Purchases explained
The Purchases side of Sales Scribe covers everything you buy from your suppliers — from ordering goods, through recording what arrives, to entering the bills you receive and paying them. This guide explains how the purchase documents fit together and, crucially, which ones change your accounts and which are just there to help you run the business.
The purchase flow
A typical purchase runs through these documents, though you can skip any step you do not need:
flowchart LR
PO["Purchase order<br/>(order goods)"] --> GRN["Goods received note<br/>(record delivery)"]
GRN --> PI["Purchase invoice<br/>(the bill)"]
PO -.-> PI
PI --> SP["Supplier payment<br/>(pay the bill)"]
PI --> PCN["Purchase credit note<br/>(supplier credit)"]
- Purchase order — an order you send a supplier for goods or services. See Create a purchase order and Send a purchase order.
- Goods received note (GRN) — records what physically arrives against a purchase order and keeps its received quantities up to date. See Receive goods with a goods received note.
- Purchase invoice — the supplier's bill. Recording ("issuing") it is what actually posts the purchase to your accounts. In the app this document is headed Supplier Invoice. See Record a purchase invoice.
- Supplier payment — money you pay a supplier, which you then match (allocate) to the bills it settles. See Record a supplier payment.
- Purchase credit note — a credit from your supplier that reduces what you owe. See Create a purchase credit note.
There is also a delivery note, which records goods you send out to a customer. Although it is a despatch document rather than a purchasing one — you will find it under the Sales menu — it is covered here for convenience. See Create a delivery note.
What affects your accounts, and what doesn't
This is the most important thing to understand about the purchase documents. Only three of them post anything to your general ledger:
| Document | Affects your accounts? | What it records |
|---|---|---|
| Purchase order | No | An intention to buy — operational only |
| Goods received note | No | What arrived — operational only |
| Delivery note | No | What you despatched — operational only |
| Purchase invoice | Yes | What you owe (accounts payable), the expense or asset, and reclaimable input VAT |
| Purchase credit note | Yes | Reduces accounts payable, the expense/asset and input VAT |
| Supplier payment | Yes | The money leaving your bank, matched to the bills it pays |
In other words, you can raise purchase orders, record deliveries and track goods received all day long without touching your books. Your accounts only move when you record a purchase invoice, issue a purchase credit note, or record and allocate a supplier payment.
Note: Purchase orders, goods received notes and delivery notes are always operational documents. They never post to your general ledger, so they never appear in your financial reports.
Where to find each document
| Document | Menu location |
|---|---|
| Purchase orders | Purchases → Purchase Orders |
| Goods received notes | Purchases → Goods Received Notes |
| Purchase invoices (Supplier Invoices) | Purchases → Purchase Invoices |
| Purchase credit notes | Purchases → Purchase Credit Notes |
| Supplier payments | Payments → Supplier Payments |
| Delivery notes | Sales → Delivery Notes |
Before you begin
- You need at least one supplier. See Add a supplier.
- To put a product on a purchase order, that product must be assigned to the supplier. See Add a product or service.
- Before you can record (issue) a purchase invoice or credit note, your Accounting Settings must be set up, because those documents post to your ledger.