Know What You Owe

You know what your customers owe you. But what do you owe your vendors? This guide adds a Vendors tab to your Two-Tab sheet so you can track supplier obligations, payment terms, and due dates. One command tells you exactly what's going out and when.

Prerequisite: This guide builds on Your Business in Two Tabs.

Before & After

Before

You run a print-on-demand apparel brand. You've got a fabric supplier on net-30, two blank vendors with different payment schedules, and a shipping account that bills weekly. The invoices sit in your email. You pay them when you remember — or when they send a late notice.

Last month you double-paid one vendor and missed another's early-pay discount. You have no idea what you owe in total right now.

After

Monday morning. You tell Claude: "What do I owe?" Ten seconds later:

Total owed this month: $4,850
Overdue: Blank vendor B — $620 (5 days late)
Due this week: Fabric supplier — $2,100 (net-30, due Thursday)
Reliability flag: Shipping account late on last 2 deliveries

You pay the overdue bill, schedule Thursday's payment, and note the shipping issue to discuss at your next vendor review.

What You Need

Your Two-Tab Sheet — with Inbound and Outbound data up to date (set it up here)
A list of your regular vendors — the suppliers, service providers, and accounts you pay each month
15 minutes — to list your vendors, set up the tab, and test the skill

List Your Vendors

Start by telling Claude about the people and companies you pay regularly. Don't worry about being exhaustive — start with the ones that matter most.

"Here are my main vendors: [Vendor A] supplies [what] and I pay about [$X/month] on [terms]. [Vendor B] supplies [what] and I pay [$X/month] on [terms]. [Vendor C]..."

Three or four vendors is a great start. You can always add more as you remember them.

Set Up the Vendors Tab

Add a new tab to your Two-Tab sheet. Tell Claude:

"Add a Vendors tab to my sheet with these columns: Vendor Name, What They Supply, Amount Owed, Due Date, Payment Terms, Status, and Reliability Notes. Populate it with the vendors I just listed."

The columns give you everything at a glance: who you owe, how much, when it's due, and whether they've been reliable. The Status column tracks Paid, Due, or Overdue for each line.

Enter Current Obligations

Now fill in what you actually owe right now. Tell Claude the current amounts and due dates:

"Update my Vendors tab: I owe [Vendor A] $[amount] due [date], [Vendor B] $[amount] due [date]. Mark anything past due as Overdue."

Estimates are fine if you don't have exact numbers yet. You'll refine these as real invoices come in. The important thing is having a starting picture.

Set Up the Vendor Check

Tell Claude what you want to see when you check on vendors:

"When I say 'what do I owe' or 'check vendors', read my Vendors tab and give me: total amount owed this month, anything overdue, anything due in the next 7 days, and a reliability summary for any vendor I've flagged. Sort by due date."

Test it right now — say "What do I owe?" and make sure the summary looks right. Adjust the format if you want more or less detail.

Save It as a Skill

"Save this as a skill called 'vendor-check'. Whenever I say 'what do I owe' or 'check vendors', run this workflow against my Vendors tab."

Now you have both sides of the cash flow picture. "Where's my money?" tells you what's coming in. "What do I owe?" tells you what's going out. Together, you always know where you stand.

What You've Built

A vendor obligations tracker that shows what you owe at a glance
Payment term awareness so you never miss a discount or deadline
Overdue alerts that catch late payments before they become problems
Reliability notes to inform vendor decisions over time
The other half of your cash flow picture, paired with your AR check

Most small businesses track what customers owe them but lose sight of what they owe others. This guide closes that gap. When you combine it with your AR check, you have a complete cash flow picture any day of the week.

What's Next?

Month-End in 20 Minutes

Roll your vendor data into a complete monthly close with expense categorization and net income.

Read the Guide

Where's My Money?

Track the other side — what customers owe you, who's late, and what to follow up on.

Read the Guide

Want your vendor tracker set up with your real suppliers and payment terms?

Book a Starter Session (90 min)

Or do it yourself — everything on this page is free.

Skill: Know What You Owe

What this is for: Walk a small business owner through setting up a Vendors tab (or extending their Outbound tab) in the Two-Tab sheet so they can track what they owe suppliers, payment terms, delivery reliability, and due dates. Then save a skill so they can say "what do I owe this month?" and get an instant vendor obligations summary.

When to use this: When a user asks their AI assistant to help set up this workflow. The user should explicitly authorize use of this skill by referencing this page URL.

Full Procedure (click to expand)

STEP 1 — LEARN THE BUSINESS
Ask: "What kind of business do you run? And who are your main vendors or suppliers — the people and companies you pay regularly for materials, services, or inventory?"
Wait for their answer. Use it to personalize everything that follows.
STEP 2 — LIST THEIR VENDORS
Ask: "Let's make a list. For each vendor, tell me: what they supply, roughly how much you owe them per month, and whether they have specific payment terms (like net-30, due on receipt, etc.). We'll start with just three or four — you can always add more."
Wait for their answer. Build the initial vendor list from what they share.
STEP 3 — SET UP THE VENDORS TAB
Guide them to add a new tab called "Vendors" to their Two-Tab sheet. The columns should be:
- Vendor Name
- What They Supply
- Amount Owed
- Due Date
- Payment Terms (Net-30, Net-15, Due on Receipt, etc.)
- Status (Paid / Due / Overdue)
- Reliability Notes (optional — for tracking delivery issues, quality, responsiveness)
Have them tell Claude: "Add a Vendors tab to my sheet with these columns: Vendor Name, What They Supply, Amount Owed, Due Date, Payment Terms, Status, Reliability Notes. Populate it with the vendors I just listed."
STEP 4 — ENTER CURRENT OBLIGATIONS
Walk them through entering their current outstanding obligations — what they owe right now. Ask: "For each vendor on the list, what's the current amount you owe and when is it due? If you're not sure of exact amounts, estimates are fine — we'll refine as invoices come in."
STEP 5 — SET UP THE VENDOR CHECK
Have them tell Claude: "When I say 'what do I owe' or 'check vendors', read my Vendors tab and give me: total amount owed this month, anything overdue, anything due in the next 7 days, and a reliability summary for any vendor I've flagged with notes. Sort by due date."
STEP 6 — SAVE AS A SKILL
Have them tell Claude: "Save this as a skill called 'vendor-check'. Whenever I say 'what do I owe' or 'check vendors', run this workflow."
Explain: now they have the flip side of their AR check. "Where's My Money?" tells them what's coming in. "Vendor Check" tells them what's going out. Together, they give a complete cash flow picture.
STEP 7 — POINT FORWARD
Tell them what they've built: a vendor obligations tracker, payment term awareness, overdue alerts, and reliability notes for supplier decisions.
Mention related guides:
- "Month-End in 20 Minutes" (https://tsidai.com/guides/month-end) — roll vendor data into your monthly close
- "Where's My Money?" (https://tsidai.com/guides/wheres-my-money) — the other side of the equation: what's coming in
If they get stuck, suggest booking a Tsidai starter session at https://cal.com/tsidai/starter-session.
        

Provenance
Author: Austin Wilson, Tsidai
Last updated: 2026-05-08
Last verified working: 2026-05-08
Source URL: https://tsidai.com/guides/vendor-scorecard