Odoo 18: Mastering Sales & Purchase Receipts

Not every transaction is an invoice. When you run a business like a food truck or a pop-up shop, you get paid immediately. Creating a formal invoice, sending it, and then registering payment is overkill. This is where Sales Receipts and Purchase Receipts in Odoo 18 shine.

In this guide, we'll follow "Urban Bites", a food truck fleet managing daily cash sales and on-the-spot supply runs. You'll learn how to skip the invoicing process for immediate cash transactions, keeping your books clean and efficient.

Step 1: Enabling Receipts

By default, Odoo hides simple receipts to keep the interface clean. We need to activate them first.

1. Go to Accounting > Configuration > Settings.
2. Scroll to the Customer Invoices section.
3. Check Sales Receipt.
4. Scroll to the Vendor Bills section.
5. Check Purchase Receipt.
6. Click Save.

Step 2: Recording Daily Sales (Sales Receipt)

At the end of the day, "Urban Bites" Truck #1 counts $1,500 in cash sales. Instead of creating an invoice for "Generic Customer", we create a Sales Receipt.

Unlike an invoice, Odoo knows this money is already collected (or typically collected immediately). It simplifies the journal entry to Debit Cash / Credit Sales directly upon payment registration.

Step 3: Handling Petty Cash Expenses (Purchase Receipt)

The chef runs out of tomatoes and buys $50 worth from a local market using cash from the register. No PO is needed, just a record of the expense.

Reporting & Analysis

Even though these aren't standard invoices, they still appear in your financial reports.

• P&L: Sales Receipts increase revenue; Purchase Receipts increase expenses.
• Partner Ledger: You can still see the history of transactions for "Walk-in Customer" or "Local Market".
• Tax Report: VAT/GST paid on purchase receipts is still reclaimable if configured correctly.

Conclusion

By using Sales and Purchase Receipts in Odoo 18, "Urban Bites" avoids cluttering their Aged Receivable/Payable reports with transactions that are settled instantly. It’s a cleaner, faster way to manage cash flow for retail and immediate-expense scenarios.