The problem
Without a connected purchasing workflow, a business either over-relies on email trails with vendors or ends up with purchase orders, receiving records, and bills as three unconnected documents - making it hard to know what's been ordered but not received, or received but not yet billed.
How AccountDesq solves it
A purchase order moves through its own status workflow. Goods receipts record what actually arrived - including partial receipts - and the gap between what's been received and what's been billed is tracked explicitly as GRNI (goods received, not invoiced), with its own aging report. Converting a receipt to a vendor bill posts the liability and, where relevant, the inventory valuation and purchase-price variance to the ledger automatically.
How it works, step by step
Set up the vendor
Vendor records support multiple addresses and payment terms, which drive bill due dates automatically.
Issue a purchase order
Formalize what you're ordering, from whom, and at what price.
Record the goods receipt
Log what actually arrived - full or partial - against the PO; any gap shows up as GRNI.
Convert to a vendor bill
Billing posts the payable, clears the GRNI liability, and records any purchase-price variance against what was originally expected.
Connected to the rest of AccountDesq
Nothing here works in isolation - it posts through the same ledger as everything else.
In practice
A distributor orders a shipment of stock via a purchase order. Half the order arrives now and half next week - each is recorded as its own goods receipt against the same PO. The vendor bill for the first shipment posts as a payable and clears that portion of the GRNI liability, while the outstanding half stays visible as goods received but not yet billed until the vendor invoices for it.
What this means for your business
- Always know what's been ordered, what's arrived, and what's been billed - as three connected records, not three disconnected documents.
- GRNI aging surfaces goods you've received but haven't been billed for yet, instead of that liability going untracked.
- Purchase-price variance is computed automatically instead of requiring a manual comparison between the PO price and the final bill.
Frequently asked questions
What is GRNI?
Goods Received, Not Invoiced - the liability for stock you've received but the vendor hasn't billed you for yet. AccountDesq tracks it explicitly with its own aging report.
Can I record a partial goods receipt?
Yes - a purchase order can be received in multiple partial shipments, each tracked against the original PO.
Does purchasing connect to inventory automatically?
Yes - goods receipts update stock levels and feed the costing/landed-cost calculations for those items.