Goods Receipts — Complete User Guide — Two Accounts Web

Comprehensive guide for managing goods receipts, tracking inventory received from suppliers, and integrating with purchase orders, invoices, and inventory

Table of Contents

1. What Are Goods Receipts?
2. Enabling the Tab via Customize Menu
3. System Accounts
4. Field-by-Field Guide
   • Header Fields
   • Line Fields
5. Creating a Goods Receipt
   • Manual Creation
   • Creating from a Purchase Order
   • Copying from Other Documents
6. Settings Configuration
   • Goods Receipt Footers
   • Custom Fields
   • Track Quantity to Receive
7. Accounting Impact
   • GL Posting
   • Inventory Impact
   • Non-Inventory Items
8. Opening Balances
9. Reports
   • Goods Receipts Listing
   • Quantity on Hand
   • Quantity to Receive
   • Inventory Valuation
10. Integration with Other Modules
    • Purchase Orders
    • Purchase Invoices
    • Delivery Notes
    • Other Documents
11. Sample Data and Report Output
12. Accounting Regulation Compliance

1. What Are Goods Receipts?

A Goods Receipt is a non-financial document that records the physical receipt of goods from a supplier into your inventory. Unlike Purchase Invoices, Goods Receipts do NOT:

• Record a liability or expense
• Create Accounts Payable
• Generate tax entries
• Change profit or loss

Goods Receipts are used for:

• Tracking inventory received from suppliers into your warehouse
• Recording partial or full receipts against a Purchase Order
• Providing a receiving report for quality checks before invoicing
• Tracking received quantities to support the Quantity to Receive workflow

Goods Receipts are the mirror image of Delivery Notes — Delivery Notes record goods going OUT to customers, while Goods Receipts record goods coming IN from suppliers.

2. Enabling the Tab via Customize Menu

Goods Receipts is a sub-tab of the Suppliers tab. To enable:

1. First ensure Suppliers is visible in the navigation bar (via Customize Menu)
2. Then open Customize Menu and find "Goods Receipts" in the list
3. Toggle to Visible and click Save

The Goods Receipts tab controls visibility of related settings:

• Goods Receipt Footers — create reusable footer content for goods receipt documents
• Track Quantity to Receive — an option on Inventory Items that only appears when Goods Receipts is enabled

3. System Accounts

Goods Receipts use the following system accounts for their GL posting:

These accounts are configured in Settings > Chart of Accounts:

• Balance Sheet > Inventory On Hand — the main inventory asset account
• Balance Sheet > Suspense — temporary account for non-inventory items

4. Field-by-Field Guide

4.1 Header Fields

4.2 Line Fields

5. Creating a Goods Receipt

5.1 Manual Creation

1. Go to Goods Receipts > New Goods Receipt
2. Set the Date (defaults to today)
3. Select the Supplier
4. Optionally link a Purchase Order or Purchase Invoice
5. Select the Inventory Location where goods will be stored
6. Add lines:
   • Select the Item being received
   • The Description auto-populates from the item
   • Enter the Qty received
7. Add an optional Description for the receipt as a whole
8. Configure Theme and Footers if needed
9. Save

5.2 Creating from a Purchase Order

The recommended way to create Goods Receipts is from a Purchase Order's Qty to Receive view:

1. Go to Purchase Orders and open the order
2. The Qty to Receive column shows how many units are still unreceived for each line
3. Click the Qty to Receive value to open the batch receive form
4. Select the items and quantities received
5. Click the batch action to create Goods Receipts for all selected items
6. The system creates a new Goods Receipt with the Purchase Order linked, and all lines pre-populated

Alternatively, from the Purchase Order view page, click Copy to and select Goods Receipt.

5.3 Copying from Other Documents

The Goods Receipt form can copy data from many source documents. Click Copy to on any of these and select Goods Receipt:

• Purchase Quote, Purchase Order, Purchase Invoice
• Sales Quote, Sales Order, Sales Invoice
• Debit Note, Credit Note
• Delivery Note, Goods Receipt (another)

6. Settings Configuration

6.1 Goods Receipt Footers

Navigate to Settings > Goods Receipt Footers to create reusable footer content:

Once created, footers are selected on individual Goods Receipts via the Footers multi-select field.

6.2 Custom Fields

Navigate to Settings > Custom Fields. Goods Receipts support custom fields at two levels:

• Goods Receipts — header-level custom fields (e.g., "Shipping Method", "Container Number", "Customs Reference")
• Goods Receipt Lines — line-level custom fields (e.g., "Batch Number", "Serial Number", "Expiry Date")

6.3 Track Quantity to Receive

When the Goods Receipts tab is enabled, each Inventory Item shows a Track Quantity to Receive checkbox. Enable this on items that you purchase and receive through the goods receipt workflow. This field controls whether the item appears in the Quantity to Receive report and the Purchase Order Qty to Receive calculations.

