Paying vendors and bills · EscBooks Help

What a vendor payment is

When you pay someone from one of your accounts, record it as a vendor payment. It's an expense like any other: it counts in its category, for its vendor and on its account. It also says how the money went: by check, ACH, wire, Zelle or a payment app.

A vendor sent you an invoice to pay? Enter it as a bill on Bills, and pay it from there, so the bill is marked paid. One payment there can cover several of a vendor's bills. See Bills below.

Paying a vendor

Pay Vendor is on a bank account's page and on Expenses. In the Command Menu (press Esc), Pay a Vendor and Write a Check open the same dialog on Expenses.

Under Paid By, pick Check, ACH, Wire, Zelle or Payment app. It starts on Check.
Pick the account it came From. From a bank account's page, that account is picked for you.
For a check, leave Check Number blank to print it later, or enter the number of a check you wrote by hand. For the other ways, there's a Confirmation Number instead.
Pick who you paid under Pay To. A vendor with a usual category fills in the Category, until you choose one yourself. A new name becomes a vendor when you save; saved under Contract labor, it's marked as a subcontractor.
Enter the Amount, check the Date (today, to start), and add a Memo, such as their invoice number or your account number with them. On a check, it prints on the memo line.
For a check, click Save to print it later, or Save and Print to go straight to printing. For the other ways, click Save Payment.

ACH, wire, Zelle and payment apps

Check, ACH, wire and Zelle come from a bank account.
Payment app (Venmo, PayPal, Cash App and the like) can be paid from a bank account or a card.
Switching Paid By keeps the account if it can pay that way, and otherwise picks the first one that can. If none can, the dialog says so: add the account on Accounts, then come back.
The Confirmation Number is optional: the one your bank gave you, or the app's transaction ID. It's listed under the payment on the account's page.

Check numbers

A check you'll print: leave Check Number blank. It's listed as To print, and takes a number when it prints: the account's next one (one past its highest, void checks included), or the number on the check in your printer.
A check you wrote by hand: enter the number on it. The hint under the field shows the account's next number. Each number can be used once per account: one that's taken says Check 1043 is already used on the account.

Printing, and what happens to a number when a check jams or misprints: see Printing checks.

The account's payments

Each bank account's page lists its Vendor Payments for the year, with checks still to print at the top, then the newest. The line under the title counts the checks to print, and the checks outstanding with what they come to. Each payment shows its status:

To print: a check saved without a number.
Outstanding (a check) or Sent (the other ways): recorded, and not on a statement yet.
Cleared, with the date: it's been matched to a line on an approved statement.
VOID: a voided check, at $0, with what it was written for struck through.

Click a payment to open it. A check has a printer icon to view and print it, and a numbered check has one to void it. Payments show on Expenses too, with how they were paid ("Check 1043 · Business Checking").

How a payment clears

When the bank's line for a payment comes in, from a bank feed or an imported statement, EscBooks matches it to the payment you recorded, so it isn't added twice. A check is matched by its number and amount ("CHECK 1043", "CHK #1043"), however long it took to clear, up to six months. Other payments are matched by amount and date, within a few days. On the statement's review, the matched line shows as already recorded. Once you approve the statement, the payment shows Cleared. See Reviewing statements.

Voiding and deleting

A numbered check is on paper (printed, or written by hand), so it's voided, not deleted: open it and click Void, or click the void icon on its row. Void Check confirms. It stays in the register as VOID, counts as $0, and its number is never used again. A void check can't be changed or printed. This can't be undone.
A check still waiting to print, and any other kind of payment, can be deleted: open it and click Delete. It asks first, naming the amount, who it was to and the account it comes off, and that it comes out of your books. If the payment paid bills, it says they'll be owed again. Keep leaves it as it is.

Voiding a check that paid bills opens them again too, and its confirm says so: a void check pays nothing. A payment that paid bills keeps its amount and payee; to change them, delete it and pay the bills again. A payment that's on an invoice can't change.

Bills

A bill is an invoice a vendor or subcontractor sent you to pay: what they asked for, and when it's due. Bills is under Spending in the sidebar. It shows what you owe, when it's due, and lets you pay several of one vendor's bills with one payment.

On cash basis, a bill on its own is no cost yet: it counts in its category, and on its projects, once it's paid. On accrual basis it counts on its bill date, and until it's paid it's in Accounts payable, what you owe. Reports follow your business's accounting method, and can show either basis. 1099s count payments on both: a bill is on one once it's paid.

Your business might call clients, projects or subcontractors something else; the words can be changed in Terms and features, and these steps work the same.

Entering a bill

Click Enter Bill on Bills, or Enter Bill on a vendor's page under Vendors. The fields:

From: the vendor or subcontractor. A new name becomes a vendor when you save.
Bill Number: their invoice number. Two of one vendor's bills can't share a number: it says the bill is already in your books.
Bill Date and Amount: the date on their bill, and what it asks for.
Terms and Due: a new bill is due in 30 days. Pick Due on receipt, Net 15, Net 30 or Net 60, or Custom… for any number of days up to 365, and the due date follows. Or set Due yourself, on or after the bill date. Changing the bill date keeps the terms, so the due date moves with it.
Category: where it lands in your reports once it's paid. It starts at Contract labor, or the vendor's usual category. A new vendor saved under Contract labor is marked as a subcontractor.
Project: the job it was for, if any. It's optional, and a bill can be shared between projects (below).
Notes: what it was for.
The Bill: drop the PDF they sent, or a photo, or click Choose File. It's kept with the bill, and View opens it.

