From purchase order to paying your supplier

This is the buying journey, from ordering to paying. It mirrors the sales side almost exactly, including the decision in the middle — which is either reassuring or confusing depending on which one you learned first.

The journey

1. Purchase order. You tell a supplier what you want. Nothing is recorded in your accounts and no stock moves.
2. The middle. Either the goods arrive first and the bill follows, or the bill arrives first and the goods follow.
3. Supplier invoice. Their bill, recorded against what you owe. See Supplier Invoices.
4. Payment. You pay, and the bill settles. See Payments.

Raise a purchase order

1. Open Purchases›Purchase Order and click Add.
2. Pick the Supplier and check the Currency.
3. Add what you are ordering, with Qty and the price you have agreed.
4. Click Confirm, or Submit for Approval if your workspace needs sign-off above a value. Needs Approval Workflow on your plan
5. Send it with Print or Email.

The decision: which arrives first?

From a confirmed purchase order you have two routes, and whichever you use first is the one that order commits to.

• Goods first. Record the goods arriving, then the bill when it turns up. This is the safer route and the one to prefer: the goods receipt is your record of what actually came, so when the bill disagrees you have evidence.
• Bill first. Record the bill, then the goods when they arrive. Use it when the supplier bills on despatch and you want the liability recorded before the van gets to you.

Goods first, then the bill

1. Open the confirmed purchase order and click Generate to Goods Received Note.
2. Check the quantities against what actually turned up, and change them if the delivery was short. This is the whole point of the step.
3. For tracked goods, enter the batch or serial numbers that arrived.
4. Confirm. The stock is in and available.
5. When the bill arrives, open the goods receipt and click Generate to Supplier Invoice.
6. The window also lists other goods receipts for the same supplier still waiting to be billed — tick any the bill covers.
7. Check the total against their bill and confirm.

If their figures do not match yours, record the bill as they sent it and raise a supplier credit note for the difference. That keeps your trail matching theirs, which is what you need if it is ever queried.

Bill first, then the goods

1. Open the confirmed purchase order and click Generate Supplier Invoice.
2. Check the lines and confirm. You now owe the money.
3. When the goods arrive, open that bill and click Generate to Goods Receipt.
4. Check the quantities, enter any batch or serial numbers, and confirm.

The button on the bill only appears if the bill came from a purchase order — a bill typed from scratch has no order to receive against.

What can stop you

• If both generate buttons are missing from the order, it is a draft, or everything has been received and billed, or it is closed. Reopen it if needed.
• If only one is missing, the order is already committed to the other route.
• If Generate to Goods Receipt is missing on a bill, that bill was not created from a purchase order.
• If you cannot delete a goods receipt, it has been billed. Remove the bill first.
• If you cannot delete a bill, you have paid it or received goods against it. Remove those first — and see Why can't I edit or delete this?