Should I enter a bill or an expense?

Start with two questions: has the purchase already been recorded, and has it been paid?

Choose the right starting point

Situation	Use
A supplier sends an invoice due next month.	A bill to track what you owe.
You buy supplies and pay immediately, with no existing bill.	An expense for the purchase and payment.
You pay a supplier invoice already entered as a bill.	A payment against that bill.
A bank row arrives for a payment already recorded.	Match to the existing record.

A bill and an expense are not two stages every purchase must pass through. Recording both for the same purchase can double the cost while leaving the bill unpaid.

Example: the same $120 purchase

If the supplier gives you 30 days to pay, enter a $120 bill first. When you pay it, record the bill payment and confirm its open balance reaches zero.

If you pay $120 with a business card at checkout and have not recorded a bill, record an expense with that card as the payment account. Match the later card-feed row to the expense.

Already entered both?

Compare the vendor reference, dates, amounts, and linked bank activity. Determine which record should represent the purchase and whether either is paid, matched, or reconciled. Correct the extra record through its permitted workflow; simply excluding a bank-feed row does not resolve two posted purchase records.

Check the result

There should be one purchase, a payment linked to it where needed, and the correct remaining payable. Buying inventory or a long-term asset also requires the right account treatment; a cash payment does not make every purchase an immediate operating expense.