Vendors

Your vendor records drive the entire purchasing side of CifraHQ. Every purchase order, Inventory receipt, and vendor bill is linked to a vendor — and the details you enter here (currency, Payment Terms, addresses) carry forward onto each document automatically, so your team can process orders quickly without hunting down supplier details each time.

How to create a Vendor

1. Go to Master Data > Purchasing > Vendors.
2. Click the + Data Entry button and select New.
3. Enter the Company Name and optionally a Legal Name (used on formal documents).
4. Select the Currency the vendor Invoices you in.
5. Assign Payment Terms and Freight Terms — these default onto every purchase order and bill for this vendor.
6. Add contact details: Email, Phone, Contact Person, Tax ID.
7. Add one or more Addresses (billing and shipping).
8. Save — the vendor code is assigned automatically.

New vendors start with your own business address already attached as their default Ship To and Bill To. That is deliberate: on a purchase order, Ship To is where the goods should arrive — your premises, not the vendor's. CifraHQ takes it from Setup > System > Tenant > Address, so keep that current and every new vendor inherits it. You can still add or change addresses on the vendor at any time.

You can also import multiple vendors at once using the Import option under the + Data Entry button.

What each field means

• Company Name — the trading name shown on Purchase Orders and bills. Use the name that appears on the vendor's own Invoices.
• Legal Name — the official registered name for formal and tax documents. Fill this in when the vendor's trading name differs from their legal entity; otherwise leave blank and CifraHQ uses Company Name.
• Tax ID — the vendor's government tax identifier (e.g., RUC in Panama). Required for electronic invoicing compliance in some countries.
• Currency — the default currency for all transactions with this vendor. If your supplier Invoices in USD but your books are in PAB, set this once and CifraHQ applies the exchange rate on every bill. Can be overridden on individual documents.
• Payment Terms — drives the due date calculation on Vendor Bills. A vendor on Net 30 terms gets a due date 30 days from the bill date, so your accounts payable aging is always accurate.
• Freight Terms — the delivery arrangement that typically applies (e.g., Delivery, Pickup). Defaults onto Purchase Orders and can be changed per order.
• Lead Time (days) - the typical number of days between placing a purchase order with this vendor and the goods arriving. Defaults to 60. CifraHQ uses it to estimate when ordered Products will arrive in the Incoming Products by Month report (expected arrival = order date plus lead time). Set a realistic value per vendor so those estimates stay accurate.
• Balance — the vendor's current outstanding payable balance (read-only, system-maintained).
• Credit — any available credit from pre-payments or Vendor Credit Notes that can be offset against future bills (read-only, system-maintained).

Tips

• Assign a Vendor Group to segment reporting by supplier category — for example, separating Local Suppliers from Importers lets you see at a glance how much you owe each group.
• Save multiple delivery addresses on the vendor record so you can select the right pickup location per purchase order without re-typing it.
• Check the vendor's Balance and Credit on the vendor detail page before making a payment — it shows exactly what's outstanding and what credit is available to apply.

Related: Purchase Orders · Vendor Bills · Vendor Pre-Payments · Vendor Groups · Tax Codes · Currencies · Payment Terms