Buy & Sell

Every business utilizes at least two fundamental cycles: buying goods and services, and selling them. In ERPNext, these cycles follow a structured sequence of documents — for purchasing, a Purchase Order leads to a Purchase Receipt and then a Purchase Invoice; for sales, a Sales Order leads to a Delivery Note and then a Sales Invoice. Each document in the sequence serves as a check on the others, confirming that quantities received match what was ordered and that prices on the invoice match what was agreed. This cross-checking pattern, sometimes called the three-way-check, is the backbone of accurate accounts payable and receivable.

Beyond the core document sequence, real purchasing and sales operations rarely follow a single script. Sometimes costs arrive after the fact and period close: freight charges, customs fees, and handling expenses must be allocated back to received inventory. Sales teams earn commissions that need to be tracked and paid. Items, the master records that drive every transaction, must be configured to carry the right cost and pricing information across both cycles. This section covers all of it: how the standard patterns work, how they bend to fit common variations, and how ERPNext records the financial effect of each step.

As with most ERPs, ERPNext uses a structured approach to transaction management, with the Item serving as the fulcrum that connects operational activity to (almost) all other records. Understanding this architecture helps you leverage the system's full capabilities while maintaining clean, accurate and timely books.