From the Settings > Purchases app and the General, Receipt note, and Rules tabs, Payhawk administrators can configure the purchase orders at the company.
Configuring the basic settings for purchase orders
The basic settings include defining the people who can submit purchase requests for approval as well as the numbering convention that will be applied to the purchase orders.
To define the basic settings for the purchase orders at your company:
In the Payhawk web portal, go to Settings > Purchases.
Under the General tab:
In the Roles section, use the drop-down menu to select who at your company will be able to submit purchase orders for approval.
In the Customization section, select the number prefix and format of the auto-generated number for the newly created purchase orders, for example, PO-[auto-generated number].
(Optional) You can define the central invoicing email address that will be automatically added to the purchase order and which the supplier can use to send the invoices later on.
(Optional) You can also add the logo of your company that will be automatically displayed on the purchase orders.
(Optional) You can include additional information in the purchase orders too. Switch on the Additional information toggle button, fill in the title of the section, and add the information you want to be visible in the purchase orders.
Click on Save changes to confirm your settings.
Setting the expense categories requiring receipt notes
You can define the expense categories that will require a receipt note for purchase orders. The expense categories you can see in the Receipt note tab correspond to the categories you've defined from Settings > Expense fields.
For more information on managing your expense fields in Payhawk, see the following articles:
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 on 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:
In the Payhawk web portal, go to Settings > Purchases.
Under the Receipt note tab, you will see the defined expense categories and sub-categories for your company. Check the ones for which you will require a receipt note.
Click on Save changes to confirm your settings.
Notes on discrepancy rules for purchase orders
Expense categories configured to require receipt notes for purchase orders trigger a three-way matching process (between the purchase order, invoice, and receipt note) while expense categories that do not require receipt notes for purchase orders trigger a two-way matching process (between the purchase order and invoice).
If during the matching Payhawk identifies a discrepancy between the amounts in the documents, the system will trigger an approval process for the payment according to the pre-defined workflows for the expense type linked to purchase orders.
To simplify the payment process, Payhawk allows you to define discrepancy rules for purchase order-related expense types that allow for deviations in the amounts of the documents (purchase order, invoice, and receipt note if required).
Payhawk will trigger a discrepancy approval workflow in the following cases:
If the invoiced amount is higher than the amount on the purchase order with more than the allowed discrepancy threshold.
If the received items are fewer than the purchased ones and the receipt note has its I don't expect to receive more checkbox checked.
If the received items are more than the purchased ones.
Discrepancy rules can be defined in your base account currency only. If you receive a purchase order for payment in another currency, Payhawk applies the current FX rate to calculate the discrepancy. For example, if you define a discrepancy rule of GBP 20 and you receive a purchase order that exceeds the approved amount with EUR 21, no discrepancy will be triggered.
Defining discrepancy rules for purchase orders
To define discrepancy rules for purchase orders:
In the Payhawk web portal, go to Settings > Purchases.
Under the Rules tab, define:
Whether auto-closing will be enabled for the purchase orders at your company.
The roles or people at the company who will be able to approve (initiate) payments for discrepancies by clicking on the Workflow configuration link. For more information, see the article on setting workflows for purchase order-related expense types.
Under Amount discrepancy, you can define a percentage and/or a specific amount that will be tolerated as an acceptable threshold.
Click on Save changes to confirm your settings.
If a discrepancy in quantity exists, the amount discrepancy tolerance will be ignored.
