Purchase requisition vs PO
A purchase requisition is an internal request to buy something. A purchase order is the approved commitment sent to the supplier. The requisition asks; the order commits.
Also searched as: requisition, PR vs PO
Updated July 2026
Small companies often skip the requisition and let people raise orders directly. That works until the business is large enough that nobody can see total committed spend, at which point the month's costs arrive as a surprise.
The requisition step is where approval rules apply: by value, by department, by budget line. Done in a system, it routes automatically and the approval trail stays attached. Done by email, it is reconstructable only by searching inboxes.
The useful side effect is commitment accounting. Once requisitions and orders are recorded, you can see what you have committed to spend rather than only what has already been invoiced.
