Receiving goods against a purchase order

Check the delivery against the PO, line by line, and record what actually arrived. Not what the packing slip says. Not what you ordered. What's on the dock.

What you need at the dock

• The PO, printed or on a screen.
• The supplier's packing slip or delivery note.
• A pen, or the receiving screen in your software.
• A place to set aside damaged or wrong items.
• Someone who can say yes or no to a short delivery.

The check

Work through it in this order.

• Find the PO. Use the PO number on the packing slip. If there isn't one, ask the driver or call the supplier.
• Count the goods. Open the boxes, or at least count them. Don't take the slip's word.
• Look for damage. Note it on the paperwork before you sign.
• Compare each line. Item, quantity and description, against the PO.
• Record what came. Enter the received quantity for each line.
• Keep the paperwork. File the slip with the PO.

What the software records

ERPNext's manual says a Purchase Receipt records the quantity that actually arrived, and the warehouses where accepted and rejected goods were placed.¹ Its pre-submit check is to look over the supplier, company, posting date and supplier delivery note.¹

If your product supports scanning, you can scan items at the receiving desk. ERPNext's manual says to verify the resulting item and quantity before submitting.¹

Rejected goods get their own place. The manual says keeping rejected stock separate prevents damaged units from appearing as usable stock.¹

Partial deliveries

Suppliers often ship in more than one go. You record each delivery when it comes, and the PO stays open for the rest.

Business Central's documentation says to use purchase orders if you need to record partial receipts of an order quantity.² You enter the received quantity in the Qty. to Receive field. If the receipt is partial, the value in the received field is lower than the value in the Quantity field.²

ERPNext works the same way in principle. Several receipts can cover portions of the same order. Partial receipts update the percentage received, and the order remains open for the balance.³

On paper, keep a running tally on the PO itself. For each delivery, write the date, the quantity received, and the quantity still owed.

What if the quantity is wrong?

• Short. Record the smaller quantity. Tell the supplier. Ask whether the rest is coming or whether it's cancelled.
• Over. Don't just accept it. Decide whether you want the extra, and tell the buyer. Business Central, for one, lets you create over-receipt codes that set a percentage by which a received quantity can exceed the ordered quantity.²
• Wrong item. Record it as rejected, and keep it apart.
• Damaged. Photograph it if you can, note it on the slip, and keep it apart.

When the rest of the order will never arrive, you can close the PO. ERPNext says to use Close only when the remaining order quantity will never be received or billed.¹

Who should receive

Where your team is big enough, the person who receives goods shouldn't be the person who raised the PO. A second pair of eyes catches mistakes. In a small shop, one person may do both. Then the paperwork is your check.

What happens next

The receipt is the second leg of a three-part check. The supplier's bill comes later, and the three documents get compared in three-way matching. The PO itself is described in what goes on a purchase order.