Record what arrived against a purchase order

Picture the typical Monday after a busy week of deliveries. You raised half a dozen purchase orders, some of them landed in two or three drops, one supplier short-shipped a line, and another tucked a packing slip into a box that nobody has seen since. By the time the bills arrive, working out what actually turned up — and whether it matches what you ordered — is its own afternoon of admin.

PO Receiving in Appcrual gives you a place to record exactly what arrived against each purchase order, line by line, across as many deliveries as you need. The PO's status updates on its own, and when the invoice comes in you can create the bill straight from the receipt.

What the feature is

A goods receipt is a record of one delivery against a purchase order. You can log multiple receipts against the same PO, and Appcrual keeps track of what's been received and what's still outstanding.

Why it matters

Without somewhere to record receipts, the only place that information lives is in a folder of packing slips, an inbox thread, or someone's memory. That's fine until a supplier queries an invoice, an auditor asks for the paper trail, or finance wants to pay a bill that you've not actually received in full.

With receipts in Appcrual, the picture is clearer. You can see at a glance which POs are fully received, which are part-way through, and which are still waiting. The numbers behind 3-way matching — PO, receipt, bill — sit in one place. And because each receipt has its own date and reference, you have an audit trail you can hand over without rummaging through emails.

For teams who want fewer surprises when bills arrive, that's a useful piece of the puzzle.

How it works

Open a purchase order with a status of Sent or Partially Received. In the toolbar at the top of the PO detail page you'll see a green Receive button. Click it.

The "Record Goods Receipt" form opens. The header has three fields:

Receipt Date — defaults to today, in YYYY-MM-DD format. Required.

Packing Slip Ref — the supplier's delivery note number, if you have one. Optional.

Notes — anything you want to remember about this delivery. Optional.

Below that is a table of the PO's line items, with columns for Ordered, Already Received, Outstanding, and Qty to Receive. The Outstanding column is the one to watch — it tells you how much of each line is still expected.

If the whole delivery has turned up as ordered, click Receive All. Every outstanding quantity drops into the Qty to Receive column in one step. From there you can adjust any line that was short-shipped before saving. If only part of the order has arrived, type the received quantities directly.

Click Save Receipt. You'll see a confirmation — "Goods receipt GR-001 recorded successfully." — and you'll land on the receipt's detail page.

Behind the scenes, the PO's status updates automatically. If every line is now fully received, the PO moves to Received. If any line is still short, it moves to Partially Received, ready for the next delivery. The payment pill (Open or Paid) stays as it was — receiving stock and paying for it are separate things.

When the next delivery arrives, open the same PO and click Receive again. You'll see the quantities you've already logged in the Already Received column, and only the remaining outstanding amounts will be open for entry.

If you record a receipt by mistake, open it and click Void Receipt. You'll be asked to confirm. Voided receipts stay on the record for audit purposes but no longer count toward received quantities, and the PO's status recalculates straight away.

When this is useful

Multi-drop deliveries. A supplier splits a single order across two or three pallets, arriving on different days. Each delivery gets its own receipt, with its own date and packing slip reference.

Short shipments. You ordered 100, the driver brought 80. Record the 80, leave the line as part-received, and Appcrual will remember the 20 still outstanding when the rest turns up.

3-way matching before paying a bill. Finance won't release payment until the PO, the receipt, and the bill all line up. With goods receipts in Appcrual, that check happens in one screen.

End-of-month reconciliation. When you're closing the month, you can see exactly which POs are fully received, which are still in flight, and which need chasing.

Audit response. Someone asks for proof that a particular order arrived. The receipt has the date, the packing slip reference, the quantities, and a link back to the original PO.

Tips for getting the most out of it

Always add the packing slip reference if you have it. It's the quickest way to tie a receipt back to the supplier's own paperwork later. The global Receipts list is searchable by packing slip reference, so it pays off when you need to find something.

Check the Outstanding column before saving. That's the one that tells you what's still expected. If a number there looks wrong, it's usually because an earlier receipt was voided — the global Receipts list, filtered by Voided, will show you what's been reversed.

Void rather than try to edit. Receipts can't be edited once saved. If something's wrong, void it and create a new one. The voided record stays for audit, so nothing is lost.

Create the bill from the receipt when the invoice arrives. On the receipt detail page there's a Create Bill button that pre-fills the supplier, currency, date, and total value. If you're connected to FreeAgent, the bill syncs there too. It saves a round of retyping and keeps the receipt, the PO, and the bill linked.

Availability and access

PO Receiving is available now on every Appcrual account, with no extra setup needed. Recording, viewing, and voiding receipts all require the Employee role or higher — the same level as creating and sending POs.

Open any sent purchase order and look for the green Receive button in the toolbar. To see every receipt across your company in one place, click Receipts in the sidebar nav, below Purchase Orders.

If you have questions or want a hand setting things up, contact us at support@appcrual.com.