Purchase Requisition vs Purchase Order: What Is the Difference?
A purchase requisition is an internal request to buy; a purchase order is the commitment sent to the supplier. How they differ and when you need both.
The two documents are easy to confuse because they often describe the same thing: the same item, the same quantity, sometimes the same supplier. The difference is who they are addressed to. A requisition is a question the business asks itself. A purchase order is a promise the business makes to someone else.
The difference in one sentence
A purchase requisition is an internal request from an employee or department asking for permission to buy something. A purchase order is the external document the business sends to a supplier to order it, and once the supplier accepts it, it is a commitment to pay.
| Purchase requisition | Purchase order |
|---|
| Audience | Internal: manager, budget holder, procurement | External: the supplier |
| Purpose | Ask for approval to spend | Order goods or services on agreed terms |
| Raised by | Whoever needs the item | Procurement or an authorised buyer |
| Legally binding? | No | Yes, once accepted by the supplier |
| Supplier and price | Suggested, may be blank | Fixed: supplier, price, terms, delivery |
| Accounting effect | None | A commitment against budget; no ledger entry until goods are received |
| Used later for | Audit trail of who asked and why | Receiving, three-way matching and the GRNI accrual |
How the two fit together
- Need. Someone needs something and raises a requisition: what, how many, by when, roughly how much, and which budget or project it belongs to.
- Approval. The requisition goes through the approval workflow. The approver is deciding whether the business should spend the money, not which supplier gets it.
- Sourcing. Procurement picks the supplier and price: a contract, a catalog price, or a request for quotes for larger amounts.
- Purchase order. The approved requisition becomes a purchase order, sent to the supplier.
- Receipt and invoice. Goods are received against the PO lines and the supplier invoice is matched against both.
The requisition answers "should we?". The purchase order answers "from whom, at what price, on what terms?". Separating the two questions is what lets the person with budget authority and the person with buying expertise each do their own job.
Do you need both?
Not always. The requisition step adds a day or two and a second document, and for many purchases that cost buys nothing.
- Skip the requisition when the person who needs the item is also authorised to buy it, for repeat orders from a catalog or contract, and for low-value purchases under a threshold. Raising the purchase order directly, with approval on the PO itself, is faster and gives the same control.
- Keep the requisition when many people request but few buy, when sourcing needs a specialist (quotes, contracts, compliance), or when the requester does not know which supplier to use.
Small and mid-sized businesses usually do best with approval on the purchase order itself, and requisitions only for the categories where a separate sourcing step genuinely happens. Two approval steps for a box of printer paper is how a purchasing process gets bypassed.
Common questions
Is a purchase requisition legally binding?
No. It never leaves the business. Only the purchase order, once the supplier accepts it, creates an obligation to the supplier.
Can a purchase order be raised without a requisition?
Yes, and in many businesses most are. What matters is that the purchase order itself is approved by someone with authority over the budget before it is sent.
Is a purchase request the same as a purchase requisition?
Yes. Purchase request, purchase requisition and requisition order are different names for the same internal document.
What is the difference between a purchase order and an invoice?
The buyer sends the purchase order to ask for goods; the supplier sends the invoice to ask for payment. Matching one against the other, and against what was actually received, is the core accounts payable control.
The short version
A requisition is an internal request for permission to spend; a purchase order is the external commitment to a supplier. Use both when requesting and buying are different jobs done by different people. Otherwise approve the purchase order directly, and keep the process short enough that people actually use it.