Delivery Note vs Invoice: How to Check Hospitality Deliveries

What should you compare?

Compare three records: what you ordered, what your team accepted and what the supplier billed. The purchase order helps identify a short delivery against the order. The delivery note provides the supplier’s delivery reference and stated quantities. The invoice adds billed quantities and prices. None of those documents removes the need to check the goods.

If you ordered by phone or through a supplier portal, start with the delivery note and actual receipt. You can still compare it with the invoice later; you simply have no StockLens purchase-order quantity to compare against.

At the door: keep the document and count the goods

Take a readable photo of the whole delivery note, or upload its PDF. Include the supplier, reference, date, all lines and any handwritten changes. Check each product and pack before moving it into storage. Record good quantities, damage and rejected items separately.

• Confirm the product variant and container size, not only the brand.
• Keep cases distinct from individual bottles, cans or packs.
• Enter what you physically accepted; do not copy the note’s quantity into the good-stock field without checking.
• Add missing lines and resolve unclear units before confirming the receipt.
• Retain the evidence and follow your supplier’s process for reporting a discrepancy.

Worked example: a case shortage and a damaged bottle

Suppose a note states four cases of six bottles: 24 bottles. Only 23 arrive, and one of those is damaged and not accepted as good stock. The good receipt is 22 bottles. The missing quantity is one bottle and the damaged quantity is one. Do not subtract damage again from the 22 good bottles.

If the invoice later bills 24 bottles at £3 each, the difference between the £72 billed and the £66 value of good stock is £6. That is a query value to investigate, not an automatic credit or guaranteed saving.

What the StockLens review does

StockLens can read a photographed delivery note or PDF and propose document details and product lines. Your team checks the extraction, selects the product and confirms compatible quantities. Actual good counts need a receiving check; recognising the paperwork is not proof of arrival.

Choose the StockLens purchase order if there is one, or record an external order without one. Confirm the physical arrival time and receipt only after the goods have been checked. Duplicate protections help prevent repeated posting, but staff should still check references and documents.

Link the invoice now or later

An invoice may arrive before or after the delivery, and one invoice can cover more than one receipt. Link the correct invoice so billed quantities can be compared with the goods accepted. Keep partial deliveries separate and avoid treating a repeat invoice upload as new stock.

Price differences and quantity differences need different explanations. Check pack conversions and tax treatment before valuing a claim. StockLens provides the comparison; your team still resolves the discrepancy with the supplier. It does not automatically issue a credit or make a payment.

Why receiving matters to margin

If 24 bottles are recorded as received when only 22 good bottles reach the shelf, a later count can make the missing two look like a loss during service. Recording the physical receipt places the discrepancy where it happened. Link the invoice and use the correct receipt date so the stock report neither duplicates the purchase nor moves it into the wrong period.