The vendor is the master record for a supplier you buy from, referenced across purchasing and finance. Like the customer on the selling side, it carries the defaults that shape every purchase, the currency, the registration details, and the contacts you deal with, set once and reused on every document.
- What the vendor record holds
- How it is referenced across purchasing and finance
- How it parallels, and differs from, the customer
Anatomy of the screen
- Core – code, brand name and description.
- Registration – registration number, registered name and address.
- Business – the default currency for purchase orders, website and logo.
- Type – Individual, Company, or Statutory (for government and regulatory payees).
- Contacts – the people at the vendor, maintained as their own records.
- Notes, attachments and an active flag.
How it behaves
Referenced everywhere you buy
Every purchase document, order, receive, invoice and debit note, points at the vendor, and Finance pays against it. There is no status machine: a vendor is simply active or retired, and the record persists so historical documents stay intact.
Parallel to the customer, with two differences
The vendor mirrors the customer master closely, but note two differences. It adds a Statutory type for regulatory payees, and, unlike the customer, it does not carry a default payment term through a category: on the buy side the term is chosen on each document rather than inherited. The default currency, though, does flow from the vendor onto its orders.
Edge cases and good practice
- Set the currency on the vendor so foreign suppliers default correctly.
- Pick the term per document, since the vendor does not supply one automatically.
- Use the Statutory type for tax authorities and regulators you pay.
Related
- How to: Set up a vendor
- Reference: Customer (the selling-side parallel)
- Reference: Vendor Contact