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A Requisition Slip is a short internal form an employee uses to formally request goods or services from a procurement team, supply room, or another department before any purchase is made or inventory is released. It records who is asking, what they need, how many units, the estimated cost, the budget code to charge, and the business reason β creating a documented authorization trail that managers can approve, reject, or escalate. Unlike a purchase order, which goes to an external supplier, a requisition slip stays inside the organization and acts as the internal trigger for the procurement cycle.
Without a requisition slip, purchasing decisions happen informally β through email chains, verbal requests, or direct supplier contact β with no consistent record of who authorized what or which budget was charged. The result is overspending against department budgets, duplicate orders across teams, and missing documentation during internal audits or year-end reviews. A standardized requisition form closes all three gaps: it enforces approval before money is committed, ties every purchase to a cost center before the invoice arrives, and gives finance a paper trail that matches purchase orders to authorized requests. For organizations of any size, replacing ad hoc requests with a completed slip takes five minutes and eliminates hours of month-end reconciliation.
| If your situation is⦠| Use this template |
|---|---|
| Requesting goods from an external supplier requiring a formal commitment | Purchase Order |
| Requesting IT hardware or software for a new employee | IT Equipment Request Form |
| Requesting services rather than physical goods | Service Requisition Form |
| Requesting petty cash or a small expense advance | Petty Cash Request Form |
| Tracking all open purchase requests across departments | Purchase Requisition Log |
| Requesting materials tied to a specific project budget | Project Materials Request Form |
| Processing a return or exchange of previously requested items | Inventory Return Form |
Why it matters: Descriptions like 'office supplies' or 'equipment' force procurement to seek clarification before ordering, adding days to fulfillment and increasing the chance of ordering the wrong item.
Fix: Name the specific item, model, size, or specification on each line. If a product URL is available, include it or attach a screenshot.
Why it matters: Without a deadline, procurement queues all requests by submission date, meaning urgent needs are treated the same as routine restocking.
Fix: Always enter a specific calendar date. If the need is immediate, mark it urgent in the justification and flag it verbally to the approver.
Why it matters: Expenses posted to the wrong cost center require manual journal entries to correct, consume finance team time, and distort departmental budget reports until fixed.
Fix: Verify the code against your current budget approval or ask finance before submitting β one confirmation call prevents a month-end correction.
Why it matters: A requisition without a dated approval signature cannot be matched to a budget period and is not a valid authorization for procurement to act on.
Fix: Do not forward the form to procurement until the approval block is fully completed β name, signature, and date all present.
Fill in your full name, job title, department, and email address at the top of the form. This identifies the person accountable for the request and provides a contact for follow-up.
π‘ If your organization uses employee ID numbers for expense tracking, add yours here β it speeds up cost-center validation in the finance system.
Use your organization's sequential numbering format β for example, REQ-2026-0042. If no system exists, create one using YYYY-NNNN so requests sort chronologically.
π‘ Record the number in a shared departmental log the moment you assign it, before the form is submitted, to prevent duplicate numbers.
Enter today's date and the latest date by which you need the goods or services. Factor in your supplier's typical lead time when setting the deadline.
π‘ Add three to five business days to the supplier lead time to account for internal processing β requisitions rarely move through approval in under a day.
Use a separate row for each distinct item. Include make, model, size, or specification β not just a category name. State the quantity and the unit of measure.
π‘ Attach a screenshot or product link for items with multiple variants β this eliminates back-and-forth between procurement and the requestor.
Look up current pricing from a supplier website or last purchase order. Enter the estimated unit cost and multiply by quantity to populate the line total. Sum all lines for the total estimated spend.
π‘ If the actual price is unknown, use the highest reasonable estimate β it is easier to release unused budget than to request a top-up approval.
Confirm the correct GL account and cost-center code with your finance team before submitting if you are unsure. A wrong code creates rework at month-end close.
π‘ Keep a one-page cheat sheet of your department's most-used cost codes taped inside a supply cabinet or saved in a shared folder.
In two to three sentences, explain what the items are for, which project or operation they support, and what would be delayed or disrupted without them.
