Every supplier in Accounts Payable carries a status that shows whether it's ready to use for invoice payments. There are three: Draft, Pending, and Approved. Knowing what each means shows you which suppliers are ready to pay, and who can edit them at each stage.
How It Works
- Draft: Created automatically when Weel's bill upload can only pull partial supplier details from an invoice; add full payment details before it's ready to use on a bill.
- Pending: The default status once full details exist, whether entered manually, imported from Xero, or added from an emailed or uploaded bill; you can add it to Accounts Payable and use it on a bill straight away, but only its creator can edit it until approved.
- Approved: A supplier becomes Approved once its bill finishes the full approval workflow, not simply when it's submitted; its address and payment details are then saved for future bills.
- Individual payees: Suppliers set up for personal reimbursements (like an expense payout to someone's personal bank account) sit outside this status flow and don't move to Approved through bill approval.
- Editing and deleting: Both require the "Edit all suppliers" permission; Owner and Admin hold it by default and can't lose it, though it can also be granted to an Accountant, Team Member, or custom role.
- No other statuses: Suppliers have no Rejected, Declined, Archived, or Inactive status; Bills, Purchase Orders, and Batch Payments track their own separate statuses instead.
Good to know
- Even the person who created a supplier loses their edit rights once it's Approved: from that point on, editing needs the "Edit all suppliers" permission no matter who created it.
- Without that permission you can still view a supplier you created or raised a bill against, but you can't edit or delete it; ask whoever holds "Edit all suppliers" (usually an Admin or Owner) to make changes for you.
- Deleting a supplier isn't a status change; anyone with "Edit all suppliers" can delete a Pending or Approved supplier.