Accounts Integration for Purchase Orders

Purchase orders themselves stay in TransMaS - what goes across to your accounts package is the bill you record against them when the supplier's invoice arrives. Bills can be sent automatically to Xero, Sage and QuickBooks when you confirm them; companies using Sage 50 desktop get bills included in the invoice export file instead. This article covers the one-off setup that makes that work.

Switching it on

Connect your accounts package, if you have not already: choose your Accounts System in Company Settings > Invoicing and complete the setup screen, which pulls in your nominal codes, tax rates, customers and suppliers.
In Company Settings > Invoicing, find the Purchase Defaults card and switch on Upload Bills to Accounts System.

With the switch off, bills are still recorded in TransMaS as normal - they just are not sent anywhere.

What a bill needs before it can be sent

The supplier must be matched to the supplier record in your accounts package (below).
Every line on the bill needs a Nominal Code and a VAT Code. If a code is missing you will be told exactly which line to fix when you confirm the bill.

Matching your suppliers

Go to Settings > Suppliers, open the supplier and choose the Accounts tab.

External Account ID - the supplier's ID in your accounts package. Use the Find from Xero / Find from Sage / Find from QuickBooks link above the field to search your accounts package and match the right record without typing IDs by hand.
Suppliers without an ID show an amber No Account Code badge in the suppliers list, so you can spot the gaps.
You can also match - or create - suppliers in bulk from the accounts setup screen, where each unmatched supplier has a search box and an Add button that creates them in your accounts package in one click.

Default VAT and nominal codes

Every PO line needs codes eventually, so set defaults once and let them fill in automatically:

Company defaults - Company Settings > Invoicing > Purchase Defaults: set the Default Purchase VAT Code and Default Purchase Nominal Code.
Supplier defaults - on the supplier's Accounts tab you can set a VAT and nominal code for that supplier, which override the company defaults. Useful where one supplier is always a different expense category.

The codes are applied when a purchase line is created - supplier defaults first, company defaults otherwise - and can always be changed on the individual line afterwards.

Payment terms and due dates

The supplier's Payment Terms (also on their Accounts tab) are used to work out the due date on bills you record for them automatically. Suppliers without their own terms use the Purchase Payment Terms from the company Purchase Defaults.

What happens when you confirm a bill

When you confirm a bill, an Upload tick box appears, ticked by default. Leave it ticked and the bill is sent to your accounts package as part of confirming; untick it to close the bill in TransMaS only. If the accounts package rejects the bill, the bill stays open and the exact error is shown so you can fix it and confirm again. A few package-specific points:

Sage - the bill reference must be 31 characters or fewer.
QuickBooks - references longer than 21 characters are shortened to fit.
Xero - the bill arrives as an approved bill awaiting payment, with your reference as its invoice number.
The PDF you attach to a bill stays in TransMaS - it is not sent to the accounts package.

Common questions

Will my purchase orders appear in my accounts package? No - only confirmed bills are sent. The PO stage lives entirely in TransMaS.
Is anything sent automatically in the background? No - a bill is only sent at the moment you confirm it, and only with the Upload box ticked.
Does this affect my sales invoices? No - sales invoicing has its own settings and works independently of the bills switch.