Goods Received Note: What It Is and What Goes On It

Fifty boxes were ordered. Forty-eight came off the van. Two are sitting in the corner with a crushed corner and a wet patch.

Three weeks later the supplier’s invoice arrives for fifty. Nobody can remember what actually turned up that Tuesday, the driver’s gone, and the only person who saw the delivery left the company.

That’s the problem a goods received note solves. It’s a boring document that costs two minutes and saves an argument you’d otherwise lose on memory alone.

What a goods received note is

A goods received note, usually shortened to GRN, is the buyer’s record of a delivery. You write it, not the supplier.

That’s the detail most explanations skip, and it’s the whole point. The supplier already told you what they think they sent. The GRN is your side of the story, written by whoever stood there and counted.

It gets used three ways. It confirms the stock that entered the building. It triggers payment approval, because finance shouldn’t pay for goods nobody confirmed arriving. And it’s the evidence when a shortage turns into a dispute.

Small businesses often skip it because the delivery is five boxes and the person receiving them is also the person who ordered them. That works until it doesn’t. The first time a supplier bills you for something that never arrived, you’ll wish there was a piece of paper with a date on it.

What goes on a goods received note

Eight things. Anything beyond this is your system being thorough rather than the document needing it.

• GRN number, your own sequence, so it can be referenced later
• Date and time received, because a delivery at 4:55pm on a Friday matters when terms are counted in days
• Purchase order number, the link back to what was ordered
• Supplier name and their delivery note number
• Item description and code for each line
• Quantity ordered and quantity received, as two separate columns
• Condition, including anything damaged, opened or short
• Signature of the person who checked it, printed name as well

The two separate quantity columns are what make it useful. One column tells you nothing. Ordered 50, received 48 tells you everything, instantly, a year later, to someone who wasn’t there.

A worked example

Here’s the Tuesday delivery, written up properly.

GOODS RECEIVED NOTE

GRN number: GRN-2026-0412
Date received: 14 April 2026, 10:20
Received by: J. Okafor
Supplier: Meridian Packaging Ltd
Supplier delivery note: DN-88217
Purchase order: PO-4471

Line 1. Corrugated box, 400x300x200, code CB-4032
Ordered 50    Received 48    Accepted 46    Rejected 2

Condition notes: 48 delivered against 50 ordered, 2 short. Of the 48, two had crushed corners and water damage to the outer wall. Rejected and left with the driver. Driver signed to confirm.

Accepted into stock: 46
Outstanding: 4 (2 short, 2 rejected)

Signed: J. Okafor     Checked: S. Walton

Note what that does to the invoice conversation. The supplier bills for 50. You’ve got a dated document saying 46 went into stock, why the other four didn’t, and that their own driver signed for the rejects. The conversation takes four minutes instead of four emails.

And note the three numbers. Received 48, accepted 46, rejected 2. People collapse those into one and then can’t explain the gap later. Keep them apart.

Goods received note, delivery note, packing slip

These three get mixed up constantly, and the difference is simply who wrote the document.

A delivery note comes from the supplier. It travels with the goods and says what they believe they’ve sent. You sign it, they keep a copy, and that signature is often just confirming a number of boxes rather than their contents.

A packing slip also comes from the supplier, usually inside the box, listing what’s in that specific carton. It’s a picking aid more than a legal record.

A goods received note is yours. Written after you’ve opened and counted, not when the van pulls up.

That timing difference is the whole value. Signing a delivery note at the kerb says “something arrived.” A GRN written twenty minutes later says what.

Who prepares it, and when

Whoever receives and checks the goods. In a warehouse that’s a goods-in clerk. In a small business it’s whoever was nearest the door.

The timing rule that matters: write it while the delivery is still in front of you. Not at the end of the day, and definitely not tomorrow. A GRN written from memory is a guess with a signature on it.

Where possible, two people. One counts, one checks. That isn’t bureaucracy, it’s the same reason banks count cash twice.

