/vendors
A vendor is anyone you pay: a plumber, a security firm, a utility company, an advocate, a supplier.
The vendor record is what makes spend analysable — “KES 3.2m on maintenance” is not actionable,
“KES 3.2m across four contractors, 60% with one of them” is.
What a vendor record holds
Adding a vendor
1
Search before you add
The most common data problem in payables is the same contractor existing three times under
slightly different names. Search first.
2
Add the vendor
Vendors → Add. Enter name, category, contact details and tax identifier.
3
Add banking details
Needed before you can pay them. Verify bank details out-of-band — payment-detail fraud
typically arrives as a convincing email asking you to update an account.
4
Attach the paperwork
Contract, compliance certificates, insurance. These expire; the attachment is where you will
look when they do.
Using vendors
Vendor spend review
1
Run expense report by vendor
Quarterly, for the branch.
2
Look at concentration
A single vendor taking a large share of a category is a commercial risk and a procurement
question.
3
Check for duplicates
Two similar names with similar spend is almost always one vendor entered twice.
4
Check compliance documents
Expired insurance on an active contractor is a live liability.
Deactivating a vendor
Set the vendor inactive rather than deleting. Deletion breaks the link from historical expenses, which corrupts expense reporting and owner statements. An inactive vendor stops appearing in selection lists but keeps its history.Common problems
Next steps
Expenses
Record and pay what vendors bill you.
Service requests
Assign vendors to maintenance work.