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Purchase order template

Six fields, a reference number, and a rule about who is allowed to send it.

A purchase order needs six things: a unique reference number, exact items with both supplier code and your SKU, quantities and agreed price, an agreed delivery date, the delivery location, and who raised it. If your email contains those, it is a purchase order regardless of what it is called. The reference number is what later lets the delivery and the invoice be matched to it.

When to use it

Use it for any stock purchase where you would be annoyed to be billed the wrong amount, which is most of them once you are past a handful of units.

The immediate payoff is at goods-in. Somebody receiving a delivery without knowing what was supposed to arrive is counting into a void, and 480 units feels like a lot until a document says 500.

The template

The approval rule underneath matters as much as the fields. Set the floor high enough that most orders pass without approval, or it gets bypassed.

PURCHASE ORDER
PO number:  [YEAR]-[NNN]          Date raised:
Raised by:                        Approved by (if over limit):
Supplier:                         Supplier contact:
Deliver to:

ITEMS
   Supplier code | Our SKU | Description | Qty | Unit price | Line total
   ------------- | ------- | ----------- | --- | ---------- | ----------

Agreed delivery date:
Payment terms:
Notes / special handling:

--- internal, not sent to supplier ---
Approval limit applied:   [ ] under limit  [ ] approved by
Chase schedule:  ack +3 working days | reconfirm -7 days | overdue +1 day
Received:        [ ] in full  [ ] short  [ ] over  [ ] damaged
Discrepancy notes:

How to adapt it

  • Keep the numbering boring. Year prefix and a counter. Its only job is to be unique and sortable.
  • Always carry both codes. Supplier code and your SKU together, because descriptions alone produce the wrong variant surprisingly often.
  • An agreed date, not "ASAP". A date can be missed, measured and chased. "ASAP" cannot.
  • Keep the internal block on your copy. It turns the PO into the receiving record, which is what makes discrepancies visible.

Why it is this short

The internal block is the part most templates omit and the part that does the work. Without a received line, the purchase order describes an intention and nothing ever closes the loop.

With it, one document carries the order, the chase schedule and the receipt, which means the invoice can be checked against something rather than approved on trust.

Common questions

What has to be on a purchase order?

A unique reference, exact items with supplier code and your SKU, quantities and agreed price, an agreed delivery date, the delivery location, and who raised it.

Do small stores need purchase orders?

They need the information a PO carries, findable later. Whether it lives in a template, a spreadsheet row or a task matters far less than whether the person receiving a delivery can check against it.

Who should be allowed to send one?

Write a rule with numbers: free below a value floor, one named approver above it, owner approval above a much higher figure. Set the floor high enough that most orders pass without approval.

Why does the PO number matter?

It is what lets three separate events be recognised as one transaction: the order, the delivery and the invoice. Without it, matching means reading descriptions and guessing.

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