Delivery note control: how to move from the binder to data

The delivery note is born on a loading dock and, in too many companies, dies in a box. In between it should become data: the data that tells you what you received, what is still to be invoiced and whether each invoice is real. That is delivery note control.

Why the binder (and the Excel sheet) fail

A delivery note on paper or as a loose PDF is good for one thing only: searching for it by hand when there is a row. It does not match against the purchase order, it does not warn you that the invoice is missing, it does not detect that you were invoiced for 10 and 8 came in. Excel improves the filing but inherits the underlying problem: someone has to key it in, and whatever is keyed in late or in a hurry is keyed in wrong.

The 4 states of a well-controlled delivery note

State	Meaning	Action
Received	Goods in, delivery note logged	Link to the purchase order
Linked	Matched against the purchase order (quantities)	Wait for the invoice
Invoiced	Invoice arrived and matches line by line	Close — pay on the due date
In dispute	Quantities or prices do not match	Claim with evidence

Every delivery note should be able to answer which state it is in. If your system does not know, there is no control: there is an archive.

The 3 metrics that give away a lack of control

1. Delivery notes without an invoice > 30 days (your aged GRNI).
2. Invoices without a delivery note: charges for goods nobody logged as received. Either receiving discipline is missing, or the invoice should not be there.
3. % of delivery notes linked to a purchase order: if it is low, three-way matching cannot work and everything else limps.

Setting it up without bureaucratising goods receipt

The classic trap is turning goods receipt into a 12-field form that nobody fills in at 8 in the morning with the lorry waiting. The right design minimises friction on the dock and automates the rest: the delivery note is logged with a photo or arrives by email from the supplier, automatic extraction pulls out the number, date, purchase order reference and lines with quantities, and the link to the purchase order happens on its own. That is how it works with ininvoice: the delivery note comes in through the mailbox (OAuth connection), is extracted with AI and is linked to its purchase order — with GRNI and disputes visible without anyone maintaining an Excel sheet.

What is a summary invoice?

It is a single invoice (in Spain, «factura recapitulativa») that groups several transactions made on different dates for the same recipient, provided they were carried out within the same calendar month. It is governed by article 13 of the Spanish Invoicing Regulation (Royal Decree 1619/2012), in the BOE (Spain's Official State Gazette), consulted on 26 October 2026. In purchasing, it is the case of several delivery notes and a single invoice.

What that Regulation requires and what helps you match it:

• A single calendar month. All the transactions on the invoice belong to the same month (article 13.1). The deliveries it covers, and therefore their delivery notes, are from that month.
• Issue deadline. The last day of that month at the latest. If the recipient is a business or professional acting as such, before the 16th of the following month (article 13.2).
• Date of the transactions. If it does not coincide with the issue date, the invoice states the date on which the transactions were carried out (article 6.1.i, consulted on 26 October 2026).
• Unit price before tax. The description of the transactions includes the unit price before tax and any discount not included in that price (article 6.1.f). It is the figure compared with the purchase order.

How do you match it line by line against several delivery notes and their purchase order?

1. Gather that supplier's delivery notes for the month that belong to the purchase order.
2. For each purchase order line, add up the quantity received across all those delivery notes.
3. Compare each invoice line with that sum (quantity) and with the purchase order's unit price before VAT (price). Do not compare total with total: it includes taxes and lumps together differences that cancel each other out.
4. Put each difference in euros. Quantity: (invoiced quantity − received quantity) × purchase order price. Price: (invoiced price − purchase order price) × invoiced quantity.
5. Whatever exceeds your tolerance is stopped and claimed with the delivery notes in hand. What has been received but not yet invoiced stays in GRNI.

Example (figures made up to explain the method, not from any customer). A purchase order for 100 boxes of screws at €4.20 and 40 rolls of tape at €2.50, prices before VAT. In October two delivery notes arrive: the one on the 6th with 60 boxes and the one on the 20th with 38 boxes and the 40 rolls. The October summary invoice charges for 100 boxes at €4.20 and 40 rolls at €2.60.

