Free Purchase Order Template

Purchase Orders(POs) are a great way to control costs and boost the efficiency of your finance team. In short, POs are official documents for your suppliers that clearly state your order requirements. Our Word and Excel purchase order templates are customisable to your business, but there are some elements to a PO that are necessary whatever your business does.

The key elements of a Purchase Order are:

  • Order Date
  • Specific unique number - The PO Number
  • The buyers contact details
  • Delivery address
  • Supplier name & address
  • The price you want said items for
  • List of the goods or service you wish to purchase
  • Email address for the supplier to send their invoice
  • State your required payment terms
  • Your required payment terms
  • Specify the currency

The purchase order template opposite is available to download for FREE. Zahara users can create POs that look like this, and have access to a whole library of other templates.

Is Word the best format to work with for a Purchase Order Template?

Word is fine if you’re only sending the odd PO, but it’s not really suitable for regular use. In a similar vein, Excel gives you the benefit of calculating your totals but the document itself is a bit of an eyesore!

Why should we use purchase order software?

In essence, because the software will do all the boring bits for you! You can create POs in app, and then send them out for approval before they even go to the supplier. All your records will be stored for you and will automatically be matched to the supplier invoice when that arrives.

Instead of trying to track lots of random documents, there’s a full audit trail so you can have complete control and oversight. It’s a pretty solid system, if we do say so ourselves! .

Are these templates free?

Yes, enjoy! A free gift from us to you.

What’s the best format for sending the Purchase Order to a supplier

PDF is the safest way to send a purchase order to a supplier. Both these templates open in Word or Excel and Microsoft allows you to Send as a PDF, using File > Share > Send as PDF.

If you’re using Zahara, the PDFs can be sent in JSON or CSV format which makes it super easy for the supplier to get the data.

What is a Purchase Requisition (PR)?

A purchase requisition comes one step before the PO, and it’s simply the request to buy something. Usually, the PR will follow an approval workflow where a person in a company wants to buy something but needs approval from management to spend the money. Then, once approved, the purchase order follows.

What is the difference between a purchase order vs purchase requisition?

A purchase requisition is an internal document that is essentially a request. A request to buy something for the organisation and that request will likely be subject to an approval process.

A purchase order is a formal document that is sent to your supplier requesting goods or services, supplied at a specific price and/or within a specific time frame. A purchase order (is basically an offer of a contract.

Do I need to save my purchase orders?

Yes! It’s an absolute must. We recommend converting the document into a PDF as soon as it’s sent, and storing them all in a secure folder.

Are purchase orders legally binding?

When you send a PO to a supplier, you’re basically offering a contract for them to supply goods at the price you’ve requested. If they accept the order, you’ve entered into that contract and are obliged to fulfil your side of the agreement and make the purchase.

This is why it’s so key to have a robust approval process and full audit trail so you’re never caught out!

Is it easier to process a purchase invoice if there is a Purchase Order?

If the supplier issues an invoice that matched your purchase order, then it’s extremely likely the invoice will be faster to process. If there’s no matching PO then you will have to manually cross reference with all your orders.

When using purchase order software, like Zahara, the invoice will be matched automatically to the adjacent purchase order. It makes the whole process much smoother and safer.

Here at Zahara we live and breath purchase orders. Yes I know, we should get out more. But it's a vocation. Here is a useful blog article that we recommend reading: How to implement purchase orders
Below are two Purchase Order Templates you can use for free. One is in Word format and the other is in Excel format. These are easy to customise to suit, just download and then change the colours to your branding.
Word version
free purchase order template Word
Excel Version
free purchase order template Excel

3-Way Matching Explained

When you create a PO and send it to the supplier, they’ll soon deliver the goods or services you ordered. They’ll then send you an invoice for how much you owe, which can be matched to the original PO.

You may also receive a delivery note or goods received note (GRN), which is the third element. This should arrive before the invoice, and it serves as recognition that you’ve received what you asked for. In this instance, your finance team may now be working with three sets of data to help you crosscheck- hence the term 3-way matching.

Want to find out more about Zahara’s purchase order software?

Our Purchase Order Software streamlines the entire purchase order process. You can easily create, approve, and track purchase orders in a one place, eliminating paper-based hassles and reducing human error.

Say goodbye to manual data entry and tedious approval chains. Our intuitive, user-friendly interface allows you to generate purchase orders effortlessly, customise templates, and set up automated approval workflows tailored to your needs. You can find out more here or speak to one of our specialists today.

 

I just love editing word templates

Said no one, ever

  • Sun
  • Mon
  • Tue
  • Wed
  • Thu
  • Fri
  • Sat
    Schedule your exclusive software demo today!