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Configuring purchase orders

Set the general and receipt note settings, and the discrepancy rules in Payhawk for the purchase orders your company requires.

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Written by Payhawk
Updated over a month ago

Purchase orders (POs) add an extra layer of control and visibility to your company’s spend management process. When enabled in Payhawk, requests can automatically generate PO documents and unique PO numbers, and support 3-way matching with receipt notes to ensure accuracy between the order, delivery, and invoice.

As a Payhawk administrator, you can configure PO settings and define discrepancy rules to align with your company’s internal policies.

General purchase order settings

From the Settings > Requests > Purchase orders tab, you can define the basic settings for purchase orders, such as specifying who can submit purchase requests for approval and defining the numbering convention applied to purchase orders.

To configure the basic purchase order settings for your company:

  1. Go to the Purchase orders tab:

    1. In the Roles section, use the drop-down menu to select which employees in your company can submit purchase requests for approval.

    2. In the Customization section, define the number prefix and format for auto-generated purchase order numbers, such as PO-[auto-generated number].

    3. (Optional) You can specify a central invoicing email address to be automatically linked to purchase orders, allowing suppliers to send invoices directly.

    4. (Optional) Add your company logo to have it automatically displayed on all purchase orders.

    5. (Optional) You can add extra invoicing details to purchase orders by enabling the Additional information toggle. Enter a title for the section and provide the information you want to appear on the purchase orders.

  2. Click on Save changes to confirm your settings.

Receipt notes for specific expense categories

From the Settings > Requests > Receipt note tab, you can require receipt notes for purchase orders of a specific category. The expense categories in this tab are defined in Settings > Expense fields, and can be managed from Settings > Expense fields > Built-in fields > Category.

Requiring a receipt note for an expense category will trigger the three-way matching process for that category and will require the Finance team to check the details of the purchase order, the supplier's invoice, and the receipt note before the payment is executed.

To select the expense categories that will require receipt notes for purchase orders:

  1. Go to the Receipt note tab to view the defined expense categories and sub-categories for your company. Select the checkboxes for the ones you wish to require a receipt note.

  2. Click on Save changes.

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