How to add a supplier in MYOB

Work out whether the supplier is a business or a person. That choice, the Designation, decides whether MYOB asks for a company name or for a first name and surname. With the Contact type and the name, it's one of only three fields MYOB insists on, so a supplier can be saved quickly and finished off when you have their address, email or phone number to hand.

Setting up a whole list of suppliers at once? MYOB points to importing them as the faster route than adding each one by hand. Customers sit alongside suppliers in the Contacts menu, where both kinds of contact are added, edited and deleted.

If you tend to record this supplier's purchases against the same category, have that category in mind. It can be saved on the supplier as their default Expense category.

1. Open the Create menu and choose Contact.
2. Set the Contact type to Supplier.
3. Check the Designation. Company is selected to begin with, so change it to Individual if the supplier is a person.
4. Type the supplier's name: the company name for a business, or the first name and surname for an individual.
5. If their purchases usually go to one category, choose it as the Expense category.
6. If you give suppliers codes, put this one's code in the Contact ID field.
7. Under Billing address, pick the Country and start typing the Address. Suggested matches appear as you type, and you can select one.
8. Fill in whatever else you have: a Contact person, Email, Phone and Website. To copy someone else into emails to this supplier, click Add CC Email and add their address.
9. For the Shipping address, choose Same as billing address, or type a different one.
10. Click Save.

The supplier now appears as a contact, and the details you saved are kept so you don't have to type them again each time you buy from them. From here you can enter bills for them, pay them, and process returns and refunds.

The Expense category you chose fills in on their purchases, but it isn't fixed: any purchase can go to a different category when you record it. Payment terms work differently. MYOB Business doesn't yet let you set default credit terms on a supplier, so enter a Promised date on each purchase instead.

To change the supplier's details later, or to delete them, find them in the Contacts menu. You can create as many suppliers as you need.

If MYOB won't save the supplier, check the three fields it needs: the Contact type set to Supplier, a Designation, and the company name or the surname.

If you use AccountRight on the desktop, a supplier is kept on a supplier card. Go to the Card File command centre, click Cards List and then New, and choose Supplier as the Card Type. Enter the name, any Card ID and the contact details; the Location list stores up to five sets of addresses and contacts. The Buying Details tab holds defaults for quotes, orders and bills from that supplier, including credit terms, and the Payment Details tab takes their bank details for paying electronically. Click OK to save.

MYOB's desktop notes add two limits on cards. A card's type can't be changed after it's created, so a supplier saved as a customer by mistake needs a new card. And a card that's been used in a transaction can't be deleted; it can be made inactive, or combined with another card, to take it off your lists.