What is the difference between a purchase requisition and a purchase order?

A purchase requisition is an internal request from an employee asking for approval to buy something. A purchase order is the formal order the business sends to the supplier once that request is approved, setting out items, quantities, prices and terms. The requisition stays inside the company; the purchase order goes out.

Purchase Requisition vs Purchase Order

Purchase requisition vs purchase order: the key differences

The requisition is internal and comes first: it asks for approval to spend. The purchase order is external and comes second: it tells the supplier exactly what you are buying, at what price and on what terms.

Purchase requisition and purchase order compared
	Purchase requisition	Purchase order
Who creates it	The employee or department that needs the item	Purchasing, or the budget owner in a small team
Who sees it	Internal only: the requester and approvers	The supplier, and AP when the invoice arrives
When	When a need is identified	After the requisition is approved, before ordering
Purpose	Ask for approval to spend	Order the goods or services
Supplier and price	Optional or estimated	Required and agreed
Legal effect	None outside the company	An offer to buy; binding once the supplier accepts it
Accounting effect	None	None until goods are received or a bill is entered
Role in accounts payable	Evidence the spend was approved	The document the invoice is matched against

Some people say “requisition order” for the first document. It means the same thing: an internal request, not an order to a supplier.

The requisition-to-purchase-order approval flow

Request, approve, source, order, receive, match. The requisition carries the approval; the purchase order carries the commercial terms; the receipt and invoice close the loop.

1
Raise the requisition
The person who needs the item fills in a requisition: what, how many, the estimated cost, the budget or GL code, the date needed and why.
2
Approve it
The budget owner approves or rejects it, with the approver set by amount and department. Large requests may need a second approver.
3
Choose the supplier and price
Purchasing confirms the supplier and the price, from a contract, a catalog or quotes, and can combine several approved requisitions into one order.
4
Raise the purchase order
The buyer creates the PO with the agreed items, quantities, prices and terms, and records the requisition number on it.
5
Send the PO
The PO goes to the supplier, who is asked to quote the PO number on the delivery note and invoice.
6
Receive and match
The goods are received against the PO, and accounts payable matches the supplier’s invoice to the PO and the receipt before it is approved for payment.

The link between requisitions and POs is not always one to one. Oracle’s NetSuite help describes a single requisition producing “one or more purchase orders from one or more vendors”, and a buyer consolidating several requisitions for the same item into one PO (Oracle NetSuite Help). Recording the requisition number on each PO keeps the approval traceable either way.

What a purchase requisition contains

Enough for an approver to decide and a buyer to order: what is needed, how many, roughly what it costs, which budget pays and why. The supplier and exact price can be filled in later.

Purchase requisition fields
Field	Example	Why it matters
Requisition number	REQ-0312	Copied onto the PO so the approval can be traced
Requester and department	J. Ortiz, Operations	Tells the approver whose budget it is
Date raised and date needed	March 3; needed by March 20	Lets purchasing plan lead times
Item or service description	Pallet jack, 5,500 lb capacity	What the buyer will order
Quantity and unit	2 each	Carried to the PO in the unit the supplier sells in
Estimated unit cost and total	$450; $900	Sets which approval level applies
Suggested supplier (optional)	Current equipment supplier	A starting point; purchasing may choose another
GL account, cost center or project	6100 Equipment, Warehouse	Codes the spend before the invoice arrives
Business reason	Replace a broken unit on the loading dock	Lets the approver judge the need
Approver and approval date	Warehouse manager, March 4	Evidence of authorization for audit

Illustrative example.

Coding the requisition early pays off later: the PO and then the invoice can carry the same GL account and cost center, so there is less to decide when the bill arrives. See GL coding.

When a small team can skip the requisition

When the person who would approve the requisition is the same person raising the order, the requisition adds a form and no control. Use approval thresholds so requisitions apply only where a second person’s sign-off matters.

Example purchasing policy by amount
Purchase	Requisition	Purchase order	Approval
Under $500, budgeted	No	No: company card or non-PO invoice	Budget owner approves the invoice
$500 to $5,000	No	Yes, raised by the budget owner	The PO itself is the approval
Over $5,000, or unbudgeted	Yes	Yes, raised after approval	Budget owner, plus finance above a set amount
Repeat spend with one supplier	Once, for the period	One blanket PO	Approved once for the period and limit

Illustrative thresholds. Set yours by spend volume, risk and how many people can approve.

A blanket purchase order covers repeated purchases from one supplier over a period, up to a maximum amount, without a new requisition and PO each time. Each invoice draws down the balance, so someone has to watch how much of the limit is used. See the blanket PO section of the purchase order glossary entry.

Requisitions and purchase orders in QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Online has purchase orders on the Plus and Advanced plans, with Open, Overdue and Closed statuses. Intuit’s help article on creating purchase orders does not describe a requisition or a PO approval step.

Teams on QuickBooks Online usually handle the requisition outside it: a form, an email or a shared sheet that the budget owner approves, after which someone creates and sends the PO in QuickBooks (Intuit). Intuit’s settings allow up to three custom fields on purchase orders, so one can hold the requisition number. Step-by-step instructions are in how to create and match purchase orders in QuickBooks Online. On a plan without purchase orders, the free purchase order template works as a stand-alone PO.

Where Aequo AP fits

Aequo AP starts at the purchase order, not the requisition. It has no requisitions and no PO approval workflow; it matches supplier invoices to purchase orders and receipts and routes the invoices for approval.

Approve requisitions and POs by policy or in your accounting system. POs can be raised in Aequo AP or imported from your accounting system, and each invoice that quotes the PO is matched line by line, to the delivery note as well for a three-way match, before it reaches invoice approval. See purchase orders in Aequo AP.

Frequently asked questions

What is a purchase requisition?

A purchase requisition is an internal form an employee uses to ask for approval to buy something. It lists the item or service, quantity, estimated cost, the budget it comes from and why it is needed. It goes to a budget owner, not to a supplier.

What is the difference between a requisition order and a purchase order?

“Requisition order” is another name for a purchase requisition: the internal request. The purchase order is the external document sent to the supplier once that request is approved. The requisition asks permission to spend; the PO commits the company to buy.

Which comes first, a purchase requisition or a purchase order?

The requisition. It is raised and approved inside the company, and the purchase order is created from it afterwards. One approved requisition can become several POs, one per supplier, and several requisitions can be combined into one PO.

Is a purchase requisition legally binding?

No. A requisition never leaves the company, so it creates no obligation to a supplier. The purchase order is the document a supplier can accept. This is general information, not legal advice.

Who approves a purchase requisition?

Usually the budget owner or a manager with spending authority for that amount and department. The person who approves the requisition should not be the person who receives the goods or approves the invoice for payment.

Do small businesses need purchase requisitions?

Not always. Many small teams skip the requisition below an approval threshold and let the budget owner raise the purchase order directly. Keep the requisition step for larger, unbudgeted or one-off purchases, where a second person agreeing to the spend is worth the extra form.

Automate matching, approvals and exception handling

Aequo AP captures invoices, matches them to purchase orders and receipts, routes approvals and flags duplicates and exceptions, then syncs with QuickBooks Online, Xero, FreshBooks, Zoho Books or Business Central.

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Sources

Checked on November 9, 2026. Vendor capabilities and prices change; confirm current details with each vendor.

Oracle NetSuite Help, Requisitions Overview — requisitions start the purchasing process; vendor and price can be added later; one requisition to several POs; consolidating requisitions
Intuit, Create and send purchase orders in QuickBooks Online — POs on Plus and Advanced only; Open, Overdue and Closed statuses; up to three custom fields; no requisition step described