Introduction
Starting out a new business venture?
Catching up on a few business terms can help you become a Pro early!
While starting out your own new business venture can be really exciting, it can be nerve-wrenching too at the same time. Unfamiliarity with new business terms can cause a hindrance in understanding and communicating with clients. Especially, when related to the sale of physical goods, you need to catch up fast with the inside business terms.
Very early you will come across two seemingly familiar terms: purchase order and invoice.
Purchase order and invoice are two mostly confusing financial terms and they can often seem like synonyms. Both, purchase orders and invoices are your commercial communication about goods and services. But their time of occurrence is different. Although they are quite similar, they have a few differences which must be understood clearly.
Let’s understand their differences.
What is PO?
The purchase order (PO) is a document indicating the types, number of products and services to be purchased. It details the items to be purchased for a certain price. It also includes the payment terms, shipment, other associated terms, and conditions. The customer sometimes creates a standing PO. The standing or blanket PO allows a company to order the same product multiple times using the same PO number over an extended purchase period.
What is a PO number invoice:
- Issue date of a purchase order
- Client’s information
- Supplier’s information
- Purchase order number
- A detailed list of goods and services ordered
- Terms and conditions
Importance of a PO:
PO is typically used when a buyer wants to purchase supplies or inventory on account. It is important as you and your team have instant visibility of incoming stock; how much is coming, and when it is due to turn up.
A properly managed Purchase Order system will quickly tell you what’s been ordered, shipped, and received but not invoiced, and so on.
Besides that, creating POs in the system will help prevent ordering more of an item than you may need. You can also match the delivered goods against what was ordered to prevent wrong delivery.
Suppliers use POs to fulfil their orders and payment processing. Online invoicing software makes it easy to send purchase orders to vendors online using pre-designed templates.
What Is An Invoice?
An invoice is a document issued by a seller to a buyer indicating items sold, prices, date of shipment, delivery, and payment terms. It is also called a “bill”, “statement” or “sales invoice”. The term invoice indicates money the buyer owes to a seller.
The invoice is also specified with the period of time after which the buyer has to make payment to the seller for the goods and services they have purchased. Modern-day invoices are transmitted online.
Importance of An Invoice
Invoices are a great way to track your earnings, business, and expenses. It gives you a view of the sale of products for inventory management and calculates the amount of profit made. If invoices are utilized properly, they may act as documentation for all your business transactions. Invoice reports help you to show which orders are completed and paid for and the total outstanding for the customers. Besides that, you have complete financial control of your business and ongoing progress. A suitable invoice system created by Invoicera is used in creating and scheduling client invoices with ease.
Key Differences Between Invoice & Purchase Order
Why does a company need Purchase orders?
Be it a small business or an organization with multiple departments with a separate department handling purchase and vendor management. Let us find more about the purpose of a purchase order:
- To set clear business expectations
POs are clear documents that tell your vendors about the details of your specific order. It is beneficial for both the parties in order to cross-check and refer to, while in need. - It helps the business manage orders
Purchase orders are official documents that help various other teams in the house with incoming or yet-to-be-received deliveries. It helps manage operations effectively and avoids delivery confusion. - It helps in managing business budgets
Once a company creates a purchase order, it can help it factor in its costs and, therefore, manage budgets. It helps them know their expenses and allows them to save undue spending.
All the benefits written above are focused on purchasers. But, vendors need purchase orders too. As vendors, they use it for ensuring correct order deliveries and payment processing. It acts as a medium of transparent communication and avoids chances of any discrepancies.
Why does a company need an invoice?
The reasons why a company needs an invoice are:
- It is an enabler for businesses to receive money:
Vendors are only bound to receive money once they send an invoice. Companies do not release payments until and unless they receive an official invoice from the vendor. Any call or email would never be able to suffice it.
- Invoices update incoming payments:
As a vendor or supplier, you need to know the amount of money you’ll be receiving for the services offered. It will help you track your payments and have a clear picture of returns on your investments.
Must Watch this video for the quick review of differences b/w Purchase Order and Invoice
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Online Invoicing With Invoicera
Invoicera is an Online Invoicing Software with more than 14 years of experience and handles Purchase Order Management, serving more than 3 million businesses worldwide. The invoicing software helps in creating and managing every business purchase order and invoice. It also lets you save every communication to keep a clear tab of all your records.
It comes with online time tracking, payments, expense management, recurring/subscription billing, client/vendor panels, workflows.
It also offers multilingual & multi-currency support, staff permissions, financial reporting & analysis, purchase order management, subcontractor billing and time management, comprehensive reporting and APIs for 3rd party integration.
Frequently Asked Questions
Ques: How is a purchase order different from a bill??
Ans: A Purchase Order is an itemized list of requirements created by the organization and shared with suppliers for raw materials.
An Invoice is an itemized bill created by the organization against the sale of the goods to customers.
Ques: Can I create a Purchase Order with Invoicera?
Ans: There could be specific circumstances when you feel the need to issue a credit memo to your customer. Some common instances could be, as followed:
- When you need to cancel an issued invoice fully or partially.
- You are seeking partial credit for the wrong items supplied.
- The goods have already been purchased earlier and you want to request a refund for the goods returned to the vendor.
