The quick answer
Go to Transactions > Payables > Bill Purchase Orders. Pick the vendor in the Vendor filter, check Bill on each purchase order the supplier invoice covers, and click Submit. NetSuite opens one new bill with the lines from every order you checked. Nothing is saved yet. Check the lines and the amount against the invoice and enter the invoice number in Reference No. before you click Save.
The example bills two orders from Summit Ridge Components: PO8634 for 322.00 and PO8651 for 252.00. A third order from the same vendor, PO8658, isn't on this invoice and stays unbilled. The walkthrough stops at the unsaved bill, so you can see exactly what Submit gives you before anything is recorded. Saving is described at the end but isn't shown. The screenshots use sample data and fictional person and operating-company names.
Before you start
Your role needs access to Bill Purchase Orders and permission to enter bills, plus access to the vendor, subsidiary, items and accounting period involved. Custom roles and approval workflows vary, so check this first. The orders you combine have to be for the same vendor. A bill carries one subsidiary and one currency, so in OneWorld, or with multiple currencies turned on, the orders also have to share those.
An order shows up on Bill Purchase Orders when its status and approval allow billing and it still has quantity or amount left to bill. Whether it has to be received first depends on your receiving setup. With Advanced Receiving, receipts and bills are separate transactions, and your billing-in-advance-of-receipt preference decides whether an unreceived order can be billed. Match Bill to Receipt or three-way-match controls can also limit what you can bill. If an order you expect isn't in the list, check its approval, its receipts, what's already been billed against it and whether your role can see its subsidiary.
In this example both orders were fully received and never billed, and the invoice has no tax, freight or other charges.
01. Find the vendor's orders that are ready to bill
Open Transactions > Payables > Bill Purchase Orders. Menus vary by role, so yours might have it somewhere else.
The page lists the orders you can bill, across vendors. In the Vendor filter, choose Summit Ridge Components. The list narrows to that vendor's three orders: PO8634 for 322.00, PO8651 for 252.00 and PO8658 for 114.00, all in the same subsidiary and in US Dollar.
Order Total is the purchase order's total. It isn't always what the bill will carry: a partial receipt, an earlier bill or a closed line lowers it. Here both orders are fully received and unbilled, so the totals carry over.
02. Select the orders and submit
Check Bill on PO8634 and PO8651. Leave PO8658 unchecked, because it isn't on this invoice.
Click Submit. NetSuite opens a new Bill form for Summit Ridge Components. Submit doesn't save anything. Until you save, there's no bill, neither order is billed and nothing has hit the ledger.
03. Check the combined bill before you save
In Primary Information, Vendor is Summit Ridge Components and Amount is 574.00. That's 322.00 plus 252.00: both orders were fully received, never billed and have no tax or freight. On this form, Transaction Number says To Be Generated and Reference No. is empty until you fill it in.
Scroll to Expenses and Items and open Items. There's one line from each order: Cable Assembly, 7 at 46.00 for 322.00, and Mounting Bracket, 9 at 28.00 for 252.00. Compare each line with the supplier invoice.
The standard bill form may not show which purchase order each line came from, but NetSuite keeps that link line by line. In this example the items are different, so the amounts are enough to match them up. When two orders have the same item, check quantities carefully. Don't rely on a header Created From value to name every source order; a bill from two orders can have more than one.
Before you click Save, enter the supplier's invoice number in Reference No. and review Date, Posting Period, Terms and Approval Status. If the invoice includes tax, freight or other charges, enter them where your form takes them and recheck the total. Don't add anything that isn't on the invoice.
This example stops here. When you save your own bill, the orders it came from are billed, and each purchase order's related records list it. If bills need approval in your account, the saved bill waits at Pending Approval and doesn't post until someone approves it. Paying it is a separate transaction.
Common questions
Can I bill purchase orders from different vendors on one bill?
No. One vendor bill can only combine purchase orders from the same vendor. The orders also have to share a subsidiary and a currency, since the bill has one of each. Filtering Bill Purchase Orders by vendor first keeps the list to orders you can actually combine.
Why is my purchase order missing from Bill Purchase Orders?
It probably isn't billable yet. Check that it's approved, that it's been received if your account requires receipt before billing, and that it still has quantity or amount left to bill. Also check it belongs to the vendor in the filter and to a subsidiary your role can see.
Does clicking Submit create the vendor bill?
No. Submit opens a new, unsaved bill with the lines from the orders you checked. The bill only exists once you click Save, and until then neither order is billed.
How do I see which purchase orders are on a vendor bill?
After the bill is saved, open each purchase order's related records, or the bill's own related records if your form shows them. The standard bill form may not show the source order next to each line. When two orders have the same item, match the lines by quantity and amount before you save.
Can I bill only part of a purchase order?
Usually, yes. On the unsaved bill you can lower a line's quantity or remove a line if your account and form allow it. Whatever you don't bill stays open on the order for a later bill.
What happens to the order I left unchecked?
Nothing. PO8658 isn't on the new bill and stays open with its 114.00 left to bill. When its invoice arrives, select it on Bill Purchase Orders and create a separate bill.