Set up vendor posting groups

Give each kind of vendor its own payable account, so bills and vendor payments post to the right account when your company uses posting groups.

For finance administratorsUpdated 4 Nov 2026

Before you start

In this article
  1. Steps
  2. What the group is used for
  3. If something goes wrong

A vendor posting group decides which payable account a vendor's bills post to. For example, you might keep local suppliers and foreign suppliers on different payable accounts.

Vendor posting groups are only used when your company takes its accounts from posting groups. Not sure which your company uses? See how invoices get their accounts.

Steps

  1. Open Settings › Posting Settings › Vendor Posting Groups

    In the menu on the left, select Settings, then Posting Settings, then Vendor Posting Groups. The list shows each group's Posting Code, Description, Payable Account, Purchase Charge Account and Status.

    1. Vendor Posting Groups in the Posting Settings menu.
    2. New Vendor Posting Group adds a group.
    3. Payable Account. A dash means the group has no payable account yet.
    4. The actions menu (···): Edit, Deactivate or Activate, and Delete.
  2. Fill in the new group

    Select New Vendor Posting Group. The New Vendor Posting Group panel opens on the right.

    1. Posting Code: a short code in capitals, for example LOCAL or FOREIGN. Required. Use only capital letters, numbers, hyphens and underscores, up to 20 characters.
    2. Description (Optional): up to 100 characters.
    3. Payable Account: the account bills from these vendors post to. Required. Type to search, for example payable.
    4. Purchase Charge Account (Optional): an expense account for purchase charges.
    5. Active: leave it ticked so the group can be chosen.
    6. Create Posting Group.

    You'll see Vendor posting group created successfully.

  3. Give the group to your vendors

    Open each vendor in Purchases › Vendors, select Edit, and choose the group in Vendor posting group. See add a vendor. Vendors left on Organisation default use the default group.

What the group is used for

DocumentUses the group's payable account for
Vendor billThe credit to what you owe the vendor.
Bill paymentThe debit that clears the bill. It uses the account the bill posted to.
Debit noteThe debit that reduces what you owe. It uses the bill's account.

If something goes wrong

MessageWhat to do
Code is requiredEnter a Posting Code.
Code must not exceed 20 charactersUse a shorter code.
Code can only contain uppercase letters, numbers, hyphens, and underscoresType the code in capitals, for example LOCAL.
Payable account is requiredChoose a Payable Account.
Vendor has no posting groups assignedChoose the groups on the vendor, or ask an administrator to select Create missing defaults on Posting Groups Switch-over.