Line	Purchase order	Received (delivery notes of the 6th and the 20th)	Invoiced	Difference
Screws	100 boxes × €4.20	60 + 38 = 98 boxes	100 boxes × €4.20	Quantity: (100 − 98) × €4.20 = €8.40
Tape	40 rolls × €2.50	40 rolls	40 rolls × €2.60	Price: (€2.60 − €2.50) × 40 = €4.00

The invoiced pre-tax amount is €524.00 and the purchase order's is €520.00: comparing totals gives a difference of €4.00. Line by line there are two problems adding up to €12.40: two boxes charged that never arrived and a price that is not the agreed one. With an example tolerance of €1.50 or 2% per line, both are stopped.

How long do you have to keep purchase delivery notes?

Neither the Spanish Commercial Code (Código de Comercio), nor the General Tax Law (Ley General Tributaria), nor the Invoicing Regulation (Reglamento de facturación) names the delivery note: the word does not appear in their consolidated texts in the BOE, consulted on 26 October 2026. What they do say about keeping documents (quotations in our translation):

• Commercial Code, article 30 (consulted on 26 October 2026): business owners shall keep "the books, correspondence, documentation and supporting documents concerning their business, duly ordered, for six years from the last entry made in the books, except as established by general or special provisions". It does not list documents.
• General Tax Law, article 29.2.e (consulted on 26 October 2026): the formal obligations include "keeping the invoices, documents and supporting documents related to their tax obligations". Under its article 66, the tax authority's right to assess the tax debt is time-barred after four years, and under article 70, the related formal obligations can only be enforced while that period has not expired. The same article 70 keeps the obligation to substantiate data from transactions in already time-barred periods for as long as the debts they affect are not time-barred.
• Invoicing Regulation, article 19 (consulted on 26 October 2026): it requires keeping, for the period set by the General Tax Law, the invoices received, copies of those issued, the accounting vouchers and receipts it mentions, and import documents. The delivery note is not on that list.

Our practical reading, which does not replace your adviser's: keep purchase delivery notes for at least six years from the last entry made in the books, which is the longest of the periods cited, and longer if the purchase affects tax debts that are not yet time-barred. They are also your proof of receipt if there is a dispute with the supplier.

Frequently asked questions

Is it mandatory to keep delivery notes?

Neither the Commercial Code, nor the General Tax Law, nor the Invoicing Regulation names them, but article 30 of the Commercial Code requires keeping the "documentation and supporting documents concerning their business", without listing them, and article 29.2.e of the General Tax Law, the "documents and supporting documents related to their tax obligations" (BOE, consulted on 26 October 2026). They are also your proof of receipt in commercial disputes and the support for month-end accruals.

How long do you have to keep purchase delivery notes?

Neither the Commercial Code, nor the General Tax Law, nor the Invoicing Regulation names the delivery note. The Commercial Code (article 30) asks for six years from the last entry made in the books for business documentation, and the General Tax Law (article 66) sets at four years the limitation period for the tax authority's right to assess the tax debt (BOE, consulted on 26 October 2026). Our practical reading, which does not replace your adviser's: at least six years.

What is a summary invoice?

A single invoice that groups transactions made on different dates for the same recipient within the same calendar month. If the recipient is a business or professional, it is issued before the 16th of the following month (article 13 of Royal Decree 1619/2012, BOE, consulted on 26 October 2026). To match it, you add up, per purchase order line, the quantities from all its delivery notes and compare them with what was invoiced and with the purchase order's unit price before VAT.

What do I do with suppliers who deliver without a delivery note?

Require it from suppliers of significant goods: without a delivery document, no matching is possible. For the minor ones, the invoice signed on receipt can serve as the minimum viable option.

Does a priced delivery note replace the invoice?

No. It helps detect price discrepancies before the invoice arrives, but it neither allows VAT to be deducted nor creates an obligation to pay.

Related content

• GRNI: goods received not invoiced
• The difference between a delivery note and an invoice
• Extract data from PDF delivery notes automatically (in Spanish)
• Fuzzy matching of purchase orders and delivery notes
• Reconciling invoices with delivery notes: a practical method