Purchase Orders and Purchase Invoices let you manage supplier purchases and costs, including event-related expenses such as room hire, catering, and instructor fees.
Purchase Orders must be converted to Purchase Invoices before payment can be made.
Once a Purchase Order has been converted to a Purchase Invoice, you can make a payment, receive a credit note, or receive a refund.
On this page
- What is the difference between a Purchase Order and a Purchase Invoice?
- Create a Purchase Order for an event
- Create a standalone Purchase Invoice
- Edit Purchase Invoice or Order details
- Delete a Purchase Invoice or Order
- Clone a Purchase Invoice or Order
- Print a Purchase Order
- Email a Purchase Order
- Reporting
What is the difference between a Purchase Order and a Purchase Invoice?
A Purchase Order should contain all the line items you want to purchase from your supplier.
A Purchase Invoice should replicate the items, prices, and quantities delivered and invoiced by your supplier.
Create a Purchase Order for an event
Training providers often incur costs directly associated with delivering a specific event, such as room hire, catering, or instructor fees.
Purchase Orders can be created from a public event, which links the purchase order items back to the event automatically and updates total costs in the event profit and loss statement.
- Open the Event you want to link the Purchase Order to.
- Make sure the Event has an event cost on the Financial tab. If needed, add one.
- Click the Event Cost row in the Costs section.
- Select Raise Purchase.
- Select the Company placing the order, set the Currency, and select the supplier in the Purchase From field.
- Click Save Changes.
- Your Purchase Order is created and you can add item lines.
- If you want to enter it directly as a Purchase Invoice, change the type to Invoice and click Save Changes.
Make sure an Account already exists for the supplier you want to purchase from.
Create a standalone Purchase Invoice
Standalone Purchase Invoices are useful when the items are not directly related to an event, such as subscription costs, telephone bills, or other supplier charges.
- Open the supplier Account you want to create the Purchase Invoice for.
- Click the Financial tab, then in the Purchase Statements table click New Purchase Invoice.
- Select the Company receiving the invoice and the Currency.
- Click Save Changes.
- Your Purchase Invoice is created and you can add item lines.
- If you want to create a Purchase Order first, change the type to Order and click Save Changes.
Edit Purchase Invoice or Order details
You can edit Purchase Invoices and Purchase Orders after creation.
Editable fields include:
- Purchase From — the supplier issuing the invoice or order
- Supplier Ref — a supplier-provided reference number
- Date/Tax Point — the invoice or order date
- Proposed Payment Date — the date you intend to settle the invoice
- Type — Order, Invoice, or Credit Note
- Approver — the system user who must approve the Purchase Order
- Shipping Address — where physical goods should be sent
- Notes — notes to communicate to the supplier
To edit details:
- Open the Purchase Invoice or Order from the supplier account, Purchase Ledger, or event screen.
- Click into the field you want to edit.
- Click Save Changes.
Note: the issuing company, invoice region, and invoice currency cannot be edited after creation.
Delete a Purchase Invoice or Order
- Open the Purchase Invoice or Order.
- Click Delete.
Clone a Purchase Invoice or Order
If you repeatedly receive invoices from the same supplier for the same or similar goods, or you often order the same items, you can use the clone function.
Cloning creates a new Purchase Invoice or Purchase Order and copies the details and items from the original.
- In the actions section, click Clone Invoice or Clone Purchase Order.
- Enter the new Date/Tax Point.
- Click Save Changes.
Print a Purchase Order
You can print a Purchase Order to send to your supplier.
- Open the Purchase Order.
- In the top-right View As menu, select the format you want (PDF Invoice is recommended), then click Load.
- Use your PDF reader’s print function.
Purchase Invoices are not usually printed from Administrate, because the original version should be received from the supplier.
Email a Purchase Order
When you email a Purchase Order, it is attached as a PDF to a predefined email template.
Before emailing, make sure the supplier Account has at least one Contact with a valid email address.
- In the actions section, click Email Order.
- Select the email template.
- Select the Contact to send it to.
- Edit the template or upload attachments if needed.
- Click Email Purchase Order.
A record that the email was sent is stored in the Purchase Statement of the recipient Account.
Reporting
The following reports in the Financial menu help manage purchases:
- Purchase Ledger — all Purchase Invoices and Orders created
- Creditors — all unpaid Purchase Invoices
- Supplier Account Financial tab — Purchase Invoices, Orders, Credit Notes, and Payments for a single supplier