Create/Reconcile Invoices from PDF Supplier Statement or Handwritten Sales Ledger
Purchase and sale invoices are the most common documents for recording transactions. However, for many small businesses, maintaining these documents can be challenging, and they often use alternatives such as supplier statements, handwritten sales ledgers, and other transaction lists. Receipt Bot offers a powerful way to digitise these documents and record purchase or sale transactions from them in your accounting software.
This article will guide you on using the dedicated module for supplier statements or sales ledgers. The feature works by extracting all transactions from your document and displaying them in an interactive digital grid. From this grid, you have the flexibility to manage each transaction individually: create a purchase invoice, record a credit note, or link the line to an existing document.
Understanding the supplier statement and sales ledger modules
Receipt Bot contains various modules for handling different types of documents. While the features and steps described in this guide are identical for both, they serve different purposes based on the type of transaction you need to record.
The key difference lies in what they are used for:
– Supplier Statement Module: Use this for statements you receive from your suppliers. It is designed to help you record your business purchases. Transactions processed through this module will be created as Purchase Invoices or Purchase Credit Notes.
– Sales Ledger Module: Use this for your own sales ledgers or statements you send to customers. It is designed to help you record your business revenue. Transactions processed through this module will be created as Sale Invoices or Sale Credit Notes.
This guide will use the ‘Supplier Statement’ module for all examples, but you can follow the same steps when using the ‘Sales Ledger’ module.
Prerequisites
Before you can process statements, you need to ensure the following requirements are met for your business:
You must have an active business set up in your Receipt Bot account.
The appropriate module (‘Supplier Statement’ for purchases or ‘Sales Ledger’ for sales) must be enabled for that business.
Enable the supplier statement or sales ledger module
You can enable these modules either when you first add a new business to Receipt Bot or at any time for an existing business by following the steps below.
Step 1 – Navigate to the Business Configuration page from the business menu.
Step 2 – Click the Module Settings option.
Step 3 – Click the “Enable Modules” button on the top right of the page.
Step 4 – Locate the Supplier Statement or Sales Ledger in the list of available modules.
Step 5 – Tick the checkbox next to the module name.
Step 6 – Click the Enable button at the top right of the page.
The selected module should be enabled and can be accessed from the business navigation menu.
Overview of the Supplier Statement / Sales Ledger pages
After you have enabled the module, you can access the Supplier Statements page from the main business navigation menu. This page acts as your central dashboard, providing a summary of all the statements you have uploaded.
On this page, each row represents a single document and displays the key information such as:
- Action: A set of action buttons allowing you to view, edit, or manage the document.
- Doc ID: A unique identification number assigned by Receipt Bot.
- Status: Shows the current state of the document (e.g., ‘Processing’, ‘Processed’, ‘Reconciled’).
- File Name: The original name of the file you uploaded.
- Contact Name: The supplier’s name, as extracted from the statement.
- Start Date & End Date: The period covered by the statement.
- Statement Balances: Includes the Opening Balance, Total Payables, Total Payments & Returns, and Closing Balance.
From this page, you can use the Upload button in the top-right corner to add new statement files. To learn more about the different ways to upload documents to Receipt Bot, please refer to our guide on how to upload documents.
Understanding the statement detail view
Once a document’s status is ‘Processed’, you can click the view icon in the ‘Action’ column to open the statement detail view. This is where you will review the extracted data and create transactions.
This screen is divided into three main parts:
- Header Information: At the top, you will find the overall details of the statement, such as the Contact Name, Document Number, statement period (Start Date and End Date), and the summary of balances.
- Transaction Grid: This is the central part of the screen, where each line from your statement is displayed as a separate row. It includes columns for Date, Description, Payables, and Payment/Return. Most importantly, the Action column contains the buttons you can use to create new documents or link these transactions.
- Document Viewer: On the right-hand side, you will see a preview of your original uploaded document. You can scroll through it to compare the extracted data in the grid with the source file, ensuring everything is accurate before processing.
How Receipt Bot standardises transactions from your Supplier Statements / Sales Ledger
A key feature of the supplier statement module is how Receipt Bot processes your data. Instead of simply copying the grid as it appears on your PDF, Receipt Bot extracts the information and organises it into a standardised format. This ensures that, regardless of the differences in each supplier’s statement layout, the data you work with inside Receipt Bot is always clean and consistent.
The transaction grid will always display the following standardised columns:
- Date: The date of the transaction.
- Document Number: The invoice, reference, or transaction number for the line item.
- Description: Any available details describing the transaction. If there are multiple columns for details, they will be concatenated using ” | ” as a separator.
- Payables: Amounts for new invoices or charges from the supplier.
- Payment & Return: Amounts for payments you have made or credits you have received.
- Balance: The running balance that is calculated after each transaction.
This standardised approach offers two significant advantages:
- Consistent Data Format: You can review and manage transactions from all your suppliers in one uniform way, which makes reconciliation faster and less prone to error.
- Combined Data Export: Because the data is standardised, Receipt Bot can ‘stitch together’ the transactions from multiple statements. This allows you to select several processed statements on the main Supplier Statements page and click the Download button. You will receive a single, consolidated Excel file containing all the individual transactions from the selected statements, which is ideal for comprehensive analysis or reporting.
