Accounting glossary
What is purchase order?
The document that commits you to buy: items, quantities, prices, delivery expectations. A PO is the reference the delivery is checked against and the bill is matched to — the three-way match that stops paying for goods that never arrived.
Example
You raise PO 2026/0008 for 49 units at $21,490.63 from a packaging supplier. Nothing has been received and no stock has moved — it is a request.
Receive 30 units against it and the PO carries the remaining 19 as still open, which makes the list your outstanding-order report.
In SeroBooks
POs with approval control, received against by GRNs, settled into bills. Purchase orders →