but not yet approved. No general-ledger impact. You can edit or delete it freely.
2. Approved — Accrual journal entry has been posted: debits expense account(s), credits Accounts Payable. The obligation is now on your books.
3. Partially Paid — Some payments recorded but balance remains. The bill can still receive additional payments.
4. Paid — Total payments are greater than or equal to the bill amount. Each payment posts a journal entry debiting AP and crediting the bank account used.
5. Void — Bill canceled. Approved bills create a reversing journal entry when voided so the accrual is removed from the books. Partially paid and fully paid bills cannot be voided — instead, use the adjusting entry flow to correct specific errors.

Opening a bill

1. Go to Bills (in the sidebar under Recording Transactions).
2. Click a bill from the list. The detail page opens.

Reading the page

The top of the page shows the bill header:

• Bill number (either the vendor's invoice number or a system-assigned ID)
• Vendor
• Bill date — when the vendor issued the invoice
• Due date — when payment is expected
• Payment terms (Due on Receipt, Net 15, Net 30, Net 45, Net 60, Net 90, or Custom)
• Status — current state (Draft, Approved, Partially Paid, Paid, Void)
• Total amount, amount paid, and remaining balance
• Memo — optional free-text note

Below the header, the line items table shows which expense account(s), fund(s), and project(s) the bill was charged to, with amounts. This is how the bill's cost is split across your programs and natural classes on the Statement of Functional Expenses.

If payments have been recorded, a payments section lists each payment with date, amount, and the bank account it came from. Each payment links back to the underlying posted payment transaction so you can see the full journal entry.

Approving a bill

From a Draft bill, click Approve. NP Ledger posts the accrual journal entry (DR expense accounts, CR Accounts Payable) and the bill's status moves to Approved.

Recording a payment

From an Approved or Partially Paid bill, click Record Payment. Enter:

• Payment date
• Amount (can be the full remaining balance or a partial amount)
• Bank account the payment came from

NP Ledger posts a payment journal entry (DR Accounts Payable, CR the chosen bank account) and updates the bill's amount paid. The status moves to Paid if the full amount has been covered, or Partially Paid otherwise.

Voiding a bill

From an Approved bill with no payments recorded, click Void. NP Ledger posts a reversing entry to remove the accrual from your books. The bill stays in the list with a Void status for audit-trail purposes — you can still see it and its history, but it no longer affects balances.

Partially paid or fully paid bills can't be voided directly. If you need to correct a paid bill, use the adjusting entry wizard from the underlying transaction detail page.

• Expense line items total the bill amount. A bill where the line items don't sum to the header total is incomplete and should be fixed before approval.
• The right fund and project are on each line. Getting the fund/project correct at the line-item level is what lets the expense flow into the right column of the Statement of Functional Expenses and the right program on the Program Report.
• The bank account on each payment matches the account the payment actually came from. This is what makes bank reconciliation work cleanly later.

• Approving a bill twice. You can't — once approved, the approve action is no longer available. But if you accidentally duplicate a bill (two bills for the same invoice), both can be approved independently, which double-books the expense. The fix is to void one of them.
• Paying a bill from the wrong bank account. If the payment posted against a bank account that didn't actually send the money, the reconciliation will fail. Fix this by voiding the payment (via the underlying transaction) and recording it again with the correct account.
• Using bills when you should use direct payments. If you receive an invoice and pay it immediately on the spot, skipping the accrual step is fine — use Quick Entry's "I paid a bill" action, which records the expense and payment in a single posted entry. Save the bill flow for invoices you receive now and pay later.
• Editing a bill after approval. Approved bills become immutable like other posted transactions. To correct an approved bill, void it (if unpaid) or post an adjusting entry (if paid).