Purchase Order
A Purchase Order helps plan the acquisition of goods and services and track its progress.
It records the goods and services requested from the supplier, quantities, agreed prices and payment terms.
As related documents are created, a Purchase Order lets you check:
- which goods have been received and which are still outstanding;
- how much has been invoiced;
- how much has been paid;
- whether there are differences between what was ordered, received and invoiced.
The Purchase Order brings together information about the transaction and its progress. It does not replace a Purchase Invoice or a payment document.
When to use a Purchase Order
Use a Purchase Order when you need to:
- record goods or services requested from a supplier;
- agree on prices and terms before receiving the invoice;
- plan a purchase carried out in several stages;
- track partial receipts and partial invoicing;
- record advance payments;
- review the overall status of a purchase.
A Purchase Order is particularly useful when you need to track ordered, received, invoiced and paid amounts separately.
For simple transactions, such as purchasing a one-time service or recording a regular expense, you can create a Purchase Invoice directly without using a Purchase Order.
Creating a Purchase Order
When creating a Purchase Order, enter the main transaction details:
- Supplier.
- Contract, if applicable.
- Date of the order.
- Currency, if multi-currency accounting is enabled.
- Payment terms agreed with the supplier.
- Any other information required for the transaction.
Then add the goods and services you intend to purchase.
When you use a Supplier Contract, some fields can be filled in automatically from its terms, including the price type.
Check quantities, prices, taxes and payment terms before proceeding. These values will be used as a reference in related documents.
Goods and services
A Purchase Order can include goods, services or both.
For each line, select the item or service and specify the ordered quantity.
The main fields are:
- Product or service.
- Quantity.
- Unit of measure.
- Price.
- Tax rate.
- Amount.
Some values are filled in automatically from the product or service record or the selected price type.
Goods
When warehouse management is enabled, you can record the physical arrival of goods using Goods Receipt Notes.
The Purchase Order lets you track received quantities and quantities still outstanding.
Services
Purchasing services does not require warehouse goods receipt documents.
Services included in a Purchase Order can subsequently be recorded in a Purchase Invoice.
Prices
You can enter prices manually or have them filled in automatically according to the selected price type.
The price type can be selected on the Purchase Order or inherited from the Supplier Contract.
The system uses prices associated with the selected price type, following the same mechanism as for Sales Orders.
If prices have changed, you can select the price type again to refresh prices applicable on the order date.
Before proceeding, check that the prices match the terms agreed with the supplier.
Goods receipt
When warehouse management is enabled, you can create a Goods Receipt Note from a Purchase Order.
The program automatically proposes goods and outstanding quantities, taking into account goods receipt documents already linked to the order.
You can adjust the proposed quantities before saving the document.
Goods may be received in full or through several partial receipts.
Each linked goods receipt updates the Purchase Order status, so you can see whether the goods have been received in full, partially or with differences from the ordered quantities.
You can also create a Purchase Invoice from a Goods Receipt Note. Initially, the invoice contains only the goods and quantities from that receipt, but you can edit its contents.
If warehouse management is disabled, warehouse documents are unavailable and the Purchase Order does not show a goods receipt status. Invoicing and payment tracking remain available.
Creating goods receipts, selecting a warehouse and recording stock movements are explained in Goods Receipt Note.
Invoicing
You can create one or more Purchase Invoices from a Purchase Order.
When creating an invoice, the program automatically proposes quantities and amounts not yet invoiced, taking into account invoices already linked to the order.
This allows you to record:
- one invoice for the full purchase;
- several partial invoices;
- invoices for different stages of the purchase.
Before recording an invoice, check that its contents match the supplier's original invoice.
The quantities, prices and amounts invoiced may differ from those in the Purchase Order. These differences are reflected in the invoicing status and can be reviewed using the Purchase Orders report.
Goods receipt and invoicing are tracked independently. For example, an order may be fully received but only partially invoiced.
A Purchase Order does not replace a Purchase Invoice. The accounting and tax recording of a purchase is carried out using the corresponding documents.
Payments
A Purchase Order lets you track amounts paid to a supplier.
Payments may be recorded before or after the invoice is received.
You can create a payment document from a Purchase Order; the payment is linked directly to that order.
This makes it possible to record advance payments and include them in the transaction's progress.
The payment status is calculated from payments recorded and linked to the order, including payments linked to its invoices.
Payment recording and allocation are covered in the Payments documentation.
Tracking the purchase
To monitor a Purchase Order, you can use:
- status indicators in the order list;
- the Purchase Orders report;
- documents related to the transaction.
Purchase Order statuses
The Purchase Order list shows separate indicators for goods receipt, invoicing and payment.
| Icon | Meaning |
|---|---|
 | Not received, not invoiced or not paid. |
 | Partially received, invoiced or paid. |
 | Fully received, invoiced or paid. |
 | Received, invoiced or paid in excess of the order. |
 | Outstanding quantities or amounts and excesses occur at the same time relative to the order. |
The indicators update automatically based on the documents linked to the Purchase Order.
For example, if you order 100 units and receive 80, the goods receipt indicator shows that the order is partially received.
If the received or invoiced quantities exceed the quantities ordered, the system indicates the corresponding difference.
«Purchase Orders» report
The Purchase Orders report lets you examine how purchase orders are being fulfilled.
Use it to compare:
- ordered quantities and amounts;
- goods received and outstanding;
- invoiced amounts and amounts still to be invoiced;
- amounts paid and outstanding.
The report identifies differences at product level and shows which parts of a transaction remain outstanding.
It is especially useful when an order has several receipts, invoices or payments.
Related documents
Document links let you review the different stages of a purchase.
From a Purchase Order, you can create:
- Goods Receipt Notes, when warehouse management is enabled.
- Purchase Invoices.
- Payment documents.
You can also create a Purchase Invoice from a Goods Receipt Note.
These links keep the information for each transaction together and make it easier to track its progress.
Changing and completing a Purchase Order
If the terms agreed with the supplier change, you can edit the Purchase Order to reflect updated quantities, prices or goods.
The status indicators show how the recorded documents compare with the order's current terms.
A purchase can be considered complete when the relevant goods have been received, invoicing has been recorded and agreed payments have been made.
When warehouse management is disabled, progress is tracked through invoicing and payment statuses.