Material inward register and GRN format: how to keep it

A vendor's bill comes to accounts for payment. Somebody asks whether the full quantity came, and whether it was any good. The gatekeeper signed the challan, the stores person remembers "a few boxes were crushed", and the purchase person never heard about it. The bill is paid in full. A material inward register closes that gap: one row for every item that comes through the gate, with what was ordered, what came and what was accepted.

The row is often called a GRN, a goods received note. In a factory without software, the GRN is simply the next number in this register.

Material inward register format: the fourteen columns

One delivery with three items is three rows with the same GRN number. Material that comes without a purchase order still gets a row, with "No PO" in the PO column. Those rows are worth reading every week.

What to check at the gate

The register is only as good as the count behind it. Agree on these four checks and write them on the wall near the gate:

1. Count or weigh before you sign. Write the counted quantity, not the quantity on the challan.
2. Match the item and size with the PO. A wrong size is a rejection, even if the count is right.
3. Look for damage before the vehicle leaves. Crushed boxes, rust, wet bags. Take a photo on the phone.
4. Keep doubtful material apart. Anything waiting for a check stays in one marked place, with "Pending" in the register.

Three rules that keep the register useful

1. A row is written the day the material comes. Not at the end of the week from a pile of challans.
2. A rejection or a short needs an action and a name. A red or amber row with an empty "Action and who" goes back to stores.
3. Accounts pays against the register, not against the bill alone. Before a bill is paid, its rows are looked up by the bill number: quantity accepted, not quantity billed.

How purchase reads it every evening

• Red rows first. Material was rejected. Tell the vendor the same day, with the photo, and say whether you want a replacement or a debit note.
• Then the amber rows. A short supply needs a date for the balance; a pending check needs a person and a time.
• Then carry the balances across. A short row means the PO is still open. Mark it on the purchase order follow-up sheet, so that the balance is followed up like any other late delivery.

What to look at every week

Filter the last week and count, vendor by vendor:

• Rows with a rejection. A vendor who appears every week needs a conversation, not another debit note.
• Rows with a short supply. Short supplies that repeat are late deliveries in disguise.
• Rows marked "No PO". Material bought without an order is where most surprises in the bills come from.

Sheet or system?

A shared sheet is enough while one stores person writes every delivery and purchase reads it every evening. It builds the habit that saves money: count, check, then sign.

The sheet starts to fail when deliveries come at several gates or godowns, when stores and purchase sit in different places, and when nobody links a short supply back to its open order. At that stage we set up Purchase & Vendor Follow-up on your own purchase orders, in which every PO shows what has come and what is still due, a late vendor is followed up on a date, and the owner gets one report in the evening. Tally stays for accounts and stock. You can try the live demo without signing up.