By Lauren Mitchell, accounts-payable systems analyst with 9 years of experience supporting vendor billing and bank-reconciliation workflows
Last reviewed: July 22, 2026
FreshBooks business users sign in to record vendor bills, monitor amounts due, enter payments, and review accounts payable reports. A bill should be used when goods or services have been received but payment is due later; an item paid in full at purchase is normally recorded as an expense.
This independent guide is not affiliated with FreshBooks.
Start with that distinction. Recording the same purchase as both a bill and an imported expense can overstate costs unless the payment records are reconciled correctly.
What FreshBooks Accounts Payable Does
FreshBooks is cloud accounting software for small businesses and independent professionals. Its Accounts Payable tools group bills and vendors so a business can track what it owes and review each supplier’s billing history from one place.
Bills and vendors are currently available on trials and the Premium and Select plans. The Accounts Payable Aging report is included with that feature set.
A vendor supplies goods or services and expects payment later. A bill records the liability created by that purchase.
An expense is different. FreshBooks describes an expense as a purchase paid upfront, while a bill can contain several expense categories and remain unpaid or partially paid until the business records settlement.
That difference affects the Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss report. Do not create a bill merely because a document from a supplier is titled “invoice” if the purchase was already paid and should be recorded as an expense.
Choose the Correct FreshBooks Route
| Your task | Correct starting point |
|---|---|
| Manage the business account | FreshBooks login |
| Recover account access | Forgot Your Password? |
| Create an unpaid vendor obligation | Expenses > Bills > New Bill |
| Add or review a supplier | Expenses > Vendors |
| Record a bill already paid elsewhere | Add a payment to the bill |
| Pay an eligible U.S. bill inside FreshBooks | FreshBooks Bill Pay |
| Review overdue vendor balances | Accounts Payable Aging report |
| Prevent duplicate expense reporting | Bill Payment Reconciliation |
| Review bank activity | Bank Reconciliation |
FreshBooks also lets users create a bill from the Dashboard through Create New > Bill or from an existing vendor profile.
Do this first: confirm whether the supplier is still owed money. Skip bill creation when the transaction was paid immediately and an expense already exists.
Log In to the Correct Business
Open FreshBooks through its company login and use the sign-in method connected to the existing account. Users who manage several businesses should confirm the active company before creating a vendor or entering a bill.
A valid login can expose the wrong books.
Check the company name, base currency, accounting period, and vendor before saving anything. A bill entered under another business may look normal while creating an incorrect liability in that company’s records.
FreshBooks supports direct credentials, Google sign-in, and Apple sign-in. Its account documentation also provides password recovery and two-factor authentication routes.
Priority one is the original account. Skip creating another FreshBooks profile because it will not contain the established vendors, bills, bank connections, reports, or payment history.
Do not share passwords or authentication codes with a vendor. Suppliers need payment or remittance information, not access to the business accounting account.
Create a Vendor Before Reusing Their Details
FreshBooks vendor profiles centralize bills connected to each supplier. A vendor can be added while creating a bill or managed from the Vendors subsection under Expenses.
A useful vendor record should be reviewed for:
- legal or trading name;
- business contact;
- billing address;
- account reference used by the supplier;
- currency;
- tax details required by the business;
- payment instructions stored through the supported workflow.
Search before creating a second profile. “ABC Plumbing,” “ABC Plumbing LLC,” and “A.B.C. Plumbing” may represent one supplier.
Duplicate vendors split the bill history and make Accounts Payable Aging harder to interpret.
FreshBooks also supports vendor imports from CSV through:
Expenses > Vendors > More Actions > Import Vendors. The upload process attempts to match spreadsheet columns to FreshBooks fields.
Review the imported list before adding bills. Skip importing an unclean spreadsheet containing repeated names or outdated contacts.
Create a FreshBooks Bill
The standard browser route is:
Expenses > Bills > New Bill
The bill form begins by selecting an existing vendor or adding a new one. FreshBooks sets the issue date to the current date by default, although it can be changed to match the supplier document.
Review:
- vendor;
- issue date;
- due date;
- bill number or reference;
- categories;
- line descriptions;
- amounts;
- taxes;
- currency;
- attached document;
- payment status.
A bill can use multiple expense categories. That is useful when one supplier document combines materials, professional services, delivery, or other costs that belong in different accounts.
Read the total twice.
An OCR scan, spreadsheet import, or manual entry can misread a decimal, duplicate a line, or place tax in the wrong category. The attached supplier document supports the entry, but it does not prove that the accounting fields were captured correctly.
Priority two is the source document. Skip marking the bill paid until the FreshBooks total matches what the supplier actually requested.
Scan a Bill Instead of Typing It
FreshBooks receipt scanning uses optical character recognition to extract information from uploaded expense receipts and bills. Scanned documents enter an Uploads workflow where the user reviews the extracted fields before creating the accounting record.
Receipt scanning is currently available to eligible users in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom on trials and Plus, Premium, and Select plans. Automatic capture of multiple bill line items is limited to Select accounts.
OCR can save typing. It cannot approve the bill.
Check the vendor, date, total, tax, currency, and each captured line. Long documents, faint printing, folded pages, and poor images can lead to incomplete fields.
