Goods received not invoiced (GRNI): definition and how it works in accounts payable

What it means

Goods received not invoiced (GRNI), also called received not invoiced or uninvoiced receipts, is an accrued liability. It exists because the receipt and the invoice are two separate events. The supplier delivers goods or performs a service, your team records the receipt, and the invoice may arrive days or weeks later. Without an accrual, the expense can land in the wrong period and the balance sheet can understate what the company owes.

The accrual is a period-end cutoff issue. If goods are received before the close but the invoice is not yet in the AP system, the receipt supports an accrued liability and the related expense or inventory. The exact trigger depends on company policy, the contract and local accounting rules, so apply your own policy rather than assuming one rule fits every vendor.

GRNI is not a payment, a dispute code or a permanent holding account. It is a temporary bridge between the receipt and the invoice. When the invoice is matched to the receipt, the accrual is reversed and the payable is recorded. That reversal is the control point: if the accrual is not reversed, liabilities and expenses can be overstated; if the invoice is never matched, the accrual can sit open long after the goods were received.

How it works in practice

The usual flow is receipt, accrual, invoice, match, reversal. A purchase order (PO) sets the expected quantity and price, the receipt records what actually arrived, and the invoice is matched to both under the three-way match. If the invoice arrives after the period close, AP accrues the received value so the expense lands in the period the goods were received.

Goods worth $46,300 were received in the last week of March but the supplier's invoices arrive in April. At the March close, $46,300 is accrued as goods received not invoiced. When the April invoice is matched to the March receipt, the $46,300 accrual is reversed and the payable is recorded. If the receipt is partial, the accrual should follow the quantity actually received, not the full PO.

The match should use the receipt, not just the PO. A common error is to match an invoice to the PO alone and leave the receipt open, which creates a GRNI line that never clears. Another error is to accrue the same receipt twice because the invoice is entered in one period and the accrual is not reversed in the next. Both errors distort the balance sheet and make the aged GRNI report harder to trust.

Where it goes wrong

Old GRNI lines usually mean an invoice was matched to the wrong receipt, never arrived, or was paid outside the PO. The line stays open because nothing has closed it. That is why aged GRNI is a useful exception report, not just a closing formality. Reviewing aged GRNI is a quick way to find invoices paid without matching.

Take the $46,300 March receipt. If the April invoice is matched to a different receipt, the March line remains open and the other receipt closes incorrectly. If the invoice never arrives, the $46,300 accrual may be valid at the March close, but by the time the April invoices are processed it needs follow-up. If the invoice was paid outside the PO, the payment may be correct but the GRNI line will not clear through matching.

Other failures are more mechanical. A receipt is entered after the close, so the accrual is missed. An invoice is posted directly to expense and the GRNI line is left open. A credit memo is applied to the wrong receipt. A team clears GRNI manually to make the report look tidy, which hides the underlying mismatch. Each of these makes the accrual unreliable and can lead to duplicate payments or missed credits later.

What to check

At each close, compare open receipts with open invoices and the GRNI listing. The listing should let you see the receipt date, the vendor, the PO and the received value. Look for lines that are old, lines with no invoice, lines with an invoice that was paid outside the PO, and lines that were cleared without a matching invoice.

For each open line, trace the receipt to the invoice. If the invoice exists, confirm it was matched to the correct receipt and that the accrual was reversed. If no invoice exists, contact the vendor and confirm whether the goods or services were invoiced. If the invoice was paid outside the PO, clear the GRNI line with a documented adjustment and correct the coding so the expense is not counted twice.

Do not clear a GRNI line just to make the report look tidy. A line should close only when there is evidence: a matched invoice, a credit memo, a return, or a documented adjustment approved under your company policy. Controllers should review the aged GRNI report at period end and ask why any line older than the normal invoice cycle remains open. The exact review threshold depends on the company, the vendor and the contract.

Questions