Who issues a purchase order?

The buyer issues the purchase order — it's the purchasing company's document, created by whoever has purchasing authority: the owner in a small business, a buyer or procurement team in larger ones. The supplier never issues a PO; they respond to one (with an order confirmation, then delivery, then an invoice).

The practical flow: someone identifies a need, the PO is created and approved internally (spending authority matters more than job title), it's sent to the supplier, and the supplier's acceptance turns it into a binding agreement.

A common small-business confusion: a supplier's 'sales order' is their internal mirror of your PO — same transaction, opposite side. If a supplier sends you something to sign before fulfilling, that's their order confirmation, not a PO.