Delivery note vs Receipt: what each one is for
Small businesses often run the delivery note and the receipt off the same template, so the only visible difference is a word in the header. The differences that matter are not visual: who sends it, what it commits anyone to, and what happens in the accounts.
Side by side
| Delivery note | Receipt | |
|---|---|---|
| Issued by | the seller | the seller |
| Sent to | the buyer | the buyer |
| Stage in the flow | 5 — proof of delivery | 8 — proof of payment |
| What it does | lists the goods in the shipment so the buyer can check them in and sign for them | proves that payment was made, how much, when and by what method |
| Commitment | evidential | acknowledges payment |
| Requests payment? | no | no |
| Proves delivery? | yes | no |
| In the accounts | the goods-received record that lets accounts payable approve the invoice | closes the receivable for the seller and supports the buyer's expense claim |
| Lifetime | a record of one shipment; it does not expire | permanent proof of payment |
| Make one with | Purchase Order Generator | Invoice Maker |
The deciding difference
Both are signed acknowledgements, which is where the confusion starts: the delivery note acknowledges goods received, the receipt acknowledges money received. They sit at opposite ends of the transaction and are signed by opposite parties.
The shortest test: ask what happens if the delivery note is ignored, then ask the same of the receipt. Ignoring the delivery note means a short delivery becomes one person's word against another's; ignoring the receipt means the buyer has no proof the payment was made. The document with the harder consequence is the one that carries the obligation.
Where each one sits in the flow
The delivery note is issued at stage 5 and the receipt at stage 8 of the eight-step order-to-cash sequence. The steps between them, if any, are the documents that normally connect the two:
- 5. Delivery note (this page) — What was in the box, signed for by whoever received it.
- 6. Invoice — The bill: what was supplied, what is owed, by when, and the tax on it.
- 7. Credit note (if needed) — A negative invoice that cancels or reduces an earlier one.
- 8. Receipt (this page) — Proof that an invoice was paid: amount, date and method.
Steps before the delivery note and after the receipt are on the business documents hub, which shows the full eight-step sequence with a checklist for every document.
Worked scenario
Harbour Café's cook signs delivery note DN-5570 for eleven worktops. A week later Harbour pays and Northgate issues receipt RCP-2301. The delivery note is Harbour's evidence of what arrived; the receipt is Harbour's evidence of what it paid. Neither document could stand in for the other in a dispute.
Can one replace the other?
You cannot use a delivery note as a receipt or the reverse: they are addressed to different questions. The delivery note answers "what physically arrived?"; the receipt answers "was it paid?". A document that tries to answer both usually answers neither clearly.
Numbering and matching
Both carry their own number. Delivery note: Numbered and cross-referenced to the PO and the invoice so a three-way match (ordered, received, billed) is possible. Receipt: Numbered, and it names the invoice or sale it settles. The reference from one to the other is what lets an accounts team match documents without phoning anyone.
Common mistakes
The mistake we see most with the delivery note is shipping without one, which leaves no independent proof of what was delivered when a short delivery is disputed. With the receipt it is using an invoice marked 'paid' as the receipt without stating the date and method of payment. Both come from treating the document as paperwork rather than as a record with a job.
Checklists: what to include in a delivery note and what to include in a receipt.