Bills and vendors
What this is for
Every weekend you owe somebody. The venue, the hotel, the awards company,
the AV crew, the printer. This is where those bills live, so that at any
moment you can answer two questions: what do we still owe? and which
event did that cost belong to?
Look for Payables in the left-hand menu, under Add-ons. It opens on
a Bills tab, with a Vendors tab beside it. If Payables isn’t in
your menu, it’s not in your plan yet — ask us.
Entering a bill here does not pay anybody. You still pay the way you always
have — your bank, your card, your bill-pay service. What you do here is
write it down so your books and your event costs are right. The Bills
page says this out loud: payment execution stays on your bank or bill-pay
rail and gets recorded against the bill.
Step one: add your vendors
A vendor is anyone you pay. Bills are always entered against a vendor, so
start by building the list. It’s a one-time chore that pays for itself at
tax time — the Vendors page totals what you paid each one this year, in
a column named Paid with the year.
Open Vendors
Click Payables in the menu, then the Vendors tab.Click Add vendor
The Add vendor box opens.Fill in what you know
Only Name is really needed. Legal name is the name on their
paperwork if it’s different. Category helps you sort later — pick
from the list (Venue, Hotel, Airline, Ground transport, Freight carrier,
AV production, Printing, Awards, Catering, Faculty agency, Merch
supplier, Media services, Marketing, Insurance, Software, Professional
services, Other).Add their contact details
Email, Phone, Website, Address.Set how you normally pay them
Payment terms is the number of days you get before a bill is due —
type30for net 30. Payment method is Check, ACH, Card, Wire, or
Other. Expense account is the bucket their costs usually belong in;
set it and Herding Cats will code their bills for you.Flag them for taxes if you need to
Turn on 1099 vendor and two more boxes appear: Tax ID and
W-9 status (Not requested, Requested, or On file).Save
The vendor is now pickable everywhere bills are entered.
Set Payment terms and Expense account on every vendor you use often.
Then entering a bill is just a vendor, a date, and an amount — the due date
and the coding fill themselves in.
Entering a bill
Go to Payables, Bills tab, and click New bill
The New bill box opens. Its note tells you what’s about to happen:
Bills start as drafts — approve one to open it for payment.Pick the Vendor
Choose from the list you built above.Type their Invoice #
This is the vendor’s own number for the bill, off the piece of paper
they sent you.Set the Bill date and Due date
Bill date is the date on their invoice. Leave Due blank and
Herding Cats works it out from the vendor’s terms — you’ll see the hint
Blank = vendor’s net terms.Pick a Brand if you run more than one
Otherwise leave it on No brand.Add the Lines
This is the part that matters. Each line has a description
(What was this for?), an amount, an event, and an account.
Leave the account on Auto account and Herding Cats codes it from the
vendor’s usual expense account. Add a line for each thing on the
invoice — the bill total adds itself up from the lines.Add a Memo if it helps
Optional. A note to your future self.Click Save draft
The bill is saved as a Draft. Nothing has hit your books yet, and
you can still change anything.
A freight invoice covering two weekends? Put in two lines, one per event,
and pick the right event on each. Each event’s Financials tab picks up only
its share.
Approving a bill
A draft is just a note. Approving is what makes it real.
Find the bill on the Bills page
Use the Show menu — Needs attention is the default and shows
everything unpaid.Click the three-dot button at the end of its row
Choose Approve
If the amount is large enough that your company requires an owner to
sign off, the menu will read Approve (needs an admin) and won’t
let you click it. Ask an admin.Watch where it goes
You’ll see a note confirming bill approved — open for payment. The
bill’s status changes from Draft to Open. The cost now appears
on the Ledger and on the Financials tab of whatever event you coded
each line to.
Recording a payment
When you actually pay — you write the check, you send the ACH — come back
and write it down.
Open the three-dot menu on the bill and choose Record payment
The Record a payment box opens. It reminds you: This records a
payment made on your bank or bill-pay rail — it doesn’t move money.Check Paid on
Defaults to today. Change it to the day the money actually left.Pick the Method
Check, ACH, Card, Wire, or Other.Check the Amount
Defaults to the whole remaining balance. Type a smaller number if you’re
paying part of it.Add a Reference
The check number or confirmation code. Optional, but your future self
will thank you.Click Record payment
Pay the whole balance and the status becomes Paid. Pay part of it and
it becomes Partially paid, with the rest still showing in the balance.
What the statuses mean
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Draft | Written down, not real yet. Fully editable. You can delete it. |
| Open | Approved. It’s on your books and on the event. Waiting to be paid. |
| Partially paid | Some money has gone out, some is still owed. |
| Paid | Settled. Nothing left owing. |
| Void | Cancelled. Stays on record at zero, can’t take payments. |
The overdue strip
Across the top of the Bills page are four boxes: Current,
1–30 days overdue, 31–60 days overdue, and 61+ days overdue.
Each shows how much money is sitting in that bucket. Anything past Current
shows in red. It’s the fastest read on whether you’re behind.
Fixing mistakes
A draft you don’t want — three-dot menu, Delete draft. It’s removed
entirely.
An approved bill that was wrong — three-dot menu, Void. You’ll be
told: Voided bills stay on the books at zero balance and can’t take
payments. You can only void a bill that hasn’t taken any payments yet.
Then enter a fresh, correct bill.
A bill that’s already paid — there’s nothing to undo, and the menu will
show No actions. Talk to whoever keeps your books.
How a bill reaches an event
This is the part worth understanding, because it’s what makes the whole
Finance add-on work without extra data entry.
You code each bill line to an event
The event picker on the line. Leave it on No event for company-wide
costs like software or insurance.You approve the bill
That posts the amount.It shows up on that event’s Financials tab
In the section its account belongs to — Travel, Venue, Payroll, or
Other costs — marked Actual.Any estimate it replaces gets crossed out
With the note Replaced by posted bill. The total only counts the real
bill, so nothing is double-counted.The season roll-up updates itself
The Finance page recalculates. You don’t do anything.