Introduction to purchases and suppliers

There are a number of different ways you can record your purchases in Sage 200.

The purchasing process

Cash purchases

If you're just making a one-off purchase or don't have an account with a supplier, you can just record the details of the payment.

Here you just enter details of a payment - with or without VAT - and record it against the relevant nominal account (plus fund and department), and bank account. Use the Nominal Payment screens. These can be opened from the Bank Account list (Cash Book).

Supplier records

If you have suppliers you buy from regularly or have an account with, you can create a record for them in Sage 200 and keep track of what you've bought and how much you owe them. Use the Supplier Accounts screens. You can store the following information on each record:

  • The company name, address and contact details.
  • Bank account information.
  • Default VAT rates, nominal accounts and analysis codes.
  • The payment terms and value of early settlement discounts you have agreed with them.
  • The details of any credit searches the supplier performs on you.
  • Documents and notes specific to your relationship.

Record invoices only

If you only want to keep a record of the total amount of anything you've bought from a supplier not the details of actual items purchased, you can do this by recording the invoice and assigning the amount to the relevant nominal accounts. There are three ways you can so do this using the options from the Supplier List or Suppliers section of the menu:

  • Rapid invoice entry (Rapid Invoice): Quickly record multiple invoices for different suppliers on a single screen before posting them to your accounts.
  • Single invoice entry (Purchase Invoice, (Purchase Credit Note): Record and post invoices (and credit notes) individually.
  • Batch transactions (Batched Purchase Transactions): Record invoices (and credit notes) in groups, recording the total number of invoices and total value of each batch, before posting them to your accounts.

When to use this

  • When you just want to record an invoice against a supplier account. You're only interested in the value and not the individual items ordered.
  • When you only want to specify the nominal code(s) plus cost centre (fund) and department, the invoice value is posted to.
  • You can still add a settlement discount - if your supplier offers one.
  • When you pay the invoice, you can allocate the payment to the invoice to show that it's been paid.

Record purchase orders

If you want to order specific items and keep track of what you've ordered, or make sure orders are authorised before being sent to the supplier, then you can do this by using use purchase orders and purchase requisitions.

When the purchase order is accepted by your supplier, it forms a contractual agreement between you (the customer) and your supplier, to deliver products or provide a service, on time and at an agreed price. When you receive the invoice from your supplier, you can match it to the order(s) and post it to your accounts.

  • Purchase requisitions - Record requests for purchases from staff, approve or reject the requests and turn them into purchase orders.
  • Purchase orders - Create orders (and returns) for the actual items purchased.

When to use this

  • When you want your staff to request items that they need and turn these into orders when they're approved.
  • When you want to order specific items so you can keep track of when you received them and match this up to the invoice you receive from your supplier.
  • When you want purchases to be authorised by a budget holder or senior manager before being sent to the supplier.
  • When you want to manage your stock levels.
  • When you want to order stock items to fulfil sales orders from customers.
  • When you want to generate orders automatically to fulfil sales orders or replenish low stock.
  • When you want to store and track the price your supplier charges for an item.

What if I make a mistake

To maintain the integrity of your data, you can't delete transactions once they're posted. However, you can make corrections which creates a reverse transaction with the same details as the original and a new transaction with your changes.

See Correct posted supplier transactions.