What is a goods received note (GRN)?
The supplier's paperwork says what they sent. The purchase order says what you asked for. The goods received note says what really arrived, and it is the only one of the three written by your own people.
What a GRN contains
- A GRN number and the date of receipt.
- The supplier, the purchase order and the supplier's delivery note reference.
- Each item with its code and the quantities ordered, received and, where relevant, rejected.
- Batch or serial numbers for goods tracked that way.
- Notes on damage, shortages or wrong items, and who received the goods.
GRN, delivery note and invoice
The delivery note comes from the supplier with the goods. The GRN is your own record after counting and checking them. The invoice is the supplier's request for payment. Many companies compare all three with the purchase order before paying, a check called a three-way match: you pay for what you ordered and actually received.
Names differ by country. In Ukrainian practice the supplier usually issues a видаткова накладна, and the buyer records the receipt with its own прибуткова накладна. In German the internal document is often called a Wareneingangsschein. Required contents and retention periods depend on local rules, so check them with your accountant.
A small example (illustrative numbers)
A shop orders 50 boxes of printer paper. The delivery note says 50. At the receiving dock the storekeeper counts 48 boxes, and 2 of them are wet. The GRN records 48 received, 46 accepted and 2 rejected as damaged, with a photo and a note. When the invoice arrives for 50 boxes, accounts can see at once that it should be settled for 46 and that the supplier owes a credit or a replacement for the rest.
Why the GRN matters
- Stock is right from day one: what you can sell starts with what actually arrived.
- Disputes are shorter: a dated record with notes and photos is hard to argue with.
- Payments are safer: nobody pays for boxes that never arrived.
How receiving works in OrgLines
In the OrgLines ERP, goods are received against a confirmed purchase order: you enter the received quantity per line, and at least one line must have one. Posting asks for confirmation because it cannot be undone. For serialized goods you enter one serial number per unit or leave them all empty to have them generated. A lot's quantity comes only from receipts and transfers, and goods received without a bin wait in the warehouse's unbinned stock until someone puts them away.