Payables
Payables is where money leaves the business on purpose: the vendors you buy from, the bills they send, the runs that pay them, and the aging report that shows what’s still open. It lives in the sidebar as its own module - Overview · Vendors · Purchase orders · Bills · Payments · Aging.
The money surfaces (Overview, Bills, Payments, Aging) are part of the accounting layer - Professional and up. Vendors and purchase orders work on every plan.
Vendors
Every vendor gets a real page: open balance, overdue amount, payment terms, and a timeline of bills, purchase orders, expenses, and payments. Set payment terms (Net 30, due on receipt, end of month) on the vendor and every new bill derives its due date automatically.
A vendor statement - what happened over a date range and what’s still open - is one click from the vendor page.
Bills
A bill is a promise to pay. Record it when it arrives (or let a purchase order become one), attach the vendor’s PDF, and the due date drives everything else: the coming-due strip, the overdue alerts, the aging buckets.
Bills at or above your approval threshold hold as drafts until a second person approves them - the same separation of duties as everywhere else money moves.
Recurring bills
For the statements that arrive every month - fuel cards, disposal service, the equipment lease - turn on Make this recurring when you record one. LawnLedger re-creates it on the cadence you pick, as a draft for review (so nothing posts without eyes on it). Manage schedules from Bills → Recurring: pause, resume, or delete without touching the bills already created.
Paying: pay runs
Select the bills to pay and run one pay run - one payment per vendor, covering every selected bill from that vendor.
Pick the bills
Check them off on the Bills desk. The bar shows the running total.
Choose how and when
Record manually for money that already moved (or moves outside LawnLedger), or Check to claim check numbers and print on standard 3-per-page check stock. Pick a future Pay on date to schedule the run - the payments hold as scheduled and post themselves that morning.
Four-eyes on big runs
A run at or above the approval threshold holds until a second person approves it from the Payments desk. What they approve is exactly what was reviewed - the lines are frozen when the run is created.
Payment states
Every vendor payment carries a lifecycle, visible on the Payments desk:
| State | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Scheduled | A promise - the money hasn’t moved and the payment can still be cancelled |
| In transit | A rail (bank transfer) accepted it and the money is moving |
| Recorded | Posted to your books - cash left on the payment date |
| Settled | The bank confirmed it cleared |
| Failed / Returned | It didn’t complete - the bills it covered are open again |
A failed or returned payment reopens its bills automatically and shows up in the notification bell, so nothing quietly stays “paid” that isn’t.
Aging
Payables → Aging buckets everything open by how long it’s been due - current, 1-30, 31-60, 61-90, 90+ - by vendor, with the bills behind every number one click away. Pick a past “as of” date to see what the books said then.