Getting Help

Vendors

Track vendors in BeeKeeper: create manually or invite them to self-register, import, auto-match transactions, run vendor and 1099 reports. See Inviting Vendors to Register and Vendor Documents & Compliance for the registration and document-tracking flows.

Vendors

Why Track Vendors?

Vendors are the businesses and individuals your organization pays. Tracking vendors helps you:

  • Prepare 1099s: Identify vendors requiring 1099-NEC filing ($2,000+ in payments)
  • Automate Categorization: Link transaction rules to vendors for automatic payee assignment
  • Track Payments: See payment history for each vendor
  • Maintain Records: Store EIN/TIN, contact information, and compliance documents (W-9s, certificates of insurance, and more) for tax reporting and audits
  • Auto-Match Transactions: BeeKeeper links past and future transactions to vendors automatically
  • Track Workers’ Comp: Flag vendors who need workers’ compensation coverage and monitor whether a current certificate is on file
  • Collect Paperwork Without Chasing It: Invite a vendor to fill out their own profile and upload their own documents through a secure link — see Inviting Vendors to Register
  • Get Board Sign-Off: Send a vendor out for electronic review before you start paying them — see Electronic Approvals

Managing Vendors

Viewing Vendors

  1. Go to Vendors from the main menu
  2. See all vendors with name, 1099-NEC and workers’ comp status, and active/inactive status
  3. Use sorting to organize by name, 1099-NEC status, workers’ comp status, or active status

Filtering Vendors

The vendor list supports filtering to help you find what you need quickly:

  • Search: Search by vendor name, address, city, or postal code
  • 1099-NEC: Show only vendors marked as 1099-NEC reportable
  • Workers’ Comp: Show only vendors flagged as requiring workers’ compensation coverage
  • Active: Toggle between active and inactive vendors

Filters can be combined. For example, combine the 1099-NEC filter with Active to see which current vendors still need a 1099 this year.

Creating a Vendor

  1. Click New Vendor
  2. Choose how you want to add the vendor:
    • Manually add a Vendor: Enter the vendor’s information yourself (the classic flow, described below)
    • Invite Vendor to register: Email the vendor a secure link so they enter their own information and upload their own documents — see Inviting Vendors to Register
  3. If you choose to add the vendor manually, fill in the details:
    • Name: Business or individual name
    • Email (optional): Used if you later invite the vendor to register or request an update
    • EIN/TIN (optional): Employer ID or Tax ID number (stored encrypted)
    • Address: Mailing address
    • Default Account (optional): Account to use when this vendor is linked via rules
    • Notes (optional): Free-form notes about the vendor
    • 1099-NEC Reportable (optional): Check this if the vendor needs a 1099-NEC at year-end
    • Requires Workers’ Comp (optional): Check this if the vendor must carry workers’ compensation coverage you want BeeKeeper to track
    • Active: Checked by default; uncheck to create an inactive vendor
  4. Click Save

When you save a new vendor, BeeKeeper automatically runs auto-matching (see Auto-Matching below).

Once the vendor is created, open it and use the Documents panel to attach a W-9, certificate of insurance, or other files — see Vendor Documents & Compliance. Or, instead of uploading documents yourself, click Request Update to have the vendor upload them through their own secure link — see Inviting Vendors to Register.

Quick Create

You don’t always need to leave what you’re doing to add a vendor. BeeKeeper provides a quick create option from vendor dropdowns throughout the application (for example, when creating a journal entry, writing a check, or categorizing an imported transaction):

  • The vendor dropdown includes an inline Create ‘’ as vendor option using whatever you’ve typed
  • The new vendor is created immediately and selected in the dropdown
  • Auto-matching runs against your existing data

Quick create captures just the vendor name, so you stay in your current workflow without navigating away from the page. The dropdown also offers a Create new vendor link if you want the full vendor form instead.

Vendor Suggestions

BeeKeeper analyzes your imported bank transactions and identifies payees that don’t match any existing vendor. These appear as Suggested Vendors on the vendor list page. A payee is suggested when it appears in 3 or more transactions in the last 90 days and doesn’t match an existing vendor.

