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I'm currently customizing a supplier report in Xero for our operational needs.

The sales invoice template provides separate fields for essential information, such as the invoice number and the reference number. In contrast, the purchase/bill template combines these into a single field as 'Reference,' which could limit the detail available for tracking purposes.
I have to use the "Reference" field to input both the supplier invoice number (external control) and our order number (internal control).
This difference in structure affects how we can manage and analyze our supplier data in finding the frequency of purchase from the supplier based on our order reference (internal control).

It would definitely be beneficial to have a separate field for the order number in the purchase bill template since it facilitates easier tracking and managing orders alongside the supplier invoice numbers without cluttering the reference field.

If you have any suggestions for any workarounds, I’d love to hear them!

its crazy that there isn't a purchase order number field in the bills window. I can't believe Xero built a whole accounting software and omitted that field!

My work around has been to include the PO number after the invoice number (so both numbers in the same field) which makes it harder to detect duplicates invoice numbers.

I can't just put the po number in the notes as I need to be able to search by PO number and the search doesn't extend to notes.

Hi Kelly, this would be game-changing not just for goods but service based companies as well. Some features that would be great are: (1). if ALL the documentation attached to the PO could be replicated on the Bill or you could choose which document from the PO to attach to the Bill. (2). If PO's could automatically handle partially Billed costs associated by providing a cumulative balance of the PO value outstanding, (3). When creating a BILL from an outstanding PO the PO number should automatically be replicated on the BILL as a ref alongside the Bill ref (i.e. PO number alongside the Supplier invoice no. in separate fields).

Very well out Steven. Xero, please prioritise this.

Feature Request: Linking Purchase Orders with Bills and Invoices

The ability to link Purchase Order numbers directly with Bills, manage quantities received, and carry these through to Invoices as recharged items would be a major improvement.

This would provide end to end visibility from Purchase Order through to Bill and Invoice, while also allowing quantity tracking so partial deliveries and supplier billing can be matched correctly. Supplier costs could be recharged to customers without messy workarounds, saving significant time through reduced data entry and fewer reconciliation errors.

It would also strengthen reporting on committed spend, margins, and recoverable costs. This functionality would streamline workflows for existing users and attract new businesses in industries such as construction, trades, logistics, and consulting, where purchase orders and cost recovery are everyday requirements.

The result is Xero staying simple and easy to use, while adding the management tools that growing businesses really need.

Please implement this feature ASAP, it is completely inefficient as it is.
Please, please, please.

This feature being missing is causing a massive headache for us

this would save SO MUCH TIME! currently we cannot use the email bill to Xero facility because we need to tie it back to the PO & close off the PO which means the bill HAS to be entered manually. I say don't bother developing JAX until basic functionality is sorted. do Xero ever run proper focus groups to ask their users what they actually want?

Yes, this enhancement would be very helpful to us.

Following on from all the comments below. I persuaded our accounts management to start doing POs through Xero rather than as separate PDFs so the system was more streamlined, only to find out that they don't link to anything?
surely it is part of a simple reconciliation process, create PO, supplier bills/invoices against that PO - we had planned to keep the same reference numbers so the linking would be clear and easy. then when the payment is made to that supplier, and the bank reconciliation happens, all of it is locked together as one "transaction pack" for want of a better term. What is the point of Xero having a PO function if it doesnt link to the rest of the process?

Like others below, it will happen regularly for us that a PO is created for a scope of work or set of deliverables and the supplier will invoice against the PO number multiple times throughout a project, so our accounts need to be able to track how much of the PO is left available and helps with cost management in terms of clear oversight to not overpay.
For instance, a new PO would need to be raised before further invoices could be raised by the supplier

Please can there be a link from purchase order to bills to pay to save time on month end matching or even somewhere to auto reflect the PO Number once the bill has been received

It looks like some development has been done here but it does not work properly. It would be great if this could be fixed. Very broken system at the moment.

Is there any indication that Xero is looking into this and possibly adding this feature?

We have all our invoices emailed to Xero directly from our suppliers, and we really need a way to link the invoice to its corresponding purchase order in Xero. When the bill is reconciled against a payment it should be possible for the PO to be automatically marked as 'billed'. We're constantly dealing with a huge backlog of purchase orders that have to be checked through and manually billed and it seems needlessly time consuming, surely something that could easily be automated

How is this not already possible? it has been 2+ years since this was first suggested and it still isn't possible to do. Please include this in your service asap Xero

We import all our supplier invoices from Dext, and we really need a way to link the invoice to its corresponding purchase order in Xero. When the bill is reconciled against a payment it should be possible for the PO to be automatically marked as 'billed'. We're constantly dealing with a huge backlog of purchase orders that have to be checked through and manually billed and it seems needlessly time consuming, surely something that could easily be automated

I'm extremely concerned that one of the key features we needed to have in XERO was the ability to create PO's (Purchase Orders) Receive a PO when our vendor sends an invoice. and tie, one or more PO's to a final invoice for our customer. After making the transition from Quick Books, we are now finding we don't have the ability to do this (and or the process to try and so something similar, has way too many components.

The direction we were given by support was:

As you've alluded to, the support article you've referenced relates to a different Xero product - Practice Manager. Unfortunately, this product (or feature) is not available to you as it is for Bookkeepers/Partners.

We are a small business, we do everything, including the Bookkeeping, why would this option not be part of the main program?

Appreciate any direction.

yep, this is absolutely ridiculous that this isnt already the default

It would be really useful if you could allocate the emailed invoice to a drop down list of outstanding POs for the supplier. This would save so much time. All businesses need to improve productivity, but this can only be done if the systems are available!

Most of the comments on this thread are more than a year old, but I just checked and Xero still does not have this feature fixed, nor has a timeline even been mooted.

What's going on, Xero?