Purchasing Analysis Reports

The Purchasing Analysis reports provide end-to-end visibility into your purchasing pipeline, from the moment a purchase order is created through receiving, billing, and any discrepancies along the way. These reports help you track open orders, monitor receiving accuracy, manage backorders, and perform three-way matching. AccuArk provides these through the Purchasing Analysis Report form with five preset views.

How to Access

Navigate to Reports > Inventory > Purchasing and choose from:

• Purchasing Summary — Opens the Purchasing Analysis Report with the PurchasingSummary preset
• Open Purchase Orders — Opens the Purchasing Analysis Report with the OpenPurchaseOrders preset
• Receiving Report — Opens the Purchasing Analysis Report with the ReceivingReport preset
• Backorders — Opens the Purchasing Analysis Report with the Backorders preset
• Ordered vs Received vs Billed — Opens the Purchasing Analysis Report with the OrderedVsReceivedVsBilled preset

Permission Required

All purchasing analysis reports require the RPT_VIEW_PURCHASING permission. Super Admins and Location Admins have this permission by default.

Filters

All purchasing analysis views share the same filter controls:

• Location — Filter to a specific location or view all locations
• Date Range — Set From and To dates to control the reporting period

Purchasing Summary Preset

The Purchasing Summary provides high-level purchasing volume metrics grouped by time period, giving you a view of overall purchasing activity.

Columns

Use this view to identify purchasing trends over time. A sudden increase in Total POs or Total Value may indicate seasonal restocking, an upcoming promotion, or unplanned emergency orders that need investigation. A declining Avg PO Value could suggest you are placing more frequent, smaller orders rather than consolidating, which increases administrative overhead.

Open Purchase Orders Preset

The Open Purchase Orders view shows all purchase orders that have not yet been fully received, giving you a real-time snapshot of your outstanding orders.

Columns

Sort by Expected Date to see which orders should be arriving soonest. Orders with an Expected Date in the past and a Received % below 100% are overdue and need follow-up with the vendor.

The Received % column provides a quick visual indicator of progress. An order at 0% has not had any items checked in yet, while an order at 75% is mostly received but still has outstanding items.

Receiving Report Preset

The Receiving Report provides an item-level record of goods received against purchase orders, making it easy to verify what was delivered and identify discrepancies.

Columns

Monitoring Receiving Accuracy

Receiving accuracy is a key operational metric. Consistent variances between Ordered Qty and Received Qty indicate problems that need attention:

• Negative variance (short-shipped) — The vendor sent fewer items than ordered. This could be due to stockouts on the vendor's side, picking errors at their warehouse, or items damaged in transit. Track short shipments by vendor to identify repeat offenders.
• Positive variance (over-shipped) — The vendor sent more items than ordered. While this might seem beneficial, it can cause receiving errors if the extra items are not accounted for, and you may be billed for the additional quantity.
• Zero variance — The order was received exactly as placed. This is the goal.

Filter by a specific vendor and review their receiving variance over time. If a vendor consistently short-ships, raise the issue in your next vendor review meeting using data from the Vendor Performance report.

Backorders Preset

The Backorders view shows items that were ordered but have not yet been fully received, helping you track what is still outstanding and when it is expected.

Columns

Managing Backorders

Backorders represent unfulfilled demand in your supply chain and need active management:

• Prioritize by impact — Sort by Item and cross-reference with your sales data. Items with high sales velocity that are backordered are urgent because they may cause stockouts and lost sales.
• Follow up proactively — Do not wait for the Expected Date to pass. Contact the vendor a few days before the expected delivery to confirm the shipment is on track.
• Consider alternatives — For items with long backorder timelines, check if another vendor can supply the same or a substitute product more quickly.
• Communicate to customers — If backordered items affect customer orders or invoices, use this report to identify which customers are waiting and proactively communicate revised timelines.
• Review regularly — Check the Backorders report at least twice per week to catch new backorders early and prevent surprises.

Ordered vs Received vs Billed Preset

The Ordered vs Received vs Billed view performs a three-way comparison for each purchase order, highlighting discrepancies between what you ordered, what you received, and what you were billed for.

Columns

Understanding the Three-Way Match

Three-way matching is a fundamental accounts payable control that protects your business from overpaying vendors:

1. Ordered Amount is what you agreed to pay when you created the purchase order. This is the authorized amount.
2. Received Amount is the value of goods actually delivered to your location. This confirms what you physically have.
3. Billed Amount is what the vendor is charging you. This is what they expect to be paid.

Ideally, all three amounts should match. When they do not, investigate the variance:

• Billed > Received — The vendor is billing you for more than you received. This could be a billing error, items that were damaged and returned, or unauthorized price increases. Do not pay until the discrepancy is resolved.
• Billed > Ordered — The vendor is billing you for more than the agreed purchase order amount. Check for price changes, additional shipping charges, or items added to the order after the PO was issued.
• Received < Ordered — You received less than you ordered (a short shipment). The bill should reflect only what was received, not the full order amount.
• All three match — The ideal outcome. The order was fulfilled correctly and billed accurately.

Review this report before approving vendor payments. Any PO with a non-zero variance should be investigated before the bill is paid.

Tips and Best Practices

• Run the three-way match before every payment run — Never approve vendor bills without checking the Ordered vs Received vs Billed report first
• Track backorders daily during peak seasons — During busy periods, backorders can accumulate quickly and cause cascading stockout problems
• Use the Purchasing Summary for budgeting — Compare monthly purchasing totals to your purchasing budget to stay on track
• Pair with vendor performance — Cross-reference the Receiving Report variances with the Vendor Performance report to build a complete picture of vendor reliability
• Export for auditors — The three-way match report exported to CSV is excellent documentation for internal and external auditors

Related Articles

• Vendor Analysis Reports
• Inventory Movement Reports
• Inventory Costing Reports