For each suggestion, you can:

  • Add: Creates a new vendor using the payee name and runs auto-matching to link related transactions.
  • Skip: Dismisses the suggestion so it won’t be suggested again.

Vendor suggestions help you build out your vendor list over time without manually reviewing every transaction. They’re particularly useful for identifying recurring payees you may want to track for 1099 purposes.

Editing a Vendor

  1. Click the vendor name to view details
  2. Click Edit
  3. Make your changes
  4. Click Save

When you update a vendor’s name, BeeKeeper re-runs auto-matching to catch any transactions that now match the updated name.

If you just need updated contact information or a fresh document (like a renewed insurance certificate) rather than editing the record yourself, click Request Update on the vendor’s page instead — see Inviting Vendors to Register.

Deactivating a Vendor

When you no longer work with a vendor, edit the vendor and uncheck Active. Inactive vendors won’t appear in dropdowns, but historical data is preserved. You can reactivate a vendor at any time by editing it and re-checking Active, and you can find inactive vendors using the Active filter on the vendor list.

To remove a vendor entirely, open the vendor and click Delete. Deleting a vendor unlinks it from any journal entries, rules, and transactions rather than deleting that history.

Getting Board Sign-Off on a Vendor

If your board wants to formally approve a new vendor before your organization starts paying them, open the vendor, scroll to the Approvals section, and click Request Review. Pick who should weigh in and whether everyone needs to agree or any set number is enough — each reviewer gets an emailed link and answers Accept, Reject, or Abstain, no BeeKeeper account needed.

Every request, decision, and any later change to the vendor’s details is kept permanently on the vendor’s Activity Log. See Electronic Approvals for the full walkthrough.

Auto-Matching

One of BeeKeeper’s most powerful vendor features is auto-matching. When you create or update a vendor, BeeKeeper automatically scans your data to link related records.

How It Works

Auto-matching runs whenever a vendor is created or updated (including when a vendor completes their own registration). It performs two operations:

1. Journal Entry Matching

BeeKeeper looks at existing journal entries with no vendor set and matches them to the vendor by payee name. If a journal entry’s payee contains the vendor name, BeeKeeper links the entry to the vendor. This means:

  • Your vendor payment history is populated immediately, even for transactions recorded before the vendor was created
  • Vendor reports and 1099 calculations include historical payments
  • You don’t need to manually go back and tag old entries

2. Imported Transaction Matching

BeeKeeper also scans pending imported transactions (transactions from your bank feed that haven’t been categorized yet). If a transaction’s payee or description contains the vendor name, the transaction is automatically associated with the vendor. This reduces the manual work of reviewing and categorizing bank imports.

Matching Logic

Auto-matching uses the vendor’s name to find matches. The matching is case-insensitive and looks for the vendor name anywhere in the payee or description text. For best results:

  • Use the vendor name as it appears on bank statements
  • Create transaction rules for vendors with highly variable bank descriptions

Vendor Detail Page

Each vendor’s detail page shows:

  • Status Badges: Active or inactive status, plus 1099-NEC Reportable and Workers’ Comp Required badges when those flags are set
  • Pending Request: If you’ve sent a registration or update request that hasn’t been completed yet, a banner shows who it was sent to and when, with options to resend or cancel it
  • Vendor Details: Name, email, EIN/TIN (formatted), address, and default account
  • Documents: A panel listing every file on record for this vendor — W-9s, certificates of insurance, contracts, and more (see Vendor Documents & Compliance)
  • Payment History: The last 10 journal entries linked to this vendor
  • Approvals: Any board sign-off requested for this vendor, and who’s answered so far
  • Activity Log: A permanent timeline of changes, sign-off decisions, and comments about this vendor

Linking Vendors to Transaction Rules

Vendors integrate with Transaction Rules for automatic categorization:

  1. Create a rule with a pattern matching the vendor’s bank description
  2. Select the vendor in the rule’s Vendor field
  3. When transactions match, they’re automatically:
    • Assigned to the vendor
    • Named with the vendor’s display name as payee
    • Categorized to the vendor’s default account (if no account specified in the rule)

Transaction rules provide more precise matching than auto-matching alone, since they use pattern-based matching against raw bank descriptions. Use rules for vendors whose bank descriptions don’t closely match the vendor name.