7. Accounting Impact

7.1 GL Posting

A Goods Receipt creates inventory movement entries — it does NOT create liability, expense, or tax entries.

For each inventory item line, the system creates two GL transactions, both with a monetary amount of zero:

Entry 1 — Supplier side (tracks which supplier the goods came from):
    Inventory On Hand (Supplier reference set)    Amount: 0.00, Qty: −60

Entry 2 — Location side (tracks which warehouse the goods entered):
    Inventory On Hand (Location reference set)    Amount: 0.00, Qty: +60

Both entries post to the same Inventory On Hand account with zero monetary
value. The inventory quantity tracking is updated per supplier and per
location.

Important: The Goods Receipt is a non-financial document. It records physical inventory movement only. The actual financial impact — recognition of the liability (Accounts Payable), recording of the expense or asset cost, and input tax recovery — occurs when the Purchase Invoice is created, not at the time of goods receipt.

7.2 Inventory Impact

The system tracks received quantities through the two-leg GL entry structure:

• The supplier-side leg (negative qty, Supplier reference set) is used to compute Quantity to Receive — received quantities are subtracted from the Purchase Order total
• The location-side leg (positive qty, Inventory Location reference set) is used to compute Quantity on Hand — received quantities are added to stock

7.3 Non-Inventory Items

If a line item is a non-inventory item (service, labor, or non-stocked item), the system creates a single GL entry to the Suspense Account instead of Inventory On Hand. No location-side entry is created because non-inventory items have no stock to track.

8. Opening Balances

Goods Receipts cannot have opening balances. There is no opening balance entry type for Goods Receipts.

To set opening inventory quantities, use the Inventory Item form:

1. Go to Inventory Items
2. Open the inventory item
3. Set the Opening Inventory Quantity and Opening Unit Cost
4. Save

The system posts an opening balance GL entry to the Inventory On Hand account. This establishes the starting inventory levels from which future Goods Receipts will add quantities and future Sales/Deliveries will subtract.

9. Reports

9.1 Goods Receipts Listing

The main Goods Receipts page shows all goods receipts with the following columns:

• Date — the date of receipt
• Reference — the goods receipt reference number
• Order Number — linked Purchase Order or manual order number
• Invoice Number — linked Purchase Invoice or manual invoice reference
• Supplier — supplier code and name
• Inventory Location — the storage location
• Description — receipt description
• Qty — total quantity received (sum of all line quantities)

Clicking the Order Number or Invoice Number drills into the linked document. A footer link opens the Goods Receipts - Lines page showing individual line items.

9.2 Quantity on Hand

The Quantity on Hand report for each inventory item includes Goods Receipts in its calculation. Only the location-side leg of the GL entry (where Supplier is NOT set and Inventory Location IS set, with positive quantity) is counted — this represents the actual stock addition.

9.3 Quantity to Receive

The Quantity to Receive report tracks outstanding receipts against Purchase Orders. When a Goods Receipt is created against a Purchase Order, the supplier-side leg of the GL entry (negative quantity, Supplier reference set) is used to subtract the received quantity from the outstanding Qty to Receive. This report helps identify which orders are still awaiting delivery.

9.4 Inventory Valuation

Goods Receipts appear in the Inventory Valuation Report as part of opening inventory calculations. They are treated as inventory movement transactions alongside Delivery Notes and Journal Entries. Goods Receipts are included in opening quantity and opening value calculations but are NOT included in period purchase or period sale calculations (those come from Purchase Invoices and Sales Invoices respectively).

10. Integration with Other Modules

10.1 Purchase Orders

Goods Receipts are most commonly created from Purchase Orders. The integration works in both directions:

• From Purchase Order: The Qty to Receive column shows how many units are unreceived. Clicking it opens the batch receive form, or use Copy to > Goods Receipt.
• On Goods Receipt: When a Purchase Order is linked, the receipt automatically references the PO number. The system tracks which POs have been fully vs partially received.
• Purchase Order Form: Can copy FROM a Goods Receipt, useful for creating a new PO based on a previous receipt (e.g., re-ordering).

10.2 Purchase Invoices

A Goods Receipt can optionally link to a Purchase Invoice. When both are linked, the invoice number appears on the goods receipt document. The Purchase Invoice form can also copy FROM a Goods Receipt, allowing you to create the invoice based on received quantities.

10.3 Delivery Notes

A Goods Receipt can be copied to a Delivery Note — useful for return-to-supplier scenarios where you need to send goods back.

10.4 Other Documents

Goods Receipts can also be copied from or to: Credit Notes, Sales Orders, Sales Invoices, Sales Quotes, Purchase Quotes, and Debit Notes, providing maximum flexibility for document workflows.

