Business operations — Mutual Africa Pay Help

Business Operations

Business operations

How to manage clients, suppliers, inventory, purchase orders, quotes, projects, point of sale, and document storage in Mutual Africa Pay.

Adding and managing clients

Every client you invoice, quote, or communicate with in Mutual Africa Pay has a client profile — a single record that holds their contact details, billing preferences, currency, payment terms, transaction history, and any documents attached to their account. Keeping client profiles accurate ensures that invoices, quotes, and statements are generated with the correct details automatically.

How to add a client

Go to Business Operations, then Clients — Click New Client.

Enter contact details — Add the client's business name, contact person name, email address, telephone number, and billing address.

Set billing preferences — Choose the client's preferred currency, their standard payment terms (for example, thirty days), and whether VAT applies to their invoices at the standard rate or a different treatment.

Add tax reference numbers (optional) — For clients where you need to record their VAT or tax registration number on invoices, enter it here.

Save — Click Save. The client is now available to select when creating invoices, quotes, and other transactions.

Viewing a client's transaction history

Open any client record and navigate to the Transactions tab. This shows every invoice, quote, payment, and expense associated with that client in chronological order — giving you a complete picture of the relationship without searching across multiple modules.

Viewing a client's outstanding balance

The client profile summary shows the client's current outstanding balance — the total of all unpaid or partially paid invoices. Click the balance figure to go directly to the aged receivables view filtered for that client.

For clients you bill frequently, set a default discount on their profile so it applies automatically to every invoice. This saves time and ensures the agreed rate is always applied consistently.

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Adding and managing suppliers

Supplier profiles in Mutual Africa Pay store everything you need to manage your procurement relationships — contact details, banking information for payments, payment terms, currency preference, and a full history of purchase orders and bills. Keeping supplier records current ensures that purchase orders, bills, and payments are processed accurately.

How to add a supplier

Go to Business Operations, then Suppliers — Click New Supplier.

Enter contact details — Add the supplier's business name, contact person, email address, telephone number, and address.

Enter banking details — Add the supplier's bank name, account number, and branch code. These details are used when initiating payments through Mutual Africa Pay.

Set payment terms — Enter the number of days the supplier allows for payment — typically seven, fourteen, thirty, or sixty days. Mutual Africa Pay uses this to calculate due dates on all bills from this supplier.

Set the currency — Choose the currency in which you pay this supplier. For local South African suppliers this is ZAR. For imported goods suppliers, set the relevant foreign currency.

Add the supplier's VAT number (if applicable) — Recording the supplier's VAT number ensures that their invoices are treated correctly for input tax purposes.

Viewing outstanding payables per supplier

Open any supplier profile and go to the Bills tab. You will see every outstanding bill for that supplier with its due date and outstanding amount. The profile summary shows the total current outstanding balance for that supplier.

If a supplier changes their banking details, update them in the supplier profile immediately. Do not make payments to bank details received by email without verifying directly with the supplier by phone — banking detail fraud is common and results in irrecoverable losses.

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Creating and approving purchase orders

Mutual Africa Pay's purchase order system creates a formal record of every procurement commitment before goods or services are ordered — establishing the agreed scope, quantity, and price before the supplier delivers. Approved purchase orders convert automatically to supplier bills on receipt, eliminating the manual re-entry of procurement data into your accounts.

How to create a purchase order

Go to Business Operations, then Purchase Orders — Click New Purchase Order.

Select the supplier — Choose from your existing supplier list. The supplier's currency and payment terms are applied automatically.

Add line items — Enter each item being ordered with the quantity and unit price. Mutual Africa Pay calculates line totals and the purchase order total.

Set the expected delivery date — Enter when you expect the goods or services to be delivered. This is used for tracking and planning purposes.

Add any notes or references — Include your internal reference number, delivery instructions, or any other information the supplier needs.

Save and send — Click Save to create the purchase order as a draft, or Send to deliver it directly to the supplier by email from within Mutual Africa Pay.

Approval workflows

On the Summit and Enterprise plans, purchase orders above a defined value threshold can be configured to require approval before they are sent to the supplier. When an unapproved purchase order meets the threshold, an approval request is sent automatically to the designated approver. The order is held until approved — it cannot be sent to the supplier in a pending state.

Receiving goods and converting to a bill

When the ordered goods or services arrive, open the purchase order and click Mark as Received. If the delivery matches the order exactly, click Confirm Full Receipt — the purchase order converts to a supplier bill automatically. If only part of the order was delivered, enter the quantities received and confirm — a partial bill is created for the received amount and the order remains open for the balance.

