In order for us to create a purchase order, we go to Transactions > Purchases > Enter Purchase Orders and then the purchase order screen opens. You’ll be routed to the Purchase Orders page. You select a Vendor for this one. I’ll be selecting International Bookstore as an example. Make sure to populate the date, currency, and all the mandatory fields.
After you fill out all the mandatory fields, go to Expenses and select the category. For this one we will be using the Tests, Advertising, and $100.00 as examples, then click on save. If your expense categories allow you to receive the item, you can go ahead and click on Receive button and then just review the details on the expenses tab and make sure that everything looks good, and then save.
From this page, the item receipt page, we have the option to click on Bill. We can also go back to the Purchase Order and then the Bill button will now be available.
Click on the ‘Bill’ button and then for this scenario, we are going to build it for the partial amount, I’ll say $50.00 so I’m going to change the amount here on the Expense and Items tab, change it to $50.00 and then click on save. The bill will now be created with an Open status and now I can go back to my purchase order, either in the Related Records > Purchase Orders and then simply click the date link, it will be outed back to the purchase order. As you can see the status of the purchase order is already fully built so that means you won’t be able to do anything with the purchase with this purchase order any more.
So ideally what NetSuite thinks is that you build this purchase order or receive the amount for the purchase order for only the $50.00 and not for the whole amount.
But ideally what you’d like to do is to create two bills for it with separate amounts.
How to Create Two Bills with Separate Amounts in NetSuite
So in order for us to do that, we go to Receipts and Bills in the related records and open the link for the bill that you created. And then once you’re here you just go to Actions > Make Copy. As soon as you hit the Make Copy button, you can click on the save button. So technically we have a $50.00 amount and we also have another $50.00 so that sums up to $100.00.
Going back to our purchase order, Purchase Order #6, and then to the Related Records tab, Receipts & Bills, you’ll now see that there are now two bills for both the partial amount that sums up to $100.00.
That’s how you do partial billing for purchase orders with expense categories in NetSuite.
Wrapping Up
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About the Author
Al Orca is a seasoned Senior NetSuite Implementation Consultant with nearly eight years of experience. He specializes in optimizing Order to Cash, Record to Report, and Procure to Pay processes. With a degree in Accounting and an ongoing pursuit of a Master’s in Business Administration, Al brings his work a unique blend of financial expertise and technological proficiency.