Supplier Invoice Approval and Payment

Approve every supplier invoice before anyone pays it.

Register the invoice exactly as the supplier sent it, get it signed off, then mark it paid — your internal registration number is issued only once the approver says yes.

Three people take part: the AP clerk registers the invoice and its lines, the approver approves or rejects it, and the payer confirms the payment — each decision arrives as an Inbox task.

Use the documented operating model as a starting point, then adapt fields, approvals, reports, or connected areas when your process differs.

Before you start

Put the right records and roles in place.

The supplier must already exist in Suppliers; your base company, currencies, payment methods and tax rates come pre-seeded. Put the approver in the Approver group and the payer in the Payer group — administrators can act in both.

Documented sequence

From the supplier's paper to a paid invoice.

Each stage identifies the action, handoff, or record change that moves the work forward.

01
Register the invoice — AP clerk
Enter the supplier's invoice number, the date and the supplier, then copy the lines off the paper with quantity, price and tax rate. The invoice starts as DRAFT; net, VAT and totals calculate themselves.
02
Approve or reject — Approver
The approver claims the task from the Approver group's Inbox and checks the supplier, dates and total. Approval makes the invoice APPROVED and stamps the next PUR registration number; rejection cancels it.
03
Pay — Payer
The payer claims the Pay task, checks the total and payment method, and confirms the payment in one step. The invoice becomes PAID and drops out of the unpaid counter.

Connected work

Carry the record into the next decision.

Related features and workflows reuse the same business records instead of asking teams to rebuild the context.

Purchase InvoicesInvoice fields, free-text lines, status badges, the print layout in English and Bulgarian, and the Spend by Supplier and Unpaid Purchase Invoices reports.SuppliersThe supplier register every purchase invoice is recorded against: VAT and registration numbers, payment terms and bank details.Raise and approve a purchase orderThe ordering step that usually comes before the supplier's bill.

Current scope

A rejected invoice is cancelled outright; there is no rework loop, so the corrected invoice is registered as a new document.

A starting point, not a fixed package

Fit the approval to how you pay suppliers.

Payment methods, currencies and tax rates are pick-lists you maintain, purchase invoice status names are editable in Settings, and the PUR series counter can be set to continue your current numbering. Further approval levels or different fields can be scoped as a Custom adaptation.

Try BusinessIntents

Decision-stage answers

Enter and approve a purchase invoice FAQs

Why does a new invoice have no registration number?

Your internal number is stamped only when the invoice is approved, from the shared Purchase Invoice series with the PUR prefix. Until then the field shows a placeholder, so rejected invoices never consume a number.

What happens when the approver rejects an invoice?

It becomes CANCELLED and the flow ends without a number being stamped. There is no rework loop, so the corrected invoice is registered as a new document.

Who can approve or pay an invoice?

Anyone in the Approver group can claim the approval and anyone in the Payer group the payment; administrators can do both. The approver can also act directly on the invoice, and an unclaimed task simply waits in the Inbox.

Where does the invoice show up afterwards?

It counts in the Spend by Supplier and Monthly Supplier Spend reports and, until it is paid, in the Unpaid Purchase Invoices counter on the dashboard.

Review the real workflow

Walk one real supplier invoice through BusinessIntents.

Use a real record or transaction to compare the documented flow with the way your team works today.

Try BusinessIntents Read the detailed guide