What a purchase ledger clerk does, and how to become one

The purchases ledger holds an account for each supplier. The clerk keeps every one of those accounts correct, from the day an invoice arrives to the day it is paid.

• Check each supplier invoice against the purchase order and the delivery note.
• Check the sums on the invoice: quantities, prices, discounts and VAT.
• Code the invoice to the right supplier and the right account, and enter it.
• Enter credit notes, for goods sent back or an invoice that was wrong.
• Reconcile each supplier's statement to that supplier's account in the ledger.
• Build the payment run: what is due, approved and not in dispute.
• Send a remittance advice with each payment, so the supplier knows which invoices it covers.
• Set up new suppliers, and check any request to change a supplier's bank details before it is acted on.
• Agree the total of the supplier accounts to the purchases ledger control account at the month end.

Nothing is paid on the clerk's word alone. A payment needs the approval of the right person, and a firm with enough staff keeps the person who enters an invoice apart from the person who releases the money.

Each skill below is practised in a named part of Ledger Drill. A path is a subject, and a module is one part of a path.

The documents

A purchase order, a delivery note, an invoice, a credit note, a statement and a remittance advice, and the order they come in. The module Business documents, in the path Business documents and transactions.

Checking an invoice

Matching it to the order and the delivery note, and checking the discounts and the total. The module Invoices and discounts.

Coding

Supplier codes, account codes and the batch totals that catch a slip. The module Coding and the ledgers.

The purchases day books

Writing up invoices and credit notes with VAT, then posting them to the general ledger and to each supplier's account. The module Purchases day books.

Statements and payments

Reconciling a supplier statement and deciding which suppliers to pay. The module Customers and suppliers.

Paying safely

The ways to pay, who can authorise a payment and how to spot an unusual one. The modules Payment methods and Banking controls, in the path Cash, bank and payments.

The control account

What goes on each side of the purchases ledger control account, and how to reconcile it. The module Payables and VAT control accounts, in the path Journals, errors and control accounts.

VAT on purchases

Finding the input tax on an invoice and putting it in the right column. The module How VAT works, in the path VAT in practice.

A supplier's invoice is a credit to trade payables. The business now owes the supplier.

A payment to the supplier is a debit to trade payables, and so is a credit note from the supplier. Each one brings down what the business owes.

The debit for an invoice goes to purchases or to an expense account, which is why the code matters. A wrong code leaves the supplier's balance right and the wrong account charged, and the trial balance still agrees.

The purchases ledger control account holds the total owed to every credit supplier. It has to agree with the list of supplier balances.

Each employer decides what it asks for. These are the usual ways in, in no order.

• Apply for a junior purchase ledger or accounts payable post. Some adverts train a beginner.
• Start as an accounts assistant, where supplier invoices are part of the job, and move across.
• Move from other office work, such as administration or buying, where you already handle orders and invoices.
• Study for a qualification first, or alongside the job. AAT and ICB are two bodies that award bookkeeping qualifications in the UK. Their own websites have what is current.
• Take an apprenticeship, where an employer offers one. It combines a paid job with study.

No route promises a job, and this page does not say how long any of them takes.

Read current job adverts for your area. They say what employers want now.

• The number of invoices or supplier accounts you have handled.
• The tasks: matching invoices, coding, supplier statement reconciliations, payment runs.
• The accounting software the firm uses, and a working level in spreadsheets.
• Accuracy. An employer may set a short test at interview, such as checking an invoice or reconciling a statement.
• A qualification, or study towards one. Some adverts accept experience in its place.

This page gives no pay figures. Pay depends on the area, the employer and your experience, and any figure here would soon be out of date. Current job adverts show it.

Start with the documents and the day books. Then check an invoice against its order and delivery note, reconcile a supplier statement and build a payment run.

Each room is a few lines of reading, then questions you answer in the books: find the wrong line, type the figure, post the entry. Every answer is marked at once.

Ledger Drill does not award a qualification, and it is not affiliated with any awarding body. It teaches no accounting package. It teaches the bookkeeping that a package records.