Purchase Requisition vs Purchase Order: The Difference That Controls Spend
By Lapasar Mall Editorial Team ·
PR and PO are the two most confused documents in purchasing. One asks permission, one makes the commitment — and mixing them up is how spend control breaks.
Purchase Requisition vs Purchase Order: The Difference That Controls Spend
Quick answer: A purchase requisition is an internal request asking for approval to buy — it is not binding and never reaches the supplier. A purchase order is the external, binding commitment sent to the supplier after approval. The sequence matters: the requisition controls whether money may be spent; the purchase order commits it.
If two documents in procurement get confused more than any others, it is these. The confusion is understandable — both describe the same items and amounts — but they do opposite jobs.
The one-line difference
The requisition asks "may we spend this?" The purchase order says "we are spending this." One is a request for internal permission; the other is an external commitment that becomes a contract when the supplier accepts.
Side by side
| Purchase requisition (PR) | Purchase order (PO) | |
|---|---|---|
| Direction | Internal — employee to approvers | External — company to supplier |
| Purpose | Get approval before committing | Commit to the purchase |
| Legally binding | No | Yes, once accepted |
| Seen by supplier | Never | Always |
| Controls | Budget, policy, justification | Price, quantity, delivery terms |
| Comes | First | After approval |
Why the sequence is the control
Spend control lives in the gap between the two documents. When the requisition is approved before the PO is issued, budget and policy are checked while the spend can still be stopped. When teams skip straight to POs — or worse, order first and paper it later — approval becomes a rubber stamp on money already committed. Most maverick spend is exactly this: commitments made before anyone asked permission.
When the PR converts to a PO
In a well-run flow the conversion is automatic: an approved requisition carries its items, prices, cost centre and budget line straight into the purchase order, with no re-keying. The PO number then links everything downstream — delivery, goods receipt and the three-way match at invoice time.
Do small companies need both?
Even a two-step version of this — a request that someone approves, then an order that goes to the supplier — beats a single-step process. The formality can scale with size, but the separation of asking from committing is what keeps budgets meaningful at any size.
Related guides
Frequently asked questions
- What is the difference between a purchase requisition and a purchase order?
- A requisition is an internal, non-binding request for approval to buy; it never reaches the supplier. A purchase order is the external, binding commitment issued to the supplier after the requisition is approved.
- Which comes first, the requisition or the purchase order?
- The requisition. It is approved against budget and policy first, and only then converts into a purchase order. Reversing the order turns approval into a formality on money already committed.
- Can a purchase order be issued without a requisition?
- It can, but it removes the pre-commitment control. Most procurement policies require an approved requisition for anything above a small threshold, so budget and policy are checked while the purchase can still be stopped.