Vendor Bill

An invoice received from a supplier, recorded in accounts payable as an amount owed.

What Is a Vendor Bill?

A vendor bill is what accounting software calls an invoice you receive from a supplier. When a supplier sends you an invoice requesting payment, you record it in your accounting system as a "vendor bill" (QuickBooks Online terminology) or simply a "bill" (Xero terminology). It represents money your business owes — a liability in accounts payable.

Vendor Bill vs. Invoice: Terminology

The same document has different names depending on perspective:

The supplier creates and sends an invoice to request payment.
The buyer receives that document and records it as a vendor bill or AP bill — a liability to be paid.

From a bookkeeping standpoint, "vendor bill" specifically refers to the recorded transaction in your accounting system, while "invoice" more often refers to the physical or PDF document. In practice, the terms are used interchangeably.

Recording in QBO and Xero

In QuickBooks Online, vendor bills are recorded under Expenses > Vendors > New Bill. Fields include vendor, bill date, due date, bill number, and line items with GL account assignments.

In Xero, they are recorded under Accounts > Purchases > New Bill with equivalent fields.

Once recorded, the bill appears as an outstanding liability in accounts payable until marked as paid.

The Bill Lifecycle

A vendor bill moves through several states:

Draft — Entered but not yet submitted for approval or payment.

Awaiting Payment (Open) — Approved and in the AP queue. The balance is owed.

Paid — Payment has been applied (by recording a payment or reconciling a bank transaction).

Voided — Cancelled without payment, typically due to a billing error or dispute.

Relationship to Invoice Data Extraction

Invoice data extraction automates the creation of vendor bills in your accounting system. Instead of manually keying the vendor name, date, amount, and line items from a PDF into QBO or Xero, extraction tools pull those fields automatically and either export an import-ready file or push directly via API. The result is a properly coded vendor bill created in seconds rather than minutes per invoice.