Settle can forecast the payments for a purchase order (PO) from the vendor's payment terms. The forecast shows on your Cash outflows chart, and each forecast payment becomes a suggested payment on the PO.
Before you start, set the vendor's payment terms trigger and payment terms. See Getting started: Understanding payment terms in Settle.
Set up the forecast
Go to Purchase Orders and open the PO.
On the Details tab, scroll to the AP forecast section and click Finish forecast setup.
The AP forecast dialog opens with the vendor's terms filled in. In the dialog:
Under Forecast parameters, check the Amt. of days and the trigger event.
Under Expected Payments to Vendor, check each row and its amount. You can change the Percentage and the Term, and set a Date.
To also save these terms as the vendor's default, select Make default for this Vendor. When the PO's terms already are the vendor's default, it is selected and grayed out until you change something.
Click Save.
If the section shows Set payment terms and lead time instead, the vendor has no payment terms trigger or payment terms yet. Click it to open the Edit vendor drawer and add them. If it shows Set Vendor, choose the PO's vendor first.
How Settle calculates the forecast
Date: if the date is empty, Settle uses:
PO issue date + trigger days + term days = Payment date
For example, a PO issued on September 15 with 14 days until shipping and Net 30 gives October 29. A deposit is due on the PO issue date.Amount: the row's percentage of the PO total.
Change or remove the forecast
Once the forecast is set up, the AP forecast section lists each payment with its term, date and amount.
Click Edit to open the AP forecast dialog again. A change there also changes the PO's payment terms.
Click Remove to take the forecast and its suggested payments off this PO. The section then shows who removed it and when. To bring it back, click Show forecast, check the dialog and click Save.
Click Go to full forecast to open the Cash outflows chart on your dashboard.
The AP forecast section doesn't show on canceled or closed POs. On a PO that is in review or rejected, Settle adds the forecast once the PO is open.
On the Cash outflows chart, forecast PO payments show as Expected pmts from POs. To learn more, read Understanding your Cash Outflows graph.
Act on suggested payments
Each forecast payment becomes a suggested payment on the PO. A suggested payment is a reminder, not a payment: no money moves until you make the payment. Open the PO's Payments tab and go to Suggested payments. For each suggestion, you can:
1. Proceed with suggested payment
Use when: You're ready to pay on schedule.
Steps:
Click “Proceed with Suggested Payment”
Review vendor, amount, and date
Choose a payment method and pay from account
Optionally update the payment reason
Schedule the payment
Result: Payment is scheduled, linked to the correct term, and shown on the PO's Payments tab.
2. Mark as paid externally
Use when: Payment was made outside Settle (e.g., check, manual wire).
Steps:
Click “Mark as Paid Externally”
Select the payment term this fulfills
Confirm amount, method, and payment date
Result: An external payment record is created and linked.
3. Link existing payment
Use when: A payment already exists in Settle and needs to be tied to a payment term.
Steps:
Click “Link Existing Payment”
Select the relevant payment
Result: The payment becomes associated with the forecasted term and updates the amounts on the PO's Payments tab.
4. Dismiss
Use when: The suggested payment is no longer needed.
Note: This action is irreversible and does not affect your financial records.
To learn more about paying from a PO, read Payments on Purchase Orders. To see what each amount on the Payments tab means, read Understanding the Payments tab on a purchase order.