Which purchase order screen to use
Why a gym should not order supplements from the Procurement tab inside the commerce screens, and how to order, receive and count stock with the real one.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Fitness businesses in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya
The gym's café is running low on protein bars, the shop is out of shaker bottles, and the manager wants to order before the weekend. There are two places in Achekam that look as if they will raise a purchase order. One of them saves your order and follows it through to the supplier's invoice. The other looks just as convincing and keeps nothing.
Picking the wrong one does not just waste time. An order that only ever existed in a browser tab is an order nobody approved, nobody received against, and nobody can match the supplier's invoice to. This article shows which screen to use and how the order then flows through to your stock.
What the commerce Procurement tab does and does not keep
Inside the Commerce & POS screens there is a Procurement tab. It creates purchase orders only in the browser, with an invented supplier and 15% VAT, and its goods-received button changes stock only on screen.
So an order raised there:
- is not saved on the server, and will not be there tomorrow or on another computer;
- does not reach your real supplier list or your budgets;
- does not change the stock your till sells from, even after "receiving" it;
- cannot be matched to the supplier's invoice when it arrives.
Tell staff plainly: the Procurement tab under Commerce is not where orders are placed. If it has been used, check with the person who used it what they actually ordered from the supplier by phone or e-mail, and record that order properly.
Raising orders in Procurement from an approved requisition
The procurement screens outside Commerce are the real ones. They keep everything on the server and enforce a sequence that suits even a small club:
- Requisition. The person who notices the shelf is empty raises a purchase requisition: what is needed, why, and the estimated cost. Someone other than that person approves or declines it.
- Quotations. Supplier quotes are captured against the approved requisition and one is selected. If the selected quote is not the cheapest, the reason must be written down, and it is kept.
- Order. The purchase order is raised from the selected quotation. The person who raised it cannot approve it. An approved order can be cancelled later, with a reason.
Approved orders also count as committed spend against your budgets, per expense account and period. The procurement screen shows budget, spent, committed and available, and flags over-committed lines without blocking a purchase. For a club that sets a monthly budget for café and shop stock, that view shows how much of the month's budget is already promised to suppliers before the invoices arrive.
For a gym, the second step answers a question owners tend to ask: why are we buying protein from this supplier when another is cheaper? The written reason, such as better expiry dates or reliable delivery, is on file.
Investopedia's article on procurement explains how procurement differs from simple purchasing, including competitive bidding and how purchases are accounted for. The sequence above is that idea scaled down to a club.
Two notes for clubs in Nigeria and Kenya: purchase orders are currently recorded in rand, because the order form sends no currency, and supplier bills and orders offer only 15% or 0% VAT, defaulting to 15%. Keep the supplier's quote in your own currency with the order, and check VAT lines with your accountant.
Recording deliveries line by line
When the delivery arrives, record it against the purchase order, line by line. Part deliveries are fine: if the supplier sends the protein bars but not the shakers, receive the bars and leave the shakers open. A goods-received record is kept.
When the supplier's invoice comes in, record it against the same order. It is matched with what was ordered and what arrived, and if the price or quantity differs it is held until someone writes a resolution note. That is how a club avoids paying for twelve boxes when ten arrived.
Why received goods do not add stock
Here is the step that catches people out. Goods received against a purchase order do not add stock. The goods-received record proves what arrived, but the quantity your till sells from does not move.
So after every delivery, the stock has to be brought up to date separately. Until it is, the till may refuse to sell items you physically have, because a till sale cannot take stock below what is on hand unless the business allows negative stock.
Counting stock after a delivery
The cleanest way to bring stock up to date is to count it. With the Warehousing add-on, a business keeps stock locations on the server, such as the café fridge, the shop shelf and the storeroom, with the quantity on hand at each, and a stock count sets a location's quantity to what was counted and records the difference as an adjustment.
A routine for each delivery:
- Receive the delivery against the purchase order, line by line.
- Put the stock away in its location.
- Count the location, so its quantity becomes what is physically there.
- Note the delivery number on the count, so anyone reviewing it later understands the jump.
Remember that counts, like other stock adjustments, do not post to the general ledger; only till sales and returns move the inventory account. Your accountant deals with the value side from the supplier's invoice.
For setting up the products themselves, see supplements and drinks as stock, and for the other end of a product's life, read counting stock and writing off expired supplements.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
