In Procurify, paid bills cannot be deleted. This is a deliberate security measure designed to maintain a secure audit trail. Once a payment is finalized, it is locked to ensure your financial records match your actual cash flow, preventing discrepancies that could arise during an audit.
If a bill was paid in error, the solution is to offset the transaction to reconcile your budget rather than remove it.
Understanding the Workflow: Offset vs. Delete
Because deleting a paid bill would remove the justification for funds already disbursed, the standard accounting procedure is to create a reversing entry.
How to Create a Credit (Negative Bill)
Creating a bill with a negative value acts as a credit that balances your books and returns funds to the affected budget.
Navigate to Accounts Payable: Select Create Bill.
Select the Vendor: Choose the same vendor associated with the original (incorrect) bill.
Enter Negative Values: Add line items with negative quantities or negative unit costs so the total bill amount is negative.
Reference the Original: In the description field, include the original Bill or PO number to maintain a clear audit trail.
Submit for Approval: Once this negative bill is approved, the amount will be credited back to your budget.
Note: When paying the vendor next, you can apply this credit within your integrated accounting system (like QuickBooks or NetSuite) to reduce the total payment.
Managing Unbilled Items: Why We Archive
You may notice that even unbilled items are archived rather than deleted. This ensures data integrity between your Purchase Orders and your final payments.
Why Archiving is Essential
Maintains Audit Trails: Every step from request to receipt is recorded. Deleting an item would create a "gap" in your financial history.
Prevents Duplicate Billing: Archiving removes the item from your active queue, ensuring it isn't accidentally added to a future bill.
Data Integrity: It provides proof that the procure-to-pay cycle was intentionally concluded without a payment, rather than being deleted by mistake.
Summary Table: Action Guide
Scenario | Correct Action | Result |
Bill is Paid | Create a Negative Bill (Credit) | Offsets the budget and balances the ledger. |
Bill is not Paid | Fix Bill to make changes | Bill submitted for reapproval |
Item is Received but Unbilled | Archive the item if not needed | Removes it from the AP queue while keeping the audit trail. |
Bill is in Draft/Pending | Cancel or Edit (if available) | Stops the process before it hits the general ledger. |
Need further assistance?
If you need help setting up specific credit memo workflows in your integrated accounting system, please reach out to our Support team via in-app messaging for assistance.