Do not upload the same document repeatedly while it is processing. Several completed scans may later create duplicate bill candidates.
A bill must be reviewed in a browser when the mobile workflow does not provide the needed bill-creation control.
Record a Bill Payment
A bill remains open until payment is recorded. FreshBooks allows the user to open the bill, add a payment, select a payment date, and include payment notes where useful. The bill then changes to paid or partially paid according to the amount entered.
Use the real settlement date.
If the bank paid the supplier on July 10 but the payment is entered with today’s date, the liability and cash movement may appear in the wrong accounting period.
Before saving, confirm:
- payment amount;
- date;
- account or payment method;
- partial or full settlement;
- supplier reference;
- whether an imported bank expense already exists.
Do not record another bill payment merely because the bank transaction has not yet appeared in FreshBooks. Bank imports, mailed checks, and ACH settlement can be visible at different times.
One payment. One record.
Prevent Duplicate Expenses
A paid bill and an imported bank expense can describe the same purchase. FreshBooks provides Bill Payment Reconciliation to match those records and avoid reporting the cost twice.
FreshBooks identifies potential matches using amount and date rules. One route looks for an expense matching a partially paid or paid bill amount within 10 days of the expense date. Another can compare an unpaid or partially paid bill amount with an expense imported within 45 days after the bill’s issue date.
Those are matching suggestions, not proof.
Verify the supplier, amount, date, and business purpose before confirming. Two separate bills from the same utility company can have identical amounts.
When reconciliation is completed, FreshBooks can delete the associated imported expense so the bill payment remains the accounting record rather than allowing both to affect the Profit and Loss report.
When a paid bill is created after the bank expense was already imported, FreshBooks says the automatic potential-payment banner may not appear. Its guidance recommends removing the duplicate expense after the bill has been created so costs are not overstated.
Check first. Delete second.
Use Accounts Payable Aging
The Accounts Payable Aging report shows vendors with outstanding bills that still need payment. It is found under:
Reports > Accounts Payable Aging
The report is available with Accounts Payable on trials, Premium, and Select plans.
Use it to identify:
- current unpaid bills;
- overdue balances;
- vendors owed the most;
- old bills requiring investigation;
- partially paid obligations.
Aging reports depend on correct due dates and payment records. A bill with the wrong due date may appear overdue too early, while a payment entered against the wrong bill can leave the intended obligation open.
Do not pay solely from the report total. Open the underlying bill, confirm the vendor document, and check whether a credit, dispute, or prior payment affects the balance.
The report answers who appears to be owed. The source records explain why.
FreshBooks Bill Pay in the United States
FreshBooks Bill Pay, offered in partnership with Unit, lets eligible U.S. businesses manage and pay vendor bills through bank transfers or mailed checks inside FreshBooks. Bills can be added manually or uploaded for scanning, and payments are automatically categorized in the account.
Approval is required before the feature can be used. FreshBooks states that transaction fees vary by payment method and that Bill Pay is available only to eligible U.S. businesses.
FreshBooks is a financial technology company rather than a bank; its current documentation identifies i3 Bank as the provider of Bill Pay services.
This feature is different from simply recording that a supplier was paid elsewhere. Bill Pay initiates an eligible payment, while the ordinary bill-payment control records a payment that may already have occurred through another channel.
Choose carefully.
Skip scheduling another bank payment when a check or ACH transfer has already been initiated outside FreshBooks.
Bills After a Plan Downgrade
FreshBooks says bills created during a trial or before a downgrade remain viewable and editable when the account moves to a plan without Accounts Payable. The user loses the broader feature for creating and managing new bills and vendors under that lower plan.
That can explain why old bills remain visible while the New Bill control is absent.
Check the subscription plan before troubleshooting permissions or browser problems. Accounts Payable is currently limited to trials, Premium, and Select plans.
Do not delete historical bills to make the screen look consistent. They may support prior liabilities, payments, reconciliation, and financial reports.
FreshBooks FAQ
What is the difference between a bill and an expense?
A bill records goods or services received now and paid later. An expense records a purchase paid upfront.
Where do I create a bill?
Use Expenses > Bills > New Bill, or Create New > Bill from the Dashboard.
Why can’t I see Accounts Payable?
Bills and vendors are currently limited to trials, Premium, and Select plans. After a downgrade, existing bills can remain available even when new Accounts Payable functions are unavailable.
Why did one purchase appear twice?
The bill payment and the bank-imported expense may represent the same supplier payment. Use Bill Payment Reconciliation and verify the suggested match before removing the duplicate expense.
Can FreshBooks pay vendors directly?
Eligible U.S. businesses can apply for FreshBooks Bill Pay and use supported ACH transfers or mailed checks. Approval and transaction fees apply.
Can I scan a supplier bill?
Yes. FreshBooks can scan uploaded bills using OCR, but the extracted fields must be reviewed before creating the record.
Where can I see overdue vendor bills?
Use the Accounts Payable Aging report under Payments Reports.
Does matching a bill payment keep the imported expense?
FreshBooks says the associated expense entry is automatically deleted after the bill payment is reconciled, preventing both entries from affecting the reports.