Receive Goods Against a Purchase Order
Use a Purchase Receipt to record goods that have physically arrived against a submitted Purchase Order. The receipt updates stock, records accepted and rejected quantities, and keeps the order's receiving progress accurate.
Create a separate receipt for each delivery when an order arrives in stages. Do not record goods as received until they are physically on site and have been checked.
Before you start
The Purchase Order must be submitted and have a quantity still to receive.
You need permission to create and submit Purchase Receipts. This is normally provided through a purchasing or stock role, although your organisation may use custom permissions.
Confirm the supplier delivery note, delivery date, quantities, units of measure, and receiving warehouse.
Decide which warehouse should hold rejected goods, if damaged or unsuitable items have arrived.
Have serial numbers, batch details, and inspection results ready when the Item requires them.
1. Create the receipt from the Purchase Order
Open the submitted Purchase Order.
Check that the supplier, Item rows, ordered quantities, and outstanding quantities match the delivery.
Select Create > Purchase Receipt.
Create a Purchase Receipt from a submitted Purchase Order
NexWave copies the outstanding Item rows and their Purchase Order references into a draft Purchase Receipt. If you start from a blank Purchase Receipt instead, select Get Items From > Purchase Order and choose the order.
2. Confirm the delivery details
Review the receipt header before changing Item quantities:
Supplier and Company must match the order.
Enter the supplier's reference in Supplier Delivery Note when one is available.
Confirm Date and Posting Time. Tick Edit Posting Date and Time only when an authorised backdated posting is required.
Use Accepted Warehouse to set a default destination for usable goods.
Use Rejected Warehouse to set a default destination for rejected goods.
Header warehouse values are applied to rows that do not already have a warehouse. Review the warehouse on every row before submission.
Purchase Receipt overview showing the status, supplier, company, and Items grid
3. Record what arrived
For each Item row, compare the physical delivery with the order and enter the actual quantities:
Received Quantity is the total physically received.
Accepted Quantity is the portion accepted into usable stock.
Rejected Quantity is the portion physically received but rejected.
The quantities must follow this relationship:
Received Quantity = Accepted Quantity + Rejected Quantity
Use these common patterns:
Delivery result | What to enter |
|---|---|
Everything arrived and was accepted | Leave the outstanding quantity in Accepted Quantity and keep Rejected Quantity at zero. |
Only part of the order arrived | Reduce Accepted Quantity to the quantity received. Remove rows that did not arrive. |
Some delivered units were rejected | Split the delivered amount between Accepted Quantity and Rejected Quantity. |
Nothing arrived for an Item | Remove that row from this receipt. Receive it on a later Purchase Receipt. |
Review the received, accepted, and rejected quantities
Do not increase the quantity simply to complete the order. NexWave may block an over-receipt when it exceeds the authorised allowance.
4. Check warehouses and the Purchase Order reference
Expand each Item row and confirm:
Accepted Warehouse is where usable stock will be stored.
Rejected Warehouse is where rejected stock will be held. It is required when Rejected Quantity is greater than zero and must differ from the accepted warehouse.
Purchase Order links the row back to its source order.
Confirm the accepted warehouse and Purchase Order reference
The Purchase Order link is stored on each Item row rather than as one header field. A receipt created with Get Items From can therefore include compatible rows from more than one Purchase Order.
If bin management is enabled, also confirm Warehouse Bin and Rejected Warehouse Bin where those fields appear. Use Apply Putaway Rule only when your organisation has configured rules for automatically selecting storage bins.
5. Complete inspections, serial numbers, and batches
Save the draft before completing additional stock controls.
When inspection is required, use Create > Quality Inspection(s) and complete the inspection before submission. Confirm the Quality Inspection link on the relevant row.
For serialised Items, allocate the exact serial numbers received. The serial count must match the relevant quantity.
For batch-controlled Items, use the available batch allocation control and make sure the allocated quantity matches the expected quantity.
Keep accepted and rejected serial or batch allocations separate when both quantities are present.
The available serial and batch controls depend on your Stock Settings. See Serialised and Batch Inventory for the complete allocation and traceability workflow.
