A purchase order is the formal order you send a supplier for goods or services before they arrive. It records what you want to buy, from whom, at what cost, and where it should be delivered, so both sides agree on the order in advance, and it lets you track that order line by line as the goods are received. The purchasing clerk, the storekeeper, or the owner usually raises purchase orders.
A purchase order is optional and records intent only: on its own it posts nothing, with no ledger entry, no supplier balance, and no stock movement. You do not need one to buy, because you can receive goods straight onto a GRN without a purchase order behind them. Raise one when you want a formal order to send the supplier, an approval-style trail, or a document that pre-fills the GRN for you; skip it and go straight to a GRN otherwise.
When you do receive against a purchase order, it leads to a GRN (Goods Receive Note), which takes the stock in and records what you owe the supplier. It does not lead to a Bill: a Bill is the separate path for supplier costs that do not come in as goods, such as services, utilities, or expenses.
Find purchase orders under Purchase & Supplier → Purchase Order.
Before you start
- The supplier you are ordering from must exist in Suppliers. Picking the supplier pulls in its billing and shipping addresses.
- Each line orders a product. At least one product line is required to save.
- Every line needs a location (the warehouse the goods are expected into). The header location, if you set one, prefills each line.
- You need the Create Purchase Orders permission, granted per user under Permissions. List Purchase Orders lets you open the screen, and Edit, Delete, View, and Print Purchase Orders cover the rest. See Users, seats & permissions.
A purchase order is optional and posts nothing
Nothing in your accounts moves when you save a purchase order, and you never have to raise one: a GRN can be created on its own without a purchase order behind it. The supplier balance shown on the form is for reference only; the order does not add to it. Stock and the payable are created only when you receive the goods on a GRN.
Raise a purchase order
Open a new purchase order
Go to Purchase & Supplier → Purchase Order and select New Purchase Order. The purchase order form opens full screen.
Check the template
The Template picker sits in the toolbar at the top of the form. ZyncLedger pre-selects your default purchase order template, so you can usually leave it. The template decides which fields the form shows and how the printed order looks; switch it here if you keep more than one layout. See Print templates for how these are set up.
Choose the supplier
Select the Supplier (required). ZyncLedger fills the Billing Address and Shipping Address from the supplier's record. You can edit either address on the order; both are optional.
Set the order date
Enter the Purchase Order Date (required). This is the date of the order.
Set the transaction number
The Transaction Number identifies the order. How you fill it depends on the number mode for purchase orders:
- Automatic (the default): the field shows Auto-generated and ZyncLedger assigns the next number when you save. Leave it alone.
- Manual: you type the number yourself. It is required and must be unique across all transactions.
See Document numbering to change the mode or set up a multi-series numbering scheme.
Set the delivery location (optional)
Select the header Location to say where the goods are expected. It prefills the location on each line, which you can still change per line. Each line must have a location before you can save.
Add the order lines
For each item you are ordering, fill a row in the items table:
Column What it does Product (required) The item you are ordering. Selecting it fills the description and the last-known cost. Description The line text, prefilled from the product. Edit it for this order if needed. Location (required) The warehouse this line's goods are expected into. Defaults from the header location. Quantity (required) How many units you are ordering. Cost (required) The unit cost you expect to pay. Use the lookup beside the field to pull a recent or agreed cost for this product and supplier. Tax % / Tax Amount A tax to add to the line, entered either way. Tax Inclusive Whether the cost already includes the tax (Inclusive) or the tax is added on top (Exclusive). Total The line value, calculated for you. Received Quantity How much of this line has been received on GRNs so far. It stays 0 until you receive against the order. A blank row waits at the bottom of the table, so a new line appears as you start filling the last one. To remove a line, select the trash icon at the end of its row. The Summary on the right totals the Subtotal, tax, and Total as you type.
Add order notes (optional)
Use Purchase Order Notes at the foot of the form for terms, delivery instructions, or any message to the supplier. If you keep standard wording, pick it from the note selector to autofill.
