Approvals Before Spend: Purchase Orders for Shops and Kitchens
Spend control for a restaurant is not a card policy. It is who can raise a supplier order, who confirms the delivery, and who may add a new IBAN. Here is a short approval path that still catches fraud.
Approvals Before Spend: Purchase Orders for Shops and Kitchens
Spend platforms list procurement as requests, then purchasing controls, then spend. That sequence fits a head office with employees buying software. A kitchen or a shop floor is inverted. The stock number hits a reorder point. Someone calls the wholesaler. The e-invoice arrives next week. If your only control is the card limit, you have already spent.
Three Questions Before the Order Leaves
- Who is allowed to order this supplier? Named role, not "anyone with the WhatsApp."
- Up to what amount without a second person? A crate of milk is not a new espresso machine.
- Is this vendor already on the master file with a locked IBAN? A first-time supplier is a vendor-change request, not an order.
Write the answers down. A chef at 07:00 will not invent them.
Stock-Driven, Not Request-Driven
| Trigger | What should happen | Failure if you skip it |
|---|---|---|
| Below reorder point | Draft PO from the supplier catalogue, same SKU as stock | Verbal order, wrong pack size, invoice you cannot match |
| Standing weekly order | Template PO, exception only if quantities change | Drift. You keep paying for a line you stopped selling |
| One-off equipment | Owner approval, new vendor checks if needed | IBAN substitution dressed as "the technician's account" |
| Marketplace seller you also use as a supplier | Separate vendor record. Do not mix Amazon payouts with a B2B invoice | Cash application noise |
The PO is the missing document between "we need it" and "here is an XRechnung." When the structured invoice arrives, match to the PO and the GRN. Three-way match is not enterprise theatre. It is how you refuse a 40-case invoice when 38 arrived.
Dual Control Where Fraud Lives
New vendor and IBAN change always take two people or two channels. Recurring orders to an unchanged vendor can be one person plus a threshold. That is the same rule as paying AR invoices: the legal invoice does not get to retarget the money.
Do not put this on a corporate card product. The wholesaler will send an e-invoice. Germany already requires you to receive it. Paying by card "to skip AP" just hides the structured file you still have to archive.
Keep the Path Short
A workable shop path:
- Reorder point or a manual PO.
- If amount or vendor is new, owner confirms (phone is fine if you log it on the PO).
- Delivery: GRN, even a tick on the PO lines.
- E-invoice: match, then pay the master IBAN.
- Accountant sees the pack: PO, GRN, structured invoice, payment.
Five steps. No "intake portal." No co-branded enablement kit. If a step needs a committee, you will bypass it during service and the control dies.
Plandesk raises the PO from stock, keeps vendor IBANs on the record, and matches the incoming e-invoice to that order. Approvals are role plus amount. They are not a second product you bolt on for a bank.
This material is information of a general nature and does not constitute legal or tax advice. For a specific situation, verify the current rules or consult a qualified adviser.