Purchases
Purchases covers everything you buy and everyone you owe. Like sales, it runs as a chain of linked documents — order, receipt, invoice, payment — each carrying its data forward so nothing is re-keyed and every liability can be traced back to the goods or service behind it.
The purchase chain
| Step | Document | What it does to your accounts |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Requisition | Nothing. Works out what needs buying. |
| 2 | Purchase Order | Nothing. Records a commitment to buy. |
| 3 | Goods Receipt (GRN) | Increases stock; credits a clearing account. |
| 4 | Purchase Invoice | Clears the clearing account into Accounts Payable and claims input tax. |
| 5 | Supplier Payment | Reduces your bank balance and the payable. |
| 6 | Allocation | Matches the money to the bills it settles. |
The clearing account is what makes purchasing different from sales. Between receipt and invoice you hold stock you have not been billed for, and that provisional liability sits in the GRN clearing account until the supplier's invoice arrives to replace it.
You do not have to start at the beginning
| Situation | Use |
|---|---|
| Stock is running low | Requisition, then generate the order |
| Ordering now, delivery later | Purchase Order |
| Goods arrived with no order raised | Direct GRN |
| Goods and bill arrived together | Direct Invoice |
| Billing goods received earlier | GRNs To Invoice |
| A cost with no stock behind it | Expense |
| Returning goods or overcharged | Debit Note |
Where to look
- Purchases Overview — spend, payables and overdue at a glance
- Orders, GRN, Invoices, Expenses, Debit Notes, Payments — one list per document type
- Allocations — money paid or credited but not yet applied
Two things worth watching
| Signal | What it means |
|---|---|
| GRN Pending Invoice | Goods you hold and owe for, with no bill recorded. Understates your liabilities until cleared. |
| Unallocated payments | Money already sent that still shows the supplier's bills as unpaid. |
Set up first
| Setting | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Expense Categories | The top-level grouping of your overheads. |
| Expenses Settings | Individual expense types and the GL account each posts to. |
| Expense Types | A second layer of classification for reporting. |
| Expense Type Detail | The most granular level, where you need it. |
In this section · 31 articles
New Purchases Order
A Purchase Order is your formal instruction to a supplier to supply goods or...
New Goods Receipt Note (GRN)
A Goods Receipt Note records stock physically arriving from a supplier. It increases your...
New Purchase Direct Invoice
A Purchase Direct Invoice records a supplier bill and receives the goods in one...
GRNS To Invoice
GRNs To Invoice books a supplier bill against goods you have already received. It...
New Supplier Debit Note
A Supplier Debit Note reduces what you owe a supplier. Use it when you...
New Supplier Payment
A Supplier Payment records money going out to a supplier. It reduces your bank...
Purchase Orders List And inquiry
The Purchase Orders List is the central view of every procurement request sent to...
Goods Receiving Note lists and Inquiries
A Goods Received Note confirms the physical arrival of goods from a supplier. The...
Purchase Invoices List (Transactions)
The Purchase Invoices List is the dashboard for every bill your suppliers have sent...
Supplier Debit Notes List
A Supplier Debit Note records a reduction in what you owe a supplier, usually...
Supplier Payments List and Inquiry
The Supplier Payments List gives a complete view of funds paid out to your...
Supplier Allocations
The Supplier Allocations list is where money you have paid out and credits you...
New Purchase Expenses
A Purchase Expense records a cost that has no stock behind it — rent,...
Invoices To Debit Note
Invoices To Debit Note raises a supplier debit note against one or more existing...
Expenses List and Inquiry
The Expenses List is the central view of business overheads, utility bills and services...
Purchase Expenses Settings
Expense Settings define the individual expense types your business uses and map each one...
Expenses Category Settings
Expense Categories are the high-level groups used to classify business costs. Grouping similar expenses...
Purchase Order View
The Purchase Order View is the full record of an order after it has...
Goods Received Note GRN view
The Goods Received Note view is the full record of a delivery after it...
Purchase Invoice View
The Purchase Invoice View is the full record of a supplier bill. It shows...
Purchase Expenses View
The Purchase Expenses View is the full record of a recorded cost. It shows...
Supplier Credit Note View
The Supplier Debit Note View is the full record of a credit raised against...
Supplier Payment View
The Supplier Payment View is the full record of money paid out. It shows...
Expense Types
Expense Types add a second layer of detail to your expenses. Where the category...
Expense Type Detail
Expense Type Detail is the most granular level of expense classification. It records exactly...
Order To GRN
Order To GRN receives goods against an existing Purchase Order. It is the point...
Requisition in Purchase
The Requisition screen turns stock demand into purchase documents. It compares what you hold,...
Purchases Overview
The Purchases Overview is the landing tab of the Purchases module. It answers what...
Supplier PDC
Supplier PDC tracks post dated cheques you have issued to suppliers. It is the...
New Supplier PDC
New Supplier PDC records a post dated cheque you are issuing to a supplier....
Landed Cost
Landed Cost spreads the real cost of getting goods to your door — freight,...