6. Review and submit the Purchase Receipt
Before submitting, check:
supplier and delivery note reference
date and posting time
Item codes, units of measure, and quantities
accepted and rejected warehouses
serial, batch, bin, or inspection details where required
rates, taxes, and totals copied from the Purchase Order
Select Save, resolve any validation messages, and then select Submit.
Submission posts the stock movement and updates receiving progress on the linked Purchase Order. Do not submit a receipt as a placeholder for goods that have not arrived.
7. Confirm the result
After submission:
Review the Purchase Receipt status. A receipt that has not yet been invoiced normally shows To Bill.
Open the linked Purchase Order and check Received Qty and % Received.
On the Purchase Receipt, select View > Stock Ledger to confirm that accepted and rejected stock posted to the intended warehouses.
Select View > Accounting Ledger when stock accounting entries apply to your company configuration.
Check the receipt's Connections for its Purchase Order and any later invoices or returns.
For a partial delivery, keep the Purchase Order open. Create another Purchase Receipt when the remaining goods arrive. If the supplier will not deliver the balance, agree the outcome and use Status > Close on the Purchase Order instead of recording undelivered goods as received.
8. Create the supplier invoice
When the supplier bill should be matched to received goods, open the submitted Purchase Receipt and select Create > Purchase Invoice.
The receipt may show:
To Bill when none of its value has been covered by submitted Purchase Invoices
Partly Billed when only part has been invoiced
Completed when it has been fully invoiced
If the status is unexpected, compare the quantities and values on the Purchase Receipt, Purchase Order, Purchase Invoices, and any returns. An invoice created from the Purchase Order can also update the receipt's billed percentage when it references the same order rows.
Use Create > Landed Cost Voucher when freight, duty, or another eligible charge must be allocated to the received stock. See Record Actual Costs on Stock Receipts for that workflow.
Correct mistakes and return goods
Choose the correction that matches what happened:
Draft error: edit the Purchase Receipt, save, and review it again.
Submitted receipt entered incorrectly: cancel dependent submitted documents where permitted, then select Cancel and Amend. Cancellation reverses the receipt's stock and accounting effects.
Goods later returned to the supplier: select Create > Purchase Return from the submitted receipt. This preserves the audit trail for the original delivery.
Rejected goods are being returned: choose Return Qty from Rejected Warehouse when prompted.
The returned goods were already invoiced: complete the matching accounting correction, normally a Debit Note, after the stock return.
See Purchase Return and Debit Note for the full return process.
Final review checklist
The Purchase Order was submitted and had quantity remaining to receive.
Received Quantity equals Accepted Quantity plus Rejected Quantity.
Goods not delivered were removed from this receipt.
Accepted and rejected stock uses the correct warehouses.
Required inspections, bins, serial numbers, and batches are complete.
The supplier delivery note and posting date are correct.
The submitted receipt updated the Purchase Order's received progress.
The Stock Ledger shows the expected warehouse movements.
Troubleshooting
Purchase Receipt is not available under Create
Confirm that the Purchase Order is submitted, is not On Hold or Closed, has quantity remaining to receive, and that you have permission to create a Purchase Receipt.
The mapped quantity is lower than expected
Review earlier submitted Purchase Receipts and any stock-updating Purchase Invoices. They may already have used part of the order quantity.
NexWave reports a quantity mismatch
Confirm that Received Quantity equals Accepted Quantity plus Rejected Quantity on every row.
A rejected warehouse error appears
Enter Rejected Warehouse for rows with rejected quantity. The rejected warehouse must differ from Accepted Warehouse.
NexWave blocks an over-receipt
Recheck the ordered and previously received quantities. Do not increase the organisation's over-delivery allowance without authorised approval.
A serial, batch, bin, or inspection error appears
Save the draft and reopen the Item row. Confirm that all required quantities are allocated, the identifiers belong to the correct Item, the bins belong to the selected warehouses, and any required Quality Inspection is complete.
Cancellation is blocked
A submitted Purchase Invoice, return, or another dependent record may be linked to the receipt. Review Connections and cancel downstream documents first only when the business process and your permissions allow it.