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Tracking stock levels and inventory

Mutual Africa Pay's inventory module tracks your product stock levels in real time — updating automatically as sales are made through the point of sale or invoicing, and as purchase orders are received from suppliers. This gives you an always-current view of what is available without manual stock counts between formal stock-takes.

Adding products to inventory

Go to Business Operations, then Inventory — Click New Product.

Enter product details — Add the product name, SKU or barcode if applicable, description, and category.

Set cost price and selling price — Enter what you pay for the product and what you sell it for. Mutual Africa Pay uses the cost price for inventory valuation and the selling price as the default when the product is added to an invoice or POS sale.

Set opening stock quantity — Enter the number of units you currently have in stock. This is your starting balance.

Set a low stock threshold — Enter the minimum quantity at which you want Mutual Africa Pay to alert you that reordering is needed. When stock falls to this level, a low stock notification is sent.

How stock levels update automatically

Every time a product is sold through a POS transaction or included on a paid invoice, Mutual Africa Pay deducts the quantity from stock automatically. Every time a purchase order containing that product is marked as received, the quantity is added to stock. You do not need to update stock levels manually — the system keeps them current through normal business activity.

Stock adjustments

If your physical stock count reveals a discrepancy from what Mutual Africa Pay shows — due to breakage, theft, or counting errors — go to Inventory, open the relevant product, and click Stock Adjustment. Enter the actual counted quantity and a reason for the adjustment. Mutual Africa Pay records the adjustment and the reason in the product history.

Run a stock count report from Mutual Africa Pay before your periodic physical count. This gives you the expected quantities per product as a starting point for the count, making the process faster and the discrepancies easier to identify.

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Creating quotes and getting client approval

Mutual Africa Pay generates professional branded quotes that clients can review and approve online — from any device, without logging in or creating an account. When a client approves a quote, the approval is recorded with a timestamp, creating a clear record of the agreed scope and price before work begins.

How to create a quote

Go to Business Operations, then Quotes — Click New Quote.

Select the client — Choose the client from your existing client list.

Add line items — Enter the products or services being quoted with quantities and prices. Mutual Africa Pay calculates line totals and applies the correct tax rate automatically.

Set a quote expiry date — Enter a date after which the pricing is no longer guaranteed. This motivates timely client responses and protects you from committing to prices that may no longer be viable after a period of time.

Add any notes or terms — Include any conditions, assumptions, or payment terms you want the client to see.

Send the quote — Click Send. Mutual Africa Pay delivers the quote by email, WhatsApp, or SMS. The client receives a link to view the formatted quote and buttons to Accept or Decline.

Client online approval

When the client clicks the approval link, they see the full quote in a formatted view. Clicking Accept registers their approval in Mutual Africa Pay with their name and the date and time of acceptance. You receive a notification immediately. The quote status changes to Approved and it is ready to convert to an invoice.

Quote declined or expired

If a client declines a quote, you are notified and can follow up. If a quote expires without a response, it moves to Expired status. Both declined and expired quotes can be revised — create a new version, update the pricing or terms as needed, and resend.

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Setting up and using point of sale

Mutual Africa Pay's point of sale runs on any smartphone, tablet, or desktop — no dedicated hardware required. Every sale processed through the point of sale automatically updates inventory, posts revenue to the profit and loss report, and records the payment method — so your financial records are always current after every transaction.

Setting up the point of sale

Ensure your product catalogue is set up — Every product you sell through the POS should be added to Inventory first with a selling price and stock quantity set. Products added to inventory are immediately available in the POS.

Go to Business Operations, then Point of Sale — On first use, Mutual Africa Pay will walk you through configuring your POS — selecting which products to show, setting any applicable service charges, and choosing default receipt delivery method.

Configure payment methods — Enable the payment methods you accept — cash, card, EFT, and mobile money. Each payment method is recorded separately so you can produce accurate cash-up reports.

Processing a sale

Open the POS from the mobile app or the web interface. Search for or tap the products being sold — quantities are updated as you add items. When the order is complete, tap Charge. Select the payment method the client is using and confirm the amount. A receipt is generated immediately — send it to the client by WhatsApp, email, or SMS, or print it if you have a connected receipt printer.

End of day cash-up

At the end of each trading day, go to the POS Close of Day summary. This shows total sales by payment method, total transactions, and the expected cash float. Compare the expected cash total to your physical cash count. Any variance is recorded and visible in your audit trail.

