Purchases and vendors
Purchases is everything the authority spends, however it was paid: a purchase card, petty cash, a check, ACH, or a purchase order paid later. Each one is coded to the program or cost centre that bears it and to an expense line of HUD's Financial Data Schedule (FDS), and approved by someone other than whoever recorded it.
Nothing is deleted. A mistake is voided, with a reason, and stays on the list.
The Purchases page
The tabs filter the list: All, To approve (with a count), Card, Petty cash, Checks & ACH and Purchase orders. Newest first.
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Date | The day it was bought |
| Vendor and what for | Who it was bought from and what for |
| Program | Where it is charged, or "Split:" with each share |
| Paid with | The method, with the card's last four, the box, or the check or PO number |
| Amount | |
| Procurement | Micro-purchase, Small purchase or Formal bid, with a warning mark when it is short of what that size needs or the same vendor was paid nearby |
| Receipt | Attached, or Missing |
| Status | See below |
| Status | Means |
|---|---|
| Draft | Saved, not sent for approval |
| To approve | Waiting for someone to approve it |
| Sent back | Rejected with a note of what needs fixing. It can be changed and sent again |
| Approved | Approved. For a card or petty cash purchase, that is the end of it |
| Paid | A check, ACH or purchase order that has been paid |
| Void | Voided, with a reason |
Under the list, three cards sum up the rules: Who approves, Procurement rules (2 CFR 200) and Vendors and 1099s.
Recording a purchase
Record a purchase opens the form. A draft or a purchase sent back can be changed; after that the page is read-only, with the next step as a button.
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Paid with | Purchase card, Petty cash, Check, ACH or Purchase order |
| Vendor | Chosen from Vendors. It says whether their W-9 is on file and whether they get a 1099. Someone not on file shows Bought from to type the name |
| Card / Petty cash box | Once the authority has recorded its cards or boxes under Cards & cash, a card or petty cash purchase has to name one. Before then it is typed in: Card (last 4) or Which box |
| Check number, From account, PO number | For the other methods |
| Date | Required. Not in a closed month |
| Amount | Required |
| What it was for | Required |
| Invoice number | Not for card or petty cash. The same invoice from the same vendor can't be recorded twice |
| Due | Not for card or petty cash. Payment runs pay in due-date order |
Charge it to
Each purchase is charged to at least one line: a Program or cost centre and an Account (FDS line), such as 94200 Ordinary maintenance: materials and other. Split across programs adds a line with its own Amount; the lines must add up to the amount.
The programs come from the authority's programs; cost centres, such as the central office or a Capital Fund grant, are added under Spending rules. Capital work goes to 1400, Capital assets, not an expense line.
Quotes, solicitations and exceptions
What a purchase needs depends on its size, under 2 CFR 200.320.
| Band | Size | Needs |
|---|---|---|
| Micro-purchase | Under the micro-purchase threshold | One reasonable price |
| Small purchase | Up to the simplified acquisition threshold | Written quotes, three unless the rules say otherwise. Add a quote records each one: From and Amount |
| Formal bid | Above it | A formal solicitation: Solicitation (IFB or RFP number) |
A purchase short of what its band needs shows Not competed? Record why. Reason (2 CFR 200.320(c)) is one of Only one source is available, Public exigency or emergency, HUD approved it in writing or Solicited, but competition was inadequate, and Explain it is required with it. A purchase short of its band can only be approved with an exception recorded.
Splitting. For a micro-purchase from a vendor on file, the Procurement panel checks what else went to that vendor in the 30 days either side. When together they reach the micro-purchase threshold, it warns: "Make sure it isn't one purchase split to stay under it." It only warns; the approver decides.
Documents
Receipt, invoice and quotes: pick Receipt, Invoice, Quote or Other and press Attach a file (PDF, JPEG, PNG or HEIC). On a new purchase the files are attached when it is saved.
Nothing is approved without a receipt or invoice attached. Once a purchase is approved, anything further can be attached only as Other.
Save draft keeps it as a draft. Send for approval sends it to be approved.
Approval
The Approval panel says who can approve it: "Anyone on staff can approve it" when no approvers are named, or "Goes to" the named approvers whose limit covers it, never the person who recorded it. "Nobody named has a high enough limit" means one has to be added under Spending rules.
To be approved a purchase needs:
- someone other than whoever recorded it, and not a reviewer;
- with approvers named, one of them whose limit is at least the amount;
- a receipt or invoice attached;
- what its procurement band needs, or an exception.
Approve approves it. Over the board threshold, Approve, with the board also asks Board approved on and the Resolution or minutes reference.
