Confused?

You need to familiarize yourself with business terms because this can cause misunderstanding with clients. Especially, when related to the sale of physical goods, you need to catch up fast with the inside business terms.

Purchase order and Invoice are not the same, but related. 

A Purchase order (PO) is a document indicating types, a number of products and services you will purchase. It details the items to be purchased for a certain price. It also includes the payment terms, shipment, other associated terms, and conditions.  PO is used when you want to purchase supplies or inventory on account. It is important because you have instant visibility of incoming stock like how much and when it is coming.  This will quickly tell you what’s been ordered, shipped and received but not invoiced and so on. creating POs in the system will help prevent ordering more of an item than you may need. Odoo makes it easy to send purchase orders to vendors. A PO is sent to a seller.

An Invoice is a document issued by a seller to a buyer indicating items sold, prices, date of shipment, delivery and payment terms. The term invoice indicates money the buyer owes to a seller. The invoice is also specified with the period of time after which the buyer has to make payment to the seller for the goods and services they have purchased.  Invoice reports help you to show which orders are completed and paid for and total outstanding for the customers. 

Both invoices and PO  are important in your business because you can track your earnings, business, and expenses.