Introduction
Unsure where to record your daily business transactions after setting up your company profile and accounts?
This guide helps you pick the right module — Sales, Purchase, or Bank — based on the type of transaction you're handling.
✅ What to Do Before You Start
Before recording any transactions, make sure you've completed these basic setup steps:
Set up your company profile
Set up your Chart of Accounts
Create your contacts – customers, suppliers and employees
Add your products or services
Enter opening balances (if applicable)
Learn more: Getting Started: Setting Up Your Bukku Account
This guide walks you through each setup step to ensure your account is ready and configured correctly.
Once that's done, you're ready to start recording transactions!
💼 Which Module Should I Use?
Sales Module
For Customer-Related Transactions (Trade Debtors)
Use this module when you sell goods or services to your customers — whether they pay immediately or later on credit.
Examples:
Credit Sale (Pay Later)
Use this when your customer will pay you at a later date, regardless of payment method.
Create an invoice under Sales > Invoice > +New > Credit Sale.
When you receive the payment later (by cash, bank transfer, or any method), go to Sales > Payment to record it and offset the invoice.
In summary, you’ll have a Sales Invoice and a Sales Payment, where the Sales Payment serves as the Official Receipt.
Cash Sale (Pay Immediately / On the Spot)
Use this when your customer pays you immediately at the time of sale — it doesn’t matter whether the payment is by cash, bank transfer, or any other method.
Create an invoice under Sales > Invoice > +New > Cash Sale, and record the payment at the same time.
In summary, you’ll have only a Sales Invoice, which also serves as the Official Receipt.
Purchase Module
For Supplier-Related Transactions (Trade Creditors)
Use this module when you purchase goods or services from your suppliers — whether you pay immediately or later on credit.
Examples:
Credit Purchase (Pay Later)
Use this when you’ll pay your supplier at a later date, regardless of payment method.
Create a bill under Purchase > Bill > +New > Credit Purchase.
When you make the payment later (by cash, bank transfer, or any method), go to Purchase > Payment to record it and offset the bill.
In summary, you’ll have a Purchase Bill and a Purchase Payment, where the Purchase Payment serves as the Payment Voucher.
Cash Purchase (Pay Immediately / On the Spot)
Use this when you pay your supplier immediately at the time of purchase — it doesn’t matter whether the payment is by cash, bank transfer, or any other method.
Create a bill under Purchase > Bill > +New > Cash Purchase, and record the payment at the same time.
In summary, you’ll have only a Purchase Bill, which also serves as the Payment Voucher.
You can also use the Purchase Module to record other company expenses — such as when staff pay first and claim reimbursement later.
Expense Claim (Staff Paid First, Company Reimburses Later)
When your staff pays for company expenses using their own money and later claims it back, record it as an Expense Claim.
Go to Purchase > Bill > +New > Expense Claim to enter the details of the claim and attach any supporting documents (e.g. receipts or bills). It will be recorded as payable to the staff.
When you reimburse the staff, go to Purchase > Payment to record the payment and offset the outstanding Expense Claim bill.
Bank Module
For Internal Money Movement
Use Bank > Money In / Money Out for all non-customer and non-supplier transactions. This is usually used for internal cash flow, operating expenses, or capital movements.
Money In Examples:
Capital injection by owner
Dividends received
Bank loan received
and so on...
Money Out Examples:
Utility bill payments (e.g. TNB, Syabas)
Staff salary payments
Owner's personal withdrawals
Bank loan repayment
and so on...
Besides Money In and Money Out, you can also record fund movements between your own accounts using Bank > Transfer.
Transfer Between Bank or Cash Accounts
Use Bank > Transfer when you move funds between your own company accounts — for example:
From Company Bank Account A to Company Bank Account B (e.g. transferring money between Maybank and CIMB accounts)
From Bank to Cash on Hand / Petty Cash (e.g. withdrawing RM1,000 from bank for daily expenses)
From Cash on Hand / Petty Cash back to Bank (e.g. depositing leftover cash back into the bank)
This function is used to record the transfer of funds within your own accounts, ensuring your bank and cash balances remain accurate.
🧭 Not Sure Where It Belongs?
Here’s a quick rule of thumb:
Ask yourself… | Module to use |
Am I selling to a customer? | Sales |
Am I buying from a supplier? | Purchase |
Is it money coming in / out that’s not from a sale or purchase? | Bank (Money In / Out) |
📄 Understanding the Document Flow in Sales & Purchases
In Bukku, both Sales and Purchase modules come with a few optional document stages. These help you manage your business workflow more clearly — especially if your business handles quotations, orders, or deliveries before billing.
Sales Module Documents
Quotation (QT) – for sending price offers to customers before confirming a sale.
Sales Order (SO) – for confirming a customer’s order after quotation approval.
Delivery Order (DO) – for recording goods delivered to your customer.
Invoice (INV) – for billing your customer.
Credit Note / Refund – for handling returns or sales cancellations.
Payment – for recording customer payments against invoices (for credit sales).
Purchase Module Documents
Purchase Order (PO) – for confirming an order with your supplier.
Goods Received Note (GRN) – for recording items received from supplier.
Bill – for recording your supplier’s invoice.
Credit Note / Refund – for handling supplier returns or purchase cancellations.
Payment – for recording payments to suppliers (for credit purchases).
🧩 Flexible Workflow with Transfer Function
Not All Businesses Need Every Step — you don’t have to use every document type, only use the document types that fit your workflow.
Many businesses skip the earlier steps and record directly as an sales invoice or purchase bill — especially if transactions are simple or happen on the spot.
For example:
Retail or small service business → usually records directly under Invoice or Bill.
Businesses with multiple order stages → may use Quotation → Sales Order → Invoice (or Purchase Order → Goods Received Note → Bill).
It’s completely flexible — you can also use any, some, or none of the steps based on how your business operates.
🔄 Tip: Use the Transfer Function
If you do use multiple stages, Bukku makes it easy to move from one to another, for example:
From Quotation → Invoice
From Purchase Order → Bill
From Delivery Order → Invoice.
This helps save time and ensures your records stay accurate and connected.
💡 Final Tips
Don’t worry about making mistakes at the start. As long as you know what the transaction is for, this guide will help you decide where to record it.
Record Each Transaction Only Once
Always record a transaction in one correct module only — never in both Sales/Purchase and Bank.
Here’s how to decide:
Sale to a customer → use the Sales module
Purchase from a supplier → use the Purchase module
Money movement not related to sales or purchases (e.g. utilities, salaries, capital injection, loan repayment) → use the Bank module
Recording the same transaction in multiple modules will cause duplicates.
Example:
If you’ve already recorded a cash sale in the Sales module, don’t record the same payment again under Money In in Bank — it’s already captured automatically.
Still not sure about a specific transaction? Just reach out to Bukku support team via Live Chat — we’re here to help 😊
