Purchase orders, from request to receipt
A purchase order is how a business tells a supplier exactly what it wants to buy. These pages explain what goes on one, the steps from request to payment, and how business software handles each step. They're plain reference notes, not product advice.
All the PO notes
- What a purchase order is and what goes on it
A purchase order (PO) is a buyer's written order to a supplier. See what it states, what fields to fill in, and what software adds to it.
- From request to payment: the steps of a purchase order
The usual order of events when a business buys with a PO, from internal request and approval to receiving goods, the supplier bill and payment.
- Purchase order or invoice: how they differ
A PO comes from the buyer before the goods move. An invoice comes from the seller after. Here's who sends which and how the two get compared.
- Numbering purchase orders
How to number POs so you can find them later, with prefixes, year markers and running counters, plus how software series settings handle it.
- Approval limits and who signs off
How approval limits work on purchase orders, what you need to set one up, and how two kinds of business software describe approval rules in their manuals.
- Receiving goods against a purchase order
How to check a delivery against its PO, record what actually arrived, handle short or partial deliveries, and what receiving screens in software record.
- Three-way matching: PO, receipt and supplier bill
Three-way matching compares the PO, the delivery record and the supplier's invoice before you pay. See what's checked and how software handles it.