The employee prepares a purchase requisition and has a supervisor approve it. The supervisor retains Copy 2 of the pre-numbered purchase requisition for the department, sends Copy 1 to the Purchasing Department and Copy 3 to Accounts Payable.
When the Purchase Department receives the purchase requisition, they search the approved vendor list and consult the listed prices for the goods desired for each vendor. Once a vendor has been selected, five copies of a pre-numbered purchase order are prepared. Copy 5 is retained in the purchasing department and filed with the accompanying purchase requisition. Copy 2 is sent back to the department who prepared the purchase requisition, where both source documents are filed by number together. Copy 3 is sent to the Receiving Department. However, their copy is modified so that the quantity of the items ordered is blacked-out. Copy 4 is sent to Accounts Payable. Copy 1 of the purchase order is sent to the selected vendor.
When the goods are received, the invoice is sent to Accounts Payable and the packing slip is retained in Receiving. The Receiving department verifies the order by comparing the external packing slip with the internal purchase order. Then they count and inspect the items received. The blacked-out purchase order helps to ensure accurate counting of the items ordered. To further assure that the items received are counted, the receiving clerk is required to sign the receiving report. Once the manual process is complete, the inventory file is updated to reflect the goods received and three copies of a pre-numbered receiving report are prepared. Copy 1 and the goods received are sent to the department that requested the items, where it is filed with the accompanying purchase requisition and purchase order. The Receiving Department files Copy 2 of the receiving report with the packing slip and their copy of the purchase