Create or link documents from the transaction grid
Once your data is extracted, your next step is to process each transaction line by either creating a new document or linking it to an existing one. Receipt Bot automatically links transactions extracted from a supplier statement or sales ledger to existing purchase or sales documents based on the document number. For any lines that are not linked automatically, or for new transactions, you can use the options below.
Option 1 – Link to an existing document
Option 2 – Create a purchase/sale document individually for each transaction
Option 3 – Create multiple documents in bulk from selected transactions with sorting/filtering
Option 1 – Link to an existing document
Use this option when you have already uploaded the invoice for a specific transaction and want to link it to the corresponding line on the statement.
Step 1 – Locate the transaction line you wish to link.
Step 2 – Click the Add Link icon (the chain link symbol) in the ‘Action’ column.
Step 3 – A search window will appear, allowing you to find the existing document.
You can search by Invoice Number, Line Description, Category, Payment Method or VAT Rate.
Step 4 – Select the document by clicking the Add Link icon (represented by a chain link symbol).
The extraction transaction will be linked to the purchase document.
Option 2 – Create a purchase/sale document individually for each transaction
Use this option to record a single transaction line as a new document, such as a purchase invoice or credit note, when it does not already exist in your Receipt Bot account.
Step 1 – Locate the transaction line you want to record.
Step 2 – Click the Create Document icon (the plus symbol) in the ‘Action’ column.
Step 3 – Most fields, such as the date and amount, will be pre-filled with data from the grid. You must assign the Category and VAT Rate for the new document.
Step 4 – If you want to record the document as a credit note, update the “Record As” field accordingly.
Step 5 – Click the Create Document button to finalise.
A new purchase/sale document will be created and automatically linked to the transaction line.
Option 3 – Create multiple documents in bulk from selected transactions with sorting/filtering
This is the most efficient method for processing long statements with many similar items. By first using the grid’s sorting and filtering tools, you can create documents for multiple transactions at once.
Part A – Prepare your grid for bulk creation
Step 1 – Filter your data: Use Receipt Bot’s Excel-like filter icons for each column to get similar transactions you want. For example, type a specific keyword in the description for all payables transactions.
Step 2 – Sort your data: Click on any column header to group similar items together, making them easy to select.
Part B – Create documents for the selected transactions
Step 3 – Once your grid is organised, select the checkboxes for all the transaction lines you want to process together.
Step 4 – Click the Bulk Create button that appears at the top-right of the page.
Step 5 – In the pop-up form, select the Category Name and VAT Rate that will apply to all the selected transactions.
Step 4 – Click the Create button.
The system will generate a separate purchase/sale document for each selected line.
Convert supplier statement data to Excel
Receipt Bot allows you to easily convert your PDF supplier statements or handwritten sales ledgers to Excel. This feature is useful for performing offline analysis, creating custom reports, or sharing transaction data with colleagues.
Because Receipt Bot organises all your data into a standardised format, you can download a clean, consistent, and easy-to-use Excel file.
Option 1 – Download data for an individual supplier statement
Option 2 – Download data for multiple supplier statements / sales ledger
Option 1 – Download data for a single statement
If you need an Excel file containing all the transactions from just one specific statement, you can download it directly from the main Supplier Statements page.
Step 1 – Navigate to the Supplier Statements page from the business menu.
Step 2 – Locate the statement you wish to download.
Step 3 – Click the green document icon to open the details page.
Step 4 – Click the Download button at the top right of the page.
An Excel file containing all the standardised transaction lines from that statement will be downloaded.
Option 2 – Download data for multiple supplier statements / sales ledger
For a more comprehensive analysis, you can combine the transaction data from several statements into a single, consolidated Excel file.
Step 1 – Navigate to the Supplier Statements page from the business menu.
Step 2 – Select the checkboxes for all the statements you want to include in your export.
Step 3 – Click the Download button at the top right of the page.
Receipt Bot will ‘stitch together’ the data from all selected documents and provide a single Excel file for you to download, with all transactions organised in a standardised format.
Mark statements as reconciled to clean your workspace
Once you have processed all the individual transaction lines within a statement by either creating or linking them to documents, you can perform the final step: marking the statement as reconciled.
This action changes the document’s status to ‘Reconciled’ and effectively ‘parks’ it. This helps you to keep your workspace clean and allows you to easily filter your view to focus only on statements that still require your attention.
Step 1 – Navigate to the Supplier Statements page from the business menu.
Step 2 – Ensure all transactions for the statement(s) you wish to reconcile have been fully processed.
Step 3 – Select the checkbox for one or more completed statements.
Step 4 – Click the Reconcile button, located at the top right of the page.
The status of the selected documents will update to ‘Reconciled’, confirming that they are complete and removing them from your active workflow.
Mobile App Limitation
Receipt Bot’s mobile app does not support Supplier Statement or Sales Ledger processing.
These modules are currently only available in the web application.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How many credits are charged for extraction under each of the above options?
A: Extracting data from a supplier statement or sales ledger will cost you three credits per page in Receipt Bot.
Q: How is this new method different from the old way of processing statements?
A: The previous method required you to choose upfront whether to create an invoice for every line or just extract a simple grid. The new, dedicated module always extracts a detailed grid first. This provides more flexibility to create invoices, credit notes, or link to existing documents on a line-by-line basis, resulting in better accuracy and control.