Send back asks What needs fixing. The purchase shows Sent back with the note, and can be changed and sent again.
A card or petty cash purchase is paid at the till, so approving it is the end of it. A check, ACH or purchase order is paid afterwards.
Paying a bill
An approved check, ACH or purchase order is paid one of two ways:
- in a payment run, which pays approved bills in a batch and marks each one paid when the run is sent; or
- by hand: Record payment asks Paid from (the bank account, for the reconciliation; with one operating account it is chosen already), Paid on and the Check number (a check) or Reference. The date cannot be in a closed month.
A bill in a payment run that hasn't been sent or voided is the run's to pay, so Record payment refuses it and names the run. To pay it by hand instead, take it out of the run or void the run first.
Void is offered until a purchase is void, and asks Why.
The History panel lists every step, who took it and when.
Spending rules
Spending rules on the Purchases page sets the rules purchases are held to. Reviewers cannot change them.
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Micro-purchase under | The federal limit is $15,000. The board can adopt a lower one, never a higher |
| Simplified acquisition up to | The federal limit is $350,000. Lower, never higher, and above the micro-purchase threshold |
| Written quotes for a small purchase | 2 to 10. Three to start with |
| Board approves over | Purchases over this need the board's approval recorded. Starts at the simplified acquisition threshold |
Approvers: Add an approver with an Email and Up to, the most they can approve. Each can approve up to their limit. With nobody named, any administrator except the person who recorded a purchase can approve it.
The same named approvers are the only people who can approve a payment run, a card statement or a bank reconciliation, and close or reopen a month. Their limits apply only to purchases.
Cost centres: besides the programs, anything a cost can be charged to, such as the central office or a Capital Fund grant year. Add a cost centre adds one. Central office is there to start with.
Vendors
Vendors is who the authority buys from, whether their W-9 is in, and who gets a 1099. Vendors are never deleted, only made inactive.
Year picks the year the payment column and the 1099 column are for: this year or the two before. When anyone needs a 1099 for it, a note says how many.
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Vendor | The name, "(inactive)" when turned off |
| Tax class | As on their W-9 |
| W-9 | On file, or Missing |
| Check and ACH, 2026 | Paid to them by check, ACH or purchase order in the year |
| 1099 | Needs one, Under threshold or Not needed |
Add a vendor, or a row, opens the vendor.
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Name | Required. Two vendors can't have the same name |
| Tax class, as on their W-9 | Individual or sole proprietor, Partnership, LLC (taxed as partnership or disregarded), Corporation (C or S, incl. LLC taxed as one), Trust or estate, Tax-exempt organisation or Government |
| Taxpayer id (EIN or SSN) | Nine digits, from their W-9. Encrypted; only the last four show. Leave it blank to keep the one on file |
| It's an | EIN or SSN |
| Their 1099 | 1099-NEC box 1 (services), 1099-MISC box 1 (rents), 1099-MISC box 3 (other income) or Not reported (goods) |
| W-9 | On an existing vendor. See W-9s |
| W-9 on file, W-9 received | Ticked, with the day it arrived |
| Email, Phone | |
| Mailing address | Checks are mailed here. The 1099 needs a street, city, state and ZIP |
| Pay them by | Check or Direct deposit. Direct deposit asks Routing number, Account number and Type (Checking or Savings). Only the account's last four show; leaving it blank keeps it |
| Active | On an existing vendor |
Who gets a 1099
A vendor gets a 1099 when their tax class is individual, partnership, LLC, or trust or estate, and their 1099 is not Not reported (goods). They need one once check, ACH and purchase order payments in the calendar year reach the threshold: $2,000 for payments from 2026, $600 before. Card payments don't count; the card network reports those. See 1099s.
W-9s
The W-9 panel on a vendor keeps their W-9 and reads it. The same panel is on an owner under Owners.
- Press Upload a W-9 and choose the file (PDF, JPEG or PNG).
- It is read. A W-9 filled in on a computer is read exactly from the form's own fields. A photo or scan is read by machine and may be wrong, and the panel says so: check every field against the W-9. A scanned PDF of more than one page can't be read.
- Check Name (line 1), the name the 1099 goes in, Business name (line 2), Tax classification (line 3a), Address (lines 5 and 6), TIN is (SSN or EIN) and Received.
- The taxpayer id is shown only as "Read as ending" its last four. Type it only if that is wrong; if nothing was read, type it.
- Press Use these details. Not now leaves the vendor as it was.
Nothing read is saved until Use these details. It sets the legal name, tax class, address, taxpayer id and its type, and that a W-9 is on file and when it arrived; the 1099 uses those. Open opens the W-9 on file.