What does a requisition do?
Staff often ask for things informally: a message, a call, a note in a meeting. A requisition turns that request into a record. It makes the requester say what they need and which project pays, before anyone speaks to a supplier. That is the point where a purchase is cheapest to stop or change.
A requisition does three jobs:
- It asks for approval to spend.
- It tests whether the budget line has money left.
- It starts the file that later holds quotes, the order, the receipt and the invoice.
What must a requisition contain?
Keep the form short, but never leave out these fields:
- Requester and date. Who is asking, and when.
- Description. What is needed, with enough detail for a supplier to quote. “Laptops” is weak. “Five laptops, 14 inch screen, two-year warranty, delivered to the field office” is clear.
- Quantity and unit. How many, and in what unit.
- Estimated cost. A realistic figure with currency named in words, such as “US dollars”, and whether it includes tax and delivery.
- Project and budget line. The place the cost will be charged.
- Needed-by date and delivery location.
- Reason. One sentence on why it is needed, linked to an activity if possible.
How is it different from a purchase order?
| Purchase requisition | Purchase order | |
|---|---|---|
| Direction | Internal | To the supplier |
| Purpose | Ask permission to buy | Commit to buy |
| Created by | The person who needs the item | The buyer or procurement officer |
| Binds the organization | No | Yes |
| Comes | First | After approval and quotes |
A requisition can be rejected at no cost. A purchase order, once accepted by a supplier, usually cannot. Read why purchase orders matter for budget control for the next step.
Who should approve it?
The approver depends on the value. A small purchase may need only a line manager. A large one may need a finance lead, a director or a committee. Our guide to approval limits shows how to set the bands.
Two rules matter more than the amounts:
- The requester never approves their own requisition.
- The approver checks the budget before signing, not after.
What does a good approval check?
An approver should ask four questions before agreeing:
- Is this need tied to an approved activity?
- Does the named budget line have enough money, after existing commitments?
- Is the estimated cost realistic?
- Is a cheaper or simpler option available, such as stock we already hold?
The last question is easy to forget. A requisition for items already in a warehouse costs money twice. Checking stock first can cancel the purchase altogether.
What goes wrong most often?
- Vague descriptions. Suppliers quote different things, and comparing prices becomes impossible.
- No budget line. The cost lands later in a general account and someone has to untangle it.
- Requisition after purchase. The paperwork is written once the goods have arrived. This is a control breach, not a form problem.
- Split requests. One need is cut into several small requests to stay under an approval limit.
Reviewing a sample of requisitions each quarter shows these patterns early.
A short example. A clinic manager needs 200 boxes of gloves. She writes a requisition: item, size, quantity, an estimated cost of 600, the health project and its supplies line, needed within three weeks, delivery to the clinic. She also notes that the central store holds 40 boxes. The approver sees the note, reduces the request to 160 boxes, checks that the supplies line has room, and approves. A two-minute check saved money and used stock that was already paid for.
How should urgent requests be handled? Do not drop the requisition. Use a shorter form, allow a verbal approval followed by a written record on the same day, and mark the request as urgent so it is reviewed later. Urgent requests often reveal a planning gap, so count them each quarter and discuss the pattern with programme teams.
Who keeps the requisitions? Keep them with the purchase file, in one shared place, with a clear number sequence. A gap in the sequence is a question worth asking.
What should you do with rejected requisitions? Return them to the requester with a short reason, such as no budget, wrong specification or stock already held. Keep the rejected form in the file. A rejection that is recorded teaches staff what the approver looks for, and it shows an auditor that the check is real and not a formality. Over time, the number of rejections and the reasons behind them show where your planning or your forms need work.
Where EMPOBase fits
In EMPOBase, a requester raises a requisition against a project and budget line, and it goes to the procurement approver for that project. Only staff authorised for the project can approve, and the person who raised the request cannot approve it. Approval levels L1 to L5 are set by your organization. The requisition then carries its project and budget context into the purchase order. See the procure-to-pay workflow for the whole chain.