Goods received note: the only proof that what was ordered actually arrived

A goods received note is the record made at the point of delivery stating what physically arrived: which items, how many, in what condition, on what date, received by whom. It is raised by the receiving side, not by the supplier, and that is the whole reason it carries weight.

The supplier’s delivery note says what they claim to have sent. The goods received note says what you agree you got. When the two differ — short delivery, damaged carton, substituted item — the difference is recorded at the moment it is still provable, rather than argued about six weeks later when the invoice is queried.

What a goods received note records

• The purchase order number the delivery relates to.
• Supplier, delivery note number and carrier, where relevant.
• Each line: item, quantity ordered, quantity received, quantity rejected.
• Condition on arrival, including packaging damage noted before signing for it.
• Date and time of receipt, and the name of the person who checked it.
• Where the goods were put — the location that stock control will look for.

The quantity-ordered column is what makes the note useful rather than decorative. A note that records only what arrived requires someone to fetch the order to see whether that was right; a note that shows both makes the discrepancy visible to the person holding the pallet.

The middle of the three-way match

Finance can pay an invoice without argument when three documents agree: the purchase order says what was agreed, the goods received note says what arrived, and the invoice says what is being charged. Remove the middle one and the match collapses into a two-way comparison of two documents that were both written by people who were not at the loading bay.

This is where quiet losses live. Invoices for full quantities against part deliveries, charges for items rejected on arrival, duplicate deliveries billed twice — each is individually small and none is visible without a receipt record. Businesses that introduce goods received notes usually find the first month pays for the effort.

Signing a carrier’s device for a pallet is not a goods received note. It confirms something arrived; it says nothing about whether the contents match the order. Where the delivery cannot be checked at the door, sign as unexamined and raise the note once it has been opened.

Making it work in practice

1. Raise the note against the purchase order, so the ordered quantities are already on it.
2. Check and record at the point of receipt, not at the end of the shift.
3. Record rejections and shortages as their own lines rather than adjusting the received quantity silently.
4. Notify purchasing the same day a discrepancy is found — the supplier’s memory is also fresher today.
5. File the note against the order so the invoice can be matched without anyone searching.

Because the order, the receipt and the invoice are three views of one transaction, they belong on one record rather than in three places. Ettex Invoices keeps the goods received note against the purchase order it came from, so the match is a state of the record rather than a task somebody performs, and a query about a short delivery is answered from the note instead of from memory. The same discipline that makes accounts payable predictable starts here, at the door.