In a cash basis company, when does the system post a vendor's bill expense account to the General Ledger?

In a cash basis accounting system, expenses are recognized at the time cash is paid rather than when the invoice is received or the goods are received. This means that the vendor's bill expense account will only be recorded in the General Ledger when the actual payment is processed.

When payment is made, it reflects the reduction of cash and recognizes the expense associated with that transaction. This aligns with the cash basis principle, where financial transactions are recorded only when cash changes hands. Thus, the correct timing of posting the vendor's bill expense to the General Ledger is indeed upon payment processing.

Other stages, such as invoice approval or receipt of goods, do not trigger expense recognition in a cash basis system, as they do not involve cash outflow. Additionally, creating the bill itself is merely a record-keeping step and does not change the expense recognition point within the cash basis framework.