In Settle you can create, schedule, and track payments directly from a Purchase Order (PO). Whether you’re paying the vendor on the PO itself or a different vendor (e.g., a freight forwarder), the payment stays linked to the PO for clear audit trails, cash‑flow visibility, and easier reconciliation.
Steps to make a payment on a Purchase Order
Open the PO
Go to Purchase Orders.
Select an Open PO whose test/fulfilment conditions are complete.
Start the Payment
Click Make Payment (or Pay).
Choose the Payment method (ACH, check, etc.) and Bank account.
Enter Payment Details
Confirm or update the Vendor (defaults to the PO vendor). Please note that the vendor listed on the PO is pre‑filled by default, but you can switch to any vendor if, for example, you need to pay a shipping company.
Select the appropriate Expense category if prompted.
The Reference field auto‑fills with the PO number. You may edit it; whatever you enter is also pushed to your bank‑transaction memo for easy matching.
Schedule the Payment
Review the summary and click Schedule Payment.
The payment now appears under the Payments tab of the PO and on your Cash Outflow graph.
Review Linked Payments
Top section: Payments made directly on this PO.
Bottom section: Payments linked via bills (loan payments also flow through bills, so “via bills” is all you’ll see here).
Link Existing Payments (optional)
From the Payments tab, choose Link payment to attach any un‑linked payment for the same vendor.
You can also link the PO payment itself to any bill for that vendor. After linking, the payment cannot be un‑linked.
👉 Read more on creating and managing purchase orders
⚠️ Important notes
Permissions Required: Only users with the Create payments permission can initiate a PO payment.
Bill-Pay Only: PO payments must be bill-pay. Financing is only available through linked bills.
Cash Flow Impact: Scheduled PO payments are reflected in the Cash Outflow chart, just like other payments.
👉 Read more on financing with Settle
👉 Read more about understanding your cash outflows graph
Accounting system behavior
A PO payment is exported to QuickBooks Online (QBO) as a stand‑alone Expense.
When you link that payment to a bill, Settle automatically converts the Expense to a Bill Payment in QBO.
Because this mirrors QBO’s own rules, the link (and the conversion) cannot be undone.
Need help? Reach out to support at support@settle.co and we’ll guide you through your next PO payment.