π‘ Frame the justification around the operational consequence of not having the items β approvers respond faster to impact statements than to feature descriptions.
Submit the completed form to the authorizing manager. Once signed and dated, send a copy to procurement and retain the original in your department's records.
π‘ Scan or photograph the signed form immediately β paper requisitions go missing, and a digital backup protects the audit trail.
A requisition slip is a short internal form an employee submits to formally request goods or services from a procurement team or supply department. It captures the requestor's details, a description of each item needed, quantities, estimated costs, the relevant budget code, and a business justification β creating an authorized paper trail before any purchase commitment is made.
A requisition slip is an internal document β it stays inside the organization and triggers the internal approval process. A purchase order is the external document sent to a supplier to authorize and commit to a purchase. The requisition typically precedes the purchase order; once approved, procurement raises a PO based on the information in the slip.
A signature is not a legal requirement, but most organizations require an authorizing manager's signature to enforce budget controls and create an audit trail. Without a signed approval, there is no documented authorization for procurement to act, and the expense may be disputed during an internal audit.
Use the form whenever your organization's policy requires documented approval before spending, when the request will be charged to a specific budget line, or when multiple approvers need to review the request. A completed form is faster to process than reconstructing approval from an email chain and provides a cleaner record for finance.
Use a sequential format that includes the year β for example, REQ-2026-0001 β so slips sort chronologically and stay unique across years. Record each number in a shared departmental log when assigned. Never reuse a number; gaps in sequence are easier to explain in an audit than duplicates.
Yes β list each distinct item on a separate line with its own description, quantity, unit of measure, and estimated cost. Group items on a single slip only when they will be fulfilled together and charged to the same cost center. If items belong to different budget codes or need different approval levels, use separate slips.
Most organizations retain approved requisition slips for three to seven years alongside the corresponding purchase orders and invoices. Retention requirements vary by jurisdiction and industry β check your organization's document retention policy or consult your finance team for the applicable minimum.
The authorizing manager should mark the approval block as rejected, add a brief reason, and return the form to the requestor. The requestor can then revise the justification or quantity and resubmit, or escalate to a higher budget authority if the need is critical. Keeping the rejected form on file preserves the decision record.
A purchase order is an external commitment to a supplier and creates a binding obligation to pay. A requisition slip is an internal request that must be approved before any PO is raised. The requisition comes first; the PO follows from it. Skipping the requisition removes the internal authorization step and budget check.
An expense report documents money already spent and requests reimbursement after the fact. A requisition slip requests authorization to spend before money changes hands. Using an expense report in place of a requisition bypasses budget controls and forces reimbursement of unapproved costs.
An invoice is issued by a supplier to request payment for goods or services already delivered. A requisition slip is issued internally before any supplier contact, to get approval for the spend. The requisition initiates the procurement cycle; the invoice closes it.
A work order authorizes and instructs an internal team or external contractor to carry out a specific task or repair. A requisition slip requests materials or services that someone else will procure. When a job requires both materials and labor, both documents may be needed β the requisition for supplies and the work order for the task.
Schools and universities use requisition slips to control spending on classroom supplies, lab materials, and equipment within fixed departmental budgets.
Clinics and hospitals require requisitions for medical supplies and consumables to maintain inventory control and meet regulatory traceability requirements.
Production teams submit requisitions for raw materials, tooling, and spare parts to ensure every draw from inventory is authorized and costed to the correct job.
Consulting and law firms use requisitions to request client-billable supplies or technology, ensuring costs are allocated to the correct client matter or project code.
| Path | Best for | Cost | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Use the template | Any business or organization that needs a simple, consistent internal request process | Free | 5 minutes per slip |
| Template + professional review | Organizations adding multi-level approval tiers, budget thresholds, or integration with an ERP system | $0β$100 (operations or finance team configuration) | 1β2 hours |
| Custom drafted | Large enterprises requiring digital workflow integration, automated approval routing, or regulated procurement audit trails | $500β$5,000+ (ERP configuration or custom form development) | 1β4 weeks |
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