Guides · Invoicing
The purchase order, explained
A purchase order is where a sale formally begins from the buyer's side. It is the buyer's written request to buy specific goods or services on stated terms — sent before the supply, not after.
What a purchase order records
A purchase order sets out what the buyer wants: the items, quantities, agreed prices, delivery terms, and any reference the buyer will use to match the later invoice. Once the supplier accepts it, it becomes the shared basis for the supply.
Because it comes first, the PO is the reference every later document points back to — the challan, the invoice, the acknowledgement.
PO versus invoice
A purchase order is a request to buy, issued by the buyer before the supply. An invoice is a demand for payment, issued by the supplier after it. They are two ends of the same transaction, from opposite sides.
Matching the invoice back to the purchase order — same items, quantities, and prices — is what catches errors before payment goes out.
How Lekha uses the PO
Lekha tracks each bill from purchase order to challan, inspection, invoice, acknowledgement, and payment, so the order anchors the whole chain and the receivable can be read against it.
Lekha records what your documents say and tracks the money on both sides — what you owe and what you are owed. It records and tracks; it does not replace your accountant.
Questions
- What is a purchase order?
- A buyer's formal written request to buy specific goods or services on stated terms, issued before the supply, which becomes the shared basis once the supplier accepts it.
- How is a purchase order different from an invoice?
- A purchase order is the buyer's request to buy, sent before the supply; an invoice is the supplier's demand for payment, sent after it.
- Why match an invoice to the purchase order?
- Matching items, quantities, and prices back to the PO catches discrepancies before payment goes out, keeping the chain consistent.