The point of sale is available on the Summit and Enterprise plans. If you are on a lower plan and need POS functionality, you can upgrade from Settings at any time.

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Tracking project costs and profitability

Mutual Africa Pay's project tracking module connects time, costs, and invoices to each project — giving you a real-time profit and loss view per project throughout delivery. This allows you to identify margin problems while there is still time to act, rather than discovering them only when the project closes.

How to set up a project

Go to Business Operations, then Projects — Click New Project.

Enter project details — Add the project name, the client it is for, the start date, and the estimated end date.

Set the project budget — Enter the total agreed project value or fee. This becomes the revenue budget against which actual invoiced amounts are tracked.

Link the accepted quote (if applicable) — If the project originated from an accepted quote, link it here. The quoted line items and amounts are imported automatically.

Tracking costs against the project

As costs are incurred — materials purchased, subcontractors engaged, travel taken — record each expense and assign it to the project. Every expense assigned to a project contributes to the project's actual cost figure. When you raise purchase orders for project-specific procurement, assign them to the project too — the bill that results when goods are received will automatically carry the project assignment.

Project profit and loss view

Open any project and go to the Financial Summary tab. This shows total revenue invoiced for the project, total costs assigned to the project, and the resulting gross profit — updated in real time as each transaction is recorded. You can see immediately whether the project is tracking within budget or whether costs are eroding the margin.

Compare your project profitability data across completed projects over time to build more accurate pricing for future work. Projects consistently delivering below the expected margin indicate that your pricing for that type of work needs revision.

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Storing and organising business documents

Mutual Africa Pay allows you to attach documents directly to the records they relate to — signed contracts to client profiles, delivery notes to purchase orders, receipts to expense entries, compliance certificates to supplier profiles. Documents stored in context are found instantly by navigating to the relevant record — not by searching through folders.

How to attach a document to a record

Open the record you want to attach a document to — a client, supplier, invoice, expense, project, or any other record. Look for the Documents tab or the Attach Document button on the record. Click it, select the file from your device, and upload. The document is immediately attached and accessible from that record.

On the Mutual Africa Pay mobile app, you can photograph a document directly from the camera and attach it to the record in a single step — without downloading the photo first.

Setting expiry alerts on compliance documents

For compliance documents that expire — tax clearance certificates, BEE certificates, professional licences, and insurance certificates — set an expiry date when you upload the document. Mutual Africa Pay sends you an alert before the expiry date so you have time to renew and update the document before it lapses. Go to the document record and enter the expiry date in the Expiry Date field.

Acceptable file formats

Mutual Africa Pay accepts PDF, JPEG, PNG, and common Office document formats. Individual file uploads are limited to twenty megabytes. There is no limit on the total number of documents stored in your account.

Attach signed client contracts to the client profile at the start of every new engagement. When a scope or pricing dispute arises, the signed contract is immediately accessible from the client record without searching email archives or shared drives.

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Inventory count is incorrect — how to fix it

If the stock quantity shown in Mutual Africa Pay does not match your physical count, a stock adjustment is needed to bring the system in line with reality. This article explains how to make the adjustment and the most common reasons for stock discrepancies.

How to make a stock adjustment

Go to Business Operations, then Inventory — Find the product with the incorrect stock level.

Open the product record — Click on the product name to open the product detail.

Click Stock Adjustment — You will see the current system quantity and a field to enter the corrected quantity.

Enter the correct quantity — Type in the actual number of units you have on hand based on your physical count.

Select a reason for the adjustment — Choose from the standard reasons: physical count correction, damaged goods, theft, supplier short delivery, or other. If selecting other, add a note explaining the reason.

Save — Click Save. The stock level is updated immediately and the adjustment is recorded in the product history with the date, the adjustment amount, and the reason.

Common causes of stock discrepancies

Unrecorded sales — Sales made outside Mutual Africa Pay (cash sales not entered, manual invoices, sales on another platform) will not have reduced the stock level automatically. Review whether any sales were not recorded in the system.

Unrecorded receipts — Stock received from a supplier but not confirmed in Mutual Africa Pay will not have increased the stock level. Check for any purchase orders that have not been marked as received.

Damaged or expired stock — Physical stock that is unsellable but still showing in the system creates an overcount. Record a stock adjustment with the Damaged Goods reason for any stock that has been disposed of or written off.

Opening stock error — If the opening stock quantity entered when the product was first added to inventory was incorrect, all subsequent counts will be off by the same amount.

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