Matching bills to purchase orders
When Lipsey's sends you a bill for 10 firearms and you only received 8, you need to catch that before paying. Matching vendor bills to purchase orders lets you verify that what you're being charged matches what you actually ordered and received.
How matching works
When you create a vendor bill from a purchase order (by clicking Create Bill on the PO), the bill is automatically linked. CloudFFL OS pre-fills the bill with the PO's products, quantities, and prices. Your job is to compare what's on the bill against:
- What you ordered (the purchase order)
- What you received (the receipt/incoming shipment)
- What the distributor is charging (their invoice)
Common scenarios
| Situation | What to do |
|---|---|
| Bill matches the PO exactly | Confirm the bill as-is. Everything lines up. |
| Received fewer items than ordered (partial shipment) | Adjust the quantities on the bill to match what you actually received. The remaining items stay open on the PO for a future bill. |
| Price on the bill differs from the PO | Update the unit price on the bill to match the distributor's actual charge. Check with the distributor if the difference is unexpected. |
| Extra charges (shipping, handling) | Add a new line to the bill for the additional charge. Use an appropriate expense account like "Shipping Expense." |
| Items on the bill you didn't order | Do not include them on the bill. Contact the distributor to resolve the discrepancy. |
Checking quantities against receipts
If your CloudFFL OS invoicing policy is set to "received quantities," the bill can only include items you've already marked as received in the system. This is a built-in safeguard — you can't accidentally pay for product you haven't received yet.
- Open the purchase order.
- Check the Receipt link at the top — click it to verify what was received into inventory.
- Then click Create Bill. The quantities will reflect what was received, not what was ordered.
Don't confirm a bill until you've verified the amounts. Once a vendor bill is confirmed, it posts to your books. If you catch an error after confirming, you'll need to create a vendor credit note to correct it — which adds extra steps. Take 30 seconds to compare the bill against your PO and receipt before clicking Confirm.
Distributor shipments with firearms need extra verification. When you receive firearms from Lipsey's, RSR, or Davidson's, you're also logging acquisitions in FastBound. Make sure the serial numbers on the bill match what you received and logged. If there's a discrepancy between the physical count and the bill, resolve it with the distributor before confirming the bill.