Click Save Bill, or Save and Pay Now to go straight to paying it. A saved bill opens again from its row, or its bubble on the timeline. There it lists the payments made on it, each a click from its payment. Once a bill has been paid on, it stays with its vendor, and its amount can't drop below what's been paid.

Void, in a bill's dialog, is for a bill that won't be paid: sent in error, disputed, or replaced by a new one. It asks first, then stays in the list as void: it isn't owed and isn't counted anywhere. Find it with the Void filter, and Restore Bill brings it back. A bill can be voided once nothing is paid on it; void or delete its payment first.
Delete removes a bill that has never had a payment, with its PDF, after asking. A bill a check paid once (even a check since voided) stays in your books: void it instead.

Sharing a bill between projects

A bill for work on two jobs can be shared between their projects, by an estimate: 70% to one and 30% to the other. When it's paid, each project's costs get its share, even when one check pays bills on different projects.

Under Project, pick the first project. On its own, it takes the whole bill.
Choose Split with another project… and pick the second. They start even, on one bar.
Drag the line between them to move work from one to the other (it snaps to 5%), or type each one's percent. With two, the other takes the rest. Each share shows what it comes to in dollars.

Add another project… shares it further, up to 10 projects. With three or more, Split Evenly shares it out equally.
The shares need to come to 100%. Until they do, it says what they come to.
The ✕ on a project takes it off, and its share goes to the project before it (or after it, for the first). One left takes it all.
With the line focused, the arrow keys move it 5% at a time, and 1% with Shift.

When bills are due

Across the top of Bills: To Pay (every unpaid bill), Overdue, Due This Week (the next 7 days) and Paid This Month (what payments put on bills this month).

When Bills Are Due puts each unpaid bill on its due date, from two weeks back to six weeks ahead. The line is today.

Each bubble is a bill, as big as what's left on it: red when it's late, amber when it's due within a week, your accent color after that.
A bill due outside the window sits at its edge, with a halo.
Hover over a bubble for the vendor, the bill and what's left; click it to open the bill.
Below, one bar splits what's owed into Overdue, Next 7 days, In 8–14 days, In 15–30 days and Later, each with its total and its dates. Click one to list just those bills; click it again, or the ✕ on its label beside the list's filters, to see them all.

The list below shows Unpaid bills to start. Switch to Overdue, Paid or All bills, search by vendor or number, and sort by when they're due (soonest first, to start), balance, vendor or date. Each bill's status:

Open: nothing paid yet.
Partly paid: some paid, the rest still owed.
Overdue: still owed, and past its due date ("5 days late").
Paid: paid in full.

Paying bills

Tick the bills one payment covers, then click Pay 3 Bills (it says how many). One payment pays one vendor: with two vendors' bills ticked, it says to pick from just one. To pay a single bill, click Pay on its row.
Each ticked bill is listed with what's left on it. Change an amount to pay part of a bill (up to what's left on it), or untick one.
Under Paid By, pick Check, ACH, Wire, Zelle, Payment app or Card, then the account it came From, and the Date Paid.
Leave Memo blank and it lists their invoice numbers ("Invoices 2291, 2304, 2310"). For a check, leave Check Number blank to number it when it prints.
For a check, click Save to print it later, or Pay $2,240.00 and Print to print it now. For the other ways, click Pay $2,240.00.

It's saved as one vendor payment from the account, for the total, and each bill's balance drops by its part. A bill paid in full leaves the Unpaid list; one paid in part is Partly paid. The payment takes the bills' category (when they differ, the one most of their total is in). A vendor's page under Vendors lists what's owed them, with Pay Bills (all their unpaid bills, ticked) and Enter Bill.

A bill that was never entered

Paying something that isn't on Bills yet? Click Pay a Bill and pick who you're paying under Pay To. If they have unpaid bills, they're listed, all ticked: untick any this doesn't pay. Under The bill (or A bill that isn't here, when they have others), enter its Bill Number and Amount, and pick its Category and Project. It's entered as you pay it, dated and due the day it's paid, so its category and project count like any bill's.

Contractors and 1099s

What you pay a subcontractor counts toward their 1099-NEC, except payments by card or through a payment app: the card network or the app reports those on a 1099-K. Checks, ACH, wires and Zelle all count.
A vendor not marked as a subcontractor is listed too when you paid them under Contract labor, with Mark as Subcontractor; until you mark them, only the contract labor counts.
A void check isn't a payment, so it doesn't count. A bill counts once it's paid, by how it was paid.
The list is in Reports → Taxes. When some of a payee's money went by card or payment app, a For 1099-NEC column shows the part that counts. Those paid $2,000 or more in 2026 ($600 through 2025) need a 1099-NEC from you by January 31. From 2027 the threshold is adjusted for inflation; the IRS's 1099-NEC instructions for the year give it.

See Subcontractors, vendors and 1099s.