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What is a purchase order and a goods receipt?

The purchase order is your order to the supplier; the receipt registers the goods into inventory.

These are the two steps in getting goods in from a supplier.

Purchase order

A purchase order is your order to the supplier: which items, quantities and agreed prices. It documents what you have ordered but does not by itself move inventory.

Goods receipt

A goods receipt registers that the goods have arrived. Here they are added to inventory so the stock level is correct. You can receive a whole purchase order or only part of it, if the delivery arrives in several batches.

What comes next

After the receipt usually comes a purchase invoice — the supplier's bill — which you can create directly from the receipt.

Read more in Purchase orders, Goods receipts and Purchase order / goods receipt (quickguides).

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