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Purchase order template
A purchase order you send to a supplier. It names the vendor and where to ship, carries your PO number, the order date and a deliver-by date, lists each item with its item number, quantity and price, and ends with totals and the signature of whoever authorized the order.
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On this page
What a purchase order does
A purchase order (PO) is the buyer's side of an order. You send it to a vendor to say exactly what you want, how many, at what price and by when. When the vendor accepts it, both sides have the same written record of the order, and when the goods and the vendor's invoice arrive, you check them against the PO before you pay.
That check is the point. A PO number on the vendor's invoice ties it to an order someone in your business approved, which stops duplicate payments and invoices for things nobody ordered.
What is on the page
- Your business at the top left, with Purchase Order, the PO number, the order date and a deliver by date on the right.
- Vendor and Ship to side by side. Ship to matters when goods go to a job site or a second location rather than your office.
- Item rows with item number (the vendor's part or SKU), description, quantity, unit price and amount.
- Totals for subtotal, tax, shipping and total.
- Terms and instructions, such as payment terms, "Call before delivery" or "Partial shipments OK".
- Authorized by, with a date.
The settings
Rows runs from 4 to 24. The Tax line can be turned off when you buy for resale with an exemption certificate on file. Everything else is typed: leave a box empty and it prints as a line to write on.
Worked example: restocking a café
A café orders from its paper-goods supplier. PO 0457, dated June 2, deliver by June 6, ship to the café's address. The rows read: "CUP-12, 12 oz hot cups, case of 1,000, 2, $68.00, $136.00", "LID-12, Lids for 12 oz cups, case of 1,000, 2, $41.00, $82.00" and "NAP-2P, 2-ply napkins, case of 6,000, 1, $52.00, $52.00".
The subtotal is $270.00. The café holds a resale certificate for cups and lids but not napkins, so its owner works out the tax on the napkins alone, adds a $15.00 delivery charge, and writes the total in. The owner signs the authorization line and emails a scan of the page to the supplier.
Keep the paper trail
File each PO with the vendor's invoice and the packing slip that came with the goods. Matching all three is the standard check before you pay a bill. This page is a template; it is not legal or tax advice.