Delivery Note

Because the moment goods change hands is a distinct fact from the moment they were promised or billed, and only one of the three can be verified by looking at a warehouse.

The delivery note is where inventory becomes cost of goods sold and where the customer's claim on you is discharged. It is also the document that settles arguments: when a buyer says a shipment was short, the delivery note and its signature are the evidence, and a business that skipped it has only its own invoice to argue with.

• A delivery note moves stock. If it posts no stock movement, it is paperwork, not a delivery note.
• The quantity delivered is a physical fact, not a commercial one — it must reflect what actually shipped, even when that differs from what was ordered or invoiced.
• In India, a delivery challan is a statutory document for movement of goods, and its number and date are legally relevant.

It gets treated as an administrative step and skipped for speed, usually with the reasoning that the invoice already says what shipped. Then received-quantity disputes have no independent record to resolve against, stock on hand drifts from the physical count, and nobody can say when the drift started.

• Goods delivered but rejected at the customer's gate — the movement happened and must be reversed, not deleted.
• Partial shipment across multiple vehicles on different dates against one order line.
• Stock transfers between your own warehouses, which move stock without any sale occurring.
• Consignment stock, where goods move but ownership does not — the commonest case of a delivery note that must NOT trigger revenue.