About Receiving Purchase Orders

Once you create a purchase order, you can receive the purchase order in the PO module or you can just invoice it in the AP module.

  • PO Module - Receiving purchase orders in the PO module allows you to enter shipments received in the PO module and immediately update the inventory on hand in the Job Cost module. This feature is also useful if you want to make month-end accrual entries based on the items that you have received, but not invoiced.
  • AP Module - You can also skip receiving purchase orders in the PO module. Once a PO has been entered, you can invoice it using the AP module. You can then close the purchase order using the PO Close form once all of the units on the PO have been invoiced, or you can create a change order for the units that have not been invoiced.

Receiving PO in the PO Module

Receiving POs in the PO module has four steps, which are outlined below.

  1. Create the PO - When creating PO items, make sure that they are set up to be received in the PO module. For example when creating a PO item in PO Purchase Order Enter, make sure that the Receiving box in the lower portion of the form is checked on all PO items that should be received in the PO module.
  2. Distribute PO Items (Optional) - You can distribute PO Items into multiple lines using the PO Item Distribution form. This gives you the ability to redirect the costs on a PO item to a different job, phase, cost type, or even line type when it is received. For more information, see PO Item Distribution Overview.
  3. Record the Receipt - You can use the PO Initialize Receipts or PO Receipts Entry form to receive purchase orders. You will typically use the initialization method when you have a large number of receipts in a single batch, and then use manual entry when you want to receive a small number of receipts or need to edit existing receipts.
    Note: When you enter receipt, you are entering them against the PO item lines, not the PO items. Changes to the units/amount received, and the backordered units/amount will affect the PO item line.
  4. Post the Batch - After you have entered the receipts, you need to post the batch. You can do this by selecting File > Batch from either PO Initialize Receipts or PO Receipts Entry, which opens the PO Batch Process form, allowing to validate and process the batch.

Once you post the receipts, you can invoice the received amounts using the AP module. By default you cannot invoice more than what has been received. However, the Audit Options tab on the AP Company Parameters form includes setup options that allow you to invoice more than what was received

When you post receipts for Inventory and Job POs, the Received Not Invoiced field tracks goods that have been received but not invoiced (in AP). Once you process the invoice in AP Transaction Entry, this field is relieved and transferred to the actual/invoiced field. For Inventory POs posted in PO Receipts Entry, the amount On Order is reduced and the Received Not Invoiced amount is increased. This in turn updates the On Hand quantity in Inventory.

Receipts posted to purchase orders for SM work orders automatically update the received units/costs for the corresponding work completed purchase lines in SM Work Orders (Work Completed tab). Additionally, if you elected to update GL/subledgers on receipt (option in PO Company Parameters), the system adds a cost entry to the Posted Detail grid (SM Work Orders) for each work completed purchase line.

Invoice POs in the AP Module

If you don't want to receive a PO in the PO module, leave the Receiving checkbox cleared when creating the PO items. When the PO is invoiced using the AP Transaction Entry form, the Received and Invoiced amounts are both updated, but the Received Not Invoiced fields in JC and IN are not updated.