What is a purchase order?
A purchase order, or PO, is the document a buyer issues to a supplier to commit to buying specific items at agreed prices. It carries a number that the supplier's invoice should quote, which is how the two are matched later.
Example
PO 2291 from Bluewater Marine to a chandlery: 12 mooring lines at $38, 6 fenders at $55. Total $786, payment net 30, delivery by the 14th. The chandlery ships and sends an invoice that says "PO 2291". Bluewater checks it against what the PO said and what arrived, then pays.
Without the PO number the invoice is just a bill someone has to identify by hand.
In Atta
When an order is placed, Atta records it against the request that approved it, with the lines, the total and the checkout link or card used. The order is keyed to the request so a retry finds the same order rather than making a second one.
Received invoices are linked to a purchase only by the PO number they name, never by supplier alone, and the invoice becomes a row on that request. A purchase becomes stock in one place, receiveIntoStock, which lands it where the open inbound says. More in purchase orders.
What goes on one
A PO number, the supplier, line items with quantity and unit price, delivery address and date, payment terms and tax. Changing a PO after it's sent means issuing a revision, so the supplier and the buyer are always reading the same version.
Questions
Does every purchase need a PO?
That's a company policy. Many teams require one above a threshold and skip it for small card purchases.
Related
- What is a purchase requisition?A purchase requisition is an internal request to buy something, sent for approval before an order is placed. Definition and a worked example.
- What is a three-way match?Three-way match checks that the purchase order, the goods receipt and the supplier invoice agree before payment. Definition with a worked example.
- Purchase order softwareEach approved request gets a PO number, the order carries it, receipts are recorded per line, and an invoice that names the PO attaches to the request.