Save
Select Save & New to save and start another order, or Save & Print to save and print this one. Use Print to print without saving and Reset to clear the form. The order saves with a status of Open.
What it records (and what it does not post)
Saving a purchase order stores the order and its lines. It does not post to the ledger, does not change the supplier's balance, and does not move any stock. There is no accounting effect at this stage by design: a purchase order is a commitment to buy, not a purchase.
The order feeds the rest of the purchasing chain:
- When the goods arrive, you receive them against the order with a GRN. The GRN adds the stock and records the payable to the supplier in one step, so a purchase order you receive needs no separate Bill afterwards.
- Each receipt fills in the Received Quantity on the matching line and moves the order's status forward automatically (see below).
- You then settle what you owe with a Supplier Payment against the GRN.
GRN and Bill are two separate paths, not a sequence
A GRN and a Bill are alternative ways to record a purchase, and each records the payable on its own. Receive goods on a GRN; record a non-goods supplier cost (a service, a utility, an expense) on a Bill. A GRN is never followed by a Bill for the same goods, and a purchase order does not turn into a Bill. Entering both for the same purchase would count the payable twice.
Order status
A purchase order shows one status, and ZyncLedger sets it for you as goods are received. You never set it by hand.
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Open | The order is placed and nothing has been received yet. This is the status of every new order. |
| Partial | Some of the ordered quantity has been received on a GRN, but not all of it. |
| Closed | Every line has been received in full. The order is complete. |
| Deleted | The order has been deleted (see below). It is kept for the record but its amounts are zeroed. |
There is no approval step
A purchase order does not have a draft, submitted, or approved stage, and there is no separate approve permission. Anyone with Create Purchase Orders raises an order and it is immediately Open and ready to receive against. Its status changes only as GRNs are received, never by manual approval.
Convert a purchase order into a GRN
When the goods arrive, receive them from the purchase order list:
Select the orders to receive
On the Purchase Orders list, tick the checkbox on each order you are receiving. Select more than one only if they are for the same supplier.
Create the GRN
Select Create GRN. The GRN form opens pre-filled with the supplier and the outstanding lines from the orders you picked. Enter the quantities actually received, then save. See Goods Receive Note (GRN) for the full receiving steps.
Receiving updates the Received Quantity on each order line and moves the order to Partial or Closed. You do not have to receive an order in one go: receive part now and the rest later, and the status tracks the progress.
Tips & gotchas
Purchase order, or straight to a GRN?
Use a purchase order when you want to place and track a formal order before goods arrive, and to see what is still outstanding. If the goods and the invoice are already in hand with no order behind them, skip the purchase order: receive stock with a GRN, or record a service or expense as a Bill.
Received lines cannot be shrunk or reassigned
Once a line has a received quantity, you cannot reduce its quantity below what has been received, change its product, or change its location, and you cannot remove the line. Edit the order before you receive against it, or correct the receipt on the GRN first.
Duplicate an existing order
To reuse an order, open its row menu on the list and select Copy to Purchase Order. ZyncLedger opens a new order pre-filled from the old one, with a fresh number and the received quantities reset.
Deleting an order
Deleting a purchase order sets its status to Deleted and zeroes its amounts and quantities; the record is kept so its history and number stay intact. You cannot delete or edit an order whose date falls in a period closed by the Ledger close date.
Related
- Suppliers are the parties you order from, and carry the addresses that prefill the order.
- Products & Items are the lines you order.
- Warehouses & Locations are where the goods are expected.
- Goods Receive Note (GRN) receives the ordered goods into stock and records the payable in one step. It is the next step after a purchase order.
- Bill is the separate path for supplier costs that do not arrive as goods, such as services or expenses. It is not a follow-up to a GRN.
- Supplier Payment pays the supplier against their open GRNs and bills.
- Purchasing reports list your purchase orders and what is still outstanding.
- Document numbering controls the order's transaction number.
