Purchase orders

Send purchase orders to suppliers, record goods as they arrive, and turn what was received into a supplier bill.

A purchase order is what you send a supplier before the goods come. When deliveries arrive you record what actually came, and then make the supplier bill from what was received — so you never pay for goods that did not arrive, and nothing is billed twice.

Before you start:

  • Add the Purchase order document type in Invoice settings → Document types → Add a document type. You also need a Purchase bill type to bill against it.
  • Issuing and closing an order needs Issue documents under Invoices & quotes. Recording goods received is limited to the workspace owner and roles allowed to receive goods — if you don't see Receive goods, ask the owner.

A purchase order is never posted to the ledger, never counts as money you owe, and never appears in GST returns or TDS. Only the bill does that.

Create and send an order

  1. Go to Documents, pick the Purchase order tab and click New purchase order.
  2. Pick the Supplier, add the lines (item, quantity, rate, GST) and set Expected by — 14 days ahead by default.
  3. Click Issue purchase order. It takes a number from its own series, for example PO/26-27/0007.
  4. Share or send it to the supplier like any other document.

Record goods received

  1. Open the issued order. The Goods received panel lists each line with Ordered, Received and Billed.
  2. Click Receive goods. Each line is filled with what is still to come — for example "Steel almirah — 20 to come".
  3. Change the quantities to what actually arrived — say 15 of the 20 — set Received on and, optionally, the supplier's delivery challan number in Note.
  4. Click Receive. A toast says "Goods received".

You can receive in as many deliveries as you need. Receiving more than was ordered is refused ("only 5 still to receive").

The order's status follows along:

Status Means
Awaiting goods Issued, nothing received yet.
Partly received Some lines or quantities have arrived.
Received Everything ordered has arrived.
Closed You stopped receiving; the rest will not come.
Cancelled Cancelled before anything arrived.

Bill what was received

  1. On the order, click Create bill.
  2. A purchase bill draft opens holding only what was received and not yet billed — 15 almirahs, not 20 — linked back to the order.
  3. Enter the supplier's bill number and date, check the lines against their invoice, and issue it. See Supplier bills and payables.

If the bill does not agree with the order, a yellow Doesn't match the purchase order box on the bill names the difference — billed more than received, a line that is not on the order, or a rate different from the order's. It is a warning only: you can still issue the bill, for example when the supplier's price changed with your agreement.

The order panel lists the bills made from it, and shows how much has been "received and not yet billed".

Close an order

When the rest of an order will never come, click Close order and confirm Close this purchase order?. Nothing more can be received; what did arrive can still be billed.

An order with goods received against it cannot be cancelled — close it instead.

The purchasing overview

Pick the Purchase order tab on the Overview:

Tile What it shows
Awaiting goods Issued orders not fully received.
Late deliveries Orders past their Expected by date.
Received, not billed The value of goods that came in without a bill yet.

Below the tiles, Awaiting goods and Received, not billed list the orders, so you can chase a late supplier or make the missing bill.