Writing Checks to Vendors

Vendors also connect to check writing. When you write a check and select a vendor as the payee, BeeKeeper automatically fills in:

  • The vendor’s name as the payee
  • The vendor’s mailing address, if the address field on the check is still blank
  • The vendor’s default account on the first line item, if no account has been chosen yet

You can still override any of these values before saving the check — BeeKeeper only fills in fields that are empty.

Vendor Reports

BeeKeeper includes vendor-specific reports under Reports:

  • Vendor Payment Summary: Total payments per vendor over a date range
  • Vendor Payment Detail: Itemized payments per vendor
  • Form 1099-NEC: Vendors paid $2,000+ requiring tax reporting
  • Workers’ Compensation: Vendors flagged as requiring workers’ comp coverage, with total payments for the policy year and whether a current, unexpired certificate is on file

See Financial Reports for details.

Import and Export

Importing Vendors

Bulk import vendors from a file:

  1. Go to Vendors
  2. Click Import Vendors
  3. Upload your vendor file
  4. Review the import
  5. Confirm to create the vendors

Exporting Vendors

Vendor payment data is available through the vendor reports (Vendor Payment Summary and Vendor Payment Detail), which can be exported from the Reports area.

Tips

  • Add vendors early: Set up vendors before creating transaction rules
  • Include EIN/TIN: Required for 1099-NEC reporting
  • Set default accounts: Saves time when creating rules, auto-matching transactions, and writing checks
  • Review annually: Deactivate vendors you no longer use
  • Use suggestions: Regularly review vendor suggestions to keep your vendor list current
  • Invite instead of chasing: Use Invite Vendor to register or Request Update so the vendor enters their own info and uploads their own W-9, rather than you collecting it by email and re-typing it — see Inviting Vendors to Register
  • Attach W-9s early: Add each vendor’s W-9 to their Documents panel before year-end so TINs are ready for 1099 filing — see Vendor Documents & Compliance
  • Track expirations: Attach certificates of insurance and workers’ comp documents with expiration dates so BeeKeeper can flag them before they lapse
  • Get sign-off before you pay: Use Approvals to have your board formally approve a new vendor before the first check goes out — see Electronic Approvals

Limitations

  • Vendor names must be unique within your organization
  • EIN/TIN is stored encrypted
  • Cannot merge vendors (must manually update transaction references)
  • Vendor suggestions are based on imported transaction payees only
  • A vendor can only have one pending registration or update request at a time
  • Registration and update-request links never expire on their own — cancel a request if you no longer want it used

Common Questions

Do I need to create a vendor for every payee? No. Vendors are most useful for recurring payees, especially those you may need to issue 1099s to. Use vendor suggestions to identify which payees are worth tracking.

Can I export vendor data? Vendor payment data is available through the vendor reports, which can be exported from the Reports area.

What happens when I create a vendor from a suggestion? BeeKeeper creates the vendor and immediately runs auto-matching. Past journal entries with that payee are linked to the vendor, and pending imported transactions with that payee are associated with it.

How does quick create differ from the full vendor form? Quick create captures just the name so you can stay in your current workflow. You can always edit the vendor later to add the address, EIN/TIN, and other details, and attach documents like a W-9 from the vendor’s Documents panel.

Can I undo skipping a vendor suggestion? Skipping a suggestion dismisses that payee so it won’t be suggested again.

Do I need to track workers’ comp for every vendor? No. Check Requires Workers’ Comp only for vendors where you want BeeKeeper to track coverage — for example, contractors doing on-site work. Those vendors then appear on the Workers’ Compensation report along with their certificate status.

Do I have to send every vendor out for board approval? No. Approvals on a vendor is optional and up to you — use it when your bylaws or budget policy call for board sign-off before a new vendor is paid. See Electronic Approvals.

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