Glossary
Goods received note
Also called: GRN
A goods received note is your own record of what a delivery actually contained, written by the person who counted it.
The supplier writes the delivery note. You write this one.
What goes on it
- The purchase order number it belongs to
- What you counted, line by line
- Anything short, over or damaged, in numbers
- The date, and who counted it
That last line is not bureaucracy. Three weeks later, the only useful question about a missing carton is who had eyes on the pallet.
Why it beats the delivery note
A delivery note says what the supplier believes they sent. A GRN says what you found. When those two disagree, the one written at your end by a named person on a dated record is the one that settles it.
Suppliers usually give you a few days to raise a shortage. After that the claim is yours to absorb.
Where it goes wrong
The GRN is created by copying the delivery note and ticking it. That is not a record, it is agreement with the supplier’s paperwork, and it makes a short delivery impossible to prove.
The other fault is one GRN per part delivery going missing. Three vans, three notes, and only the last one gets filed. Every drop gets its own, or receiving has a hole in it.
Related terms
Purchase order
Also called: PO
A purchase order is the document you send a supplier to order stock. It lists what you want, how many, and what you agreed to pay.
Receiving
Also called: Goods in
Receiving is checking a delivery against what you ordered, then telling your system what actually arrived.
Part delivery
Also called: Partial shipment
A part delivery is when a supplier sends some of an order now and the rest later, against the same purchase order.