If something is clearly damaged, note it before the driver leaves and get them to sign the note too. Once the van has gone, you’ve lost the only independent witness.

When the numbers don’t match

Most mismatches aren’t anyone being dishonest. A pallet gets left on the van, a line is back-ordered and nobody said, or two boxes get crushed in transit.

What to do depends on the gap.

Short delivery. Record the quantity actually received, not the quantity on the delivery note. Flag it to the supplier the same day. They either send the balance or credit it.

Damaged goods. Reject them at the door if you can, and photograph them. Record received and accepted as separate numbers.

Over-delivery. Yes, this happens. Don’t quietly absorb it, because the invoice will follow. Record what arrived and ask the supplier what they want to do.

Wrong items. Record them as received but not accepted, against no purchase order line.

In each case the supplier usually issues a credit, and a debit note from you is how the adjustment gets recorded on your side if the invoice has already landed.

Where the GRN fits in the three-way match

This is the part that makes finance care.

Before an invoice gets paid, three documents should agree: the purchase order, the goods received note, and the invoice. That’s the three-way match, and the GRN is the middle piece.

Without it you have two documents that both came from a promise. The purchase order says what you intended to buy. The invoice says what the supplier intends to charge. Neither one proves anything arrived.

The GRN is the only document in that set created by someone who physically looked at the goods. Remove it and the control collapses into a trust exercise.

In practice this also decides when you book the cost. A received note tells your books that stock exists and an accrued liability has been incurred, even before the invoice shows up. On a month end, that’s the difference between accurate numbers and a guess.

Paper or digital

Paper works fine and still runs plenty of warehouses. A duplicate book, one copy to finance, one stays in goods-in.

Digital is better for one specific reason: the GRN sits against the purchase order automatically, so the mismatch gets flagged before anyone chases it. Most accounting and inventory systems do this out of the box once you raise purchase orders in them.

What doesn’t work is a photo of a scribbled note in someone’s phone. If it can’t be found by purchase order number in under a minute, it isn’t a record.

If you’re receiving against a purchase order raised in a system, use that system’s receiving screen. The whole point is the link between the two.

Frequently asked questions

What is a goods received note?

A goods received note is a document created by the buyer when a delivery arrives, recording what was physically received against what was ordered. It carries the purchase order number, the date, each item, quantities ordered and received, the condition of the goods, and the signature of whoever checked them. It’s then used to approve the supplier’s invoice.

What is the difference between a delivery note and a goods received note?

The delivery note is written by the supplier and travels with the goods, stating what they believe they sent. The goods received note is written by the buyer after opening and counting, stating what actually arrived and in what condition. One is a claim, the other is verification, and they’re created by different parties at different moments.

What is the difference between a GRN and an SRN?

A GRN records goods coming in. An SRN records goods going back out, and depending on the system it stands for supplier return note or stores return note. Where a GRN increases stock, an SRN reduces it and usually triggers a credit from the supplier or a transfer back to a central store.

What is the purpose of a goods received note?

Its purpose is control. A goods received note is the only document in the buying chain written by someone who physically handled the goods, so it proves a delivery happened before money leaves the business.

It also updates stock on the day goods arrive rather than the day an invoice turns up. And it gives you dated evidence if a shortage later turns into a dispute.

Can you provide an example of a goods received note?

Yes, the worked example above shows one in full: GRN-2026-0412, received 14 April against purchase order PO-4471, with 50 ordered, 48 received, 46 accepted and 2 rejected for water damage. The key feature is that received, accepted and rejected are three separate figures rather than one total.

The short version

The goods received note is the buyer’s document, written after counting, not the supplier’s.

Keep ordered, received and accepted as three separate numbers.

Write it while the delivery is still in front of you, and get the driver to sign anything you reject.

Link every GRN to a purchase order number, because that link is what makes it findable and what makes the three-way match work.

Two minutes at the door, or four emails three weeks later. That’s the actual trade.