11. Sample Data and Report Output

Setup

Goods Receipt GR-001

GL Transactions Created

Line 1 — Widget-X (inventory item, 150 units):
    Entry 1 (Supplier side):
        Inventory On Hand (from XYZ Trading Co)      Amount: 0.00, Qty: −150
    Entry 2 (Location side):
        Inventory On Hand (Main Warehouse)           Amount: 0.00, Qty: +150

    Net quantity movement: −150 + (+150) = 0 (tracked per dimension)
    Net monetary value: 0.00 — no financial impact at this stage.
    Inventory cost is NOT recorded at receipt. Cost recognition occurs
    when the Purchase Invoice is created.

Line 2 — Consulting Service (non-inventory):
    Entry 1 (Suspense account):
        Suspense Account                             Amount: 0.00, Qty: +1

    Single entry — non-inventory items have no stock to track.
    No monetary value posted.

Inventory Quantity on Hand — After GR-001

Purchase Order Qty to Receive — After GR-001

DR = CR Verification

Widget-X receipt (2 entries):
    Entry 1: Inventory On Hand (supplier side)       Amount: 0.00, Qty: −150
    Entry 2: Inventory On Hand (location side)       Amount: 0.00, Qty: +150
    
    Net monetary value:  0.00 + 0.00 = 0.00 ✓
    Net quantity change: −150 + (+150) = 0 (tracked per dimension) ✓

Consulting Service (non-inventory):
    Entry 1: Suspense Account                        Amount: 0.00, Qty: +1
    
    Net monetary value: 0.00 = 0.00 ✓
    Single entry — non-inventory items have no location-side tracking ✓

12. Accounting Regulation Compliance

12.1 IAS 2 — Inventories

Requirement (§34-35): Inventories are assets held for sale in the ordinary course of business. The cost of inventories includes purchase costs, conversion costs, and other costs incurred to bring them to their present location and condition.

How this system complies: The Goods Receipt records the physical quantity of inventory received and tracks which supplier the goods came from. The actual cost of the inventory is recorded later when the Purchase Invoice is created. This separation allows the receiving quantity to be verified independently from the invoiced cost, supporting the IAS 2 requirement for accurate cost measurement. The cost layer for weighted average cost calculation is established at invoice time, not receipt time.

12.2 IFRS 15 — Revenue from Contracts with Customers

Requirement (§35): Performance obligations are satisfied when control transfers. For purchases, the entity obtains control when the goods are received.

How this system complies: The Goods Receipt records the point at which physical control of goods transfers from the supplier to your business. While control transfers at receipt, the financial liability is recognized upon invoice receipt (matching the timing of reliable measurement of the cost).

12.3 IAS 21 — The Effects of Changes in Foreign Exchange Rates

Requirement (§23): Monetary items are translated at closing rate. Non-monetary items are translated at the rate at the transaction date.

How this system complies: Goods Receipts do not involve monetary amounts. They track only quantities. Any currency conversion occurs at the Purchase Invoice stage, not at the goods receipt stage. This separation avoids FX complications at the receiving point.

12.4 IAS 1 — Presentation of Financial Statements

Requirement (§54): Inventory shall be presented as a separate line item on the Balance Sheet.

How this system complies: The Inventory On Hand account appears on the Balance Sheet under Current Assets. Goods Receipts track the physical quantity of inventory but do not change the inventory monetary value — that change occurs when the Purchase Invoice records the cost. The inventory quantity tracking supports the physical count verification required by IAS 1.

12.5 DR = CR Verification

Goods Receipt GR-001 — Widget-X (150 units):
    Entry 1: Inventory On Hand (Supplier: XYZ Trading)  Amount: 0.00, Qty: −150
    Entry 2: Inventory On Hand (Location: Main WH)      Amount: 0.00, Qty: +150
    
    Net monetary value: 0.00 + 0.00 = 0.00 ✓
    Net quantity: −150 + (+150) = 0 (tracked per dimension) ✓

Goods Receipt GR-001 — Consulting Service (non-inventory):
    Entry 1: Suspense Account                           Amount: 0.00, Qty: +1
    
    Net monetary value: 0.00 = 0.00 ✓

12.6 Relevant but Not Applicable

• IFRS 16 (Leases): Goods Receipts relate to the purchase of inventory, not lease arrangements.
• IAS 7 (Cash Flow Statement): Goods Receipts are inventory movements, not cash flows. They do not appear on the CFS. The cash flow occurs when the supplier is paid, not when goods are received.
• NBR VAT Act 2012: Goods Receipts are not tax documents. Input VAT is claimed when the Purchase Invoice is processed, not when goods are received. The Goods Receipt itself has no tax implications.

End of Goods Receipts Guide