Antonella De Lazzari · CEO and co-founder
Updated November 11, 2026
The short answer
A purchase order is issued by the buyer and sent to the supplier. It lists products, quantities, prices, payment terms and delivery address, and usually carries the signature of whoever authorizes the spend. For the supplier it is the order confirmation: what gets delivered and invoiced has to match it.
Purchase order template
The template is in Spanish and comes filled in with made-up sample data. In the spreadsheet, fill in the yellow cells: amounts are calculated for you. The sample VAT rate is 21% and amounts are in Argentine pesos (ARS).
What a purchase order includes
- Number and date
- The number is the one the supplier will quote on the delivery note and the invoice.
- Buyer
- Legal name, tax ID and address of the buying company.
- Supplier
- Legal name and tax ID of the seller, plus the contact person.
- Reference quote
- The number of the quote being accepted. It settles which version stands.
- Products
- Code, description, quantity and unit, written as they appear on the quote.
- Unit price, discount and total
- The agreed ones, with VAT shown separately.
- Payment terms and currency
- Due date, payment method and exchange rate where it applies.
- Delivery
- Where, who receives and by when it is needed.
- Requested by and authorized by
- Many companies pay an invoice only if the purchase order carries the right authorization.
How it differs from other documents
- Quote
- Issued by the salesperson to propose price and terms. There is no sale yet.
- Purchase order
- Issued by the customer to confirm the purchase in writing.
- Sales order note
- Entered by the salesperson, inside their company, to record what has to be delivered and invoiced.
- Delivery note
- Issued by whoever delivers. It travels with the goods and proves they were received.
- Invoice
- Issued by accounting. It documents the sale for tax purposes and enables collection.
Where it gets hard when you are the one receiving it
- It differs from the quote
- Another quantity, a price from an earlier version or payment terms nobody offered. Someone has to compare it before entering the order.
- It arrives through any channel
- A PDF by email, a photo on WhatsApp, a number given over the phone. Later it has to be found when accounting needs it to invoice.
- The customer requires its number on the invoice
- If the invoice goes out without the purchase order number, it is rejected and collection slips a payment cycle.
- It is typed into the management system
- Every line of the order is entered again. Differences show up when the customer receives the goods.
What it looks like when the quote and the purchase order sit in the same place
In Patio the accepted quote, its terms and the files the customer sent stay in the same deal. Whoever enters the order starts from what was agreed and has the purchase order in view to compare.
The order reaches your management system with that data, and accounting finds the order number when it is time to invoice.