Converting a Purchase Order
Turn a commitment into a receipt or a bill — what carries across, and when the option disappears.
A purchase order commits you to buying. Converting it is how that commitment becomes a physical receipt, a recorded cost, or both. Conversion is also what links the documents — and the link is what drives the PO's fulfilment status and the variance findings on the Lifecycle panel.
Where Conversion Happens
Two paths, same result:
- More → Convert to → on the purchase order's detail page
- The Lifecycle panel's Goods received stage → Create GRN, or its Bills stage → Create bill
What a Purchase Order Converts To
A purchase order offers exactly two destinations. It offers no others.
| Destination | What it records | Ledger impact |
|---|---|---|
| Goods Received Note | What physically arrived. Stock on hand rises. | None — a GRN posts no journal. |
| Bill | What the vendor charged. The payable is created. | Cost (or inventory) + recoverable tax, against Accounts Payable. |
Both destinations carry the vendor, the line items and the rates across.
Trabalance does not work out what is still outstanding. Converting copies the full ordered quantity onto the new document — even when a goods received note has already covered part of it. Raising a second bill straight from a partly fulfilled purchase order will pre-fill the entire order, not the remainder. Always correct the quantities by hand to what this document actually covers.
Two further things do not survive the copy:
| Not carried across | What to do |
|---|---|
| Attachments | Files on the purchase order are not copied. Re-attach the vendor's invoice or delivery note on the new document. |
| Line discount amounts | A fixed discount amount is reset to zero on every copied line, although the discount rate carries. Check the discount column before saving. |
When Convert Is Not Offered
The Convert to action is gated. It disappears when any of the following is true:
| Condition | Why |
|---|---|
| The PO is Voided | A cancelled commitment has nothing to convert. |
| The PO is Fulfilled | Every ordered quantity is already covered. Trabalance treats Fulfilled as a closed state. |
| The PO is awaiting approval | Conversion is blocked while approval is pending or in progress. |
| You do not hold create permission | Conversion creates a new document, so it needs the same permission as creating one. |
| You are signed in with the Portal role | Portal users read documents; they do not create them. |
A Partly fulfilled PO still converts — that is how you bill or receive the remainder in a second document.
Fulfilment Is Computed, Not Declared
You never set a purchase order's status. Trabalance sums the quantities on every Bill and Goods Received Note created from the PO and compares that total to the ordered quantity.
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Open | Nothing has been received or billed against this order yet. |
| Partly fulfilled | Some of the ordered quantity is covered by a GRN or a bill. The remainder is outstanding. |
| Fulfilled | The covered quantity equals or exceeds the ordered quantity. The commitment is closed. |
Only documents that are past draft count. A GRN or bill saved as a draft leaves the purchase order reading Open — which is correct, because a draft has recorded nothing yet. Save the child document properly and the PO's status moves.
A Worked Conversion
PO000118 to Meridian Supplies for 232 units across three lines. Status: Open. No journal, no payable — a purchase order has no financial impact.
Convert to Goods Received Note. Two lines arrive in full, one arrives short. Save. Stock on hand rises by what arrived; still nothing in the ledger. The PO moves to Partly fulfilled.
Convert the GRN to a bill and save. Cost, recoverable tax and the payable post together. The GRN reads Matched; the bill reads Unpaid.
The PO is still Partly fulfilled, so Convert to is still offered. A second GRN and a second bill close it out, and the PO reads Fulfilled.
Typing a purchase order number into a bill's PO Number field is a reference for the printed document and nothing more. It does not link the two documents, does not move the PO's fulfilment status, and does not feed the Lifecycle comparisons. Only converting does.
Related
- The form the commitment starts on: Creating a purchase order.
- What a receipt records, and what it does not: Goods received notes.
- Turning the receipt into a cost: Billing a goods received note.
- Reading the chain and its variances: Tracking a bill — the Lifecycle panel.