Operations managers
Replace scattered requests with a consistent starting point. The answers help you understand the work, identify gaps and prepare a follow-up. Review “Department” in particular and adapt it to the detail you need.
Purchase Request Form Template
Untracked purchases are a budget management nightmare. This purchase request form creates a clear record of every request before money is spent — including what's being bought, from whom, what it costs, and why it's needed. Finance and managers get the context to approve quickly, and nothing slips through without documentation.
Free for non-commercial projects, with unlimited forms and responses.
Last updated
About this template
Purchase request forms exist at the intersection of operational efficiency and financial control. Without one, purchases happen through informal channels — a Slack message to a manager, an employee buying something and expensing it later, a verbal approval that nobody remembers. These informal processes create budget surprises, inconsistent spending decisions, and no paper trail when audits happen.
More about this template
This template covers the full picture of what an approver needs: what is being purchased, from whom, how many, at what cost, and why. The Product Link field is a small but significant addition — sending an approver directly to the product page eliminates the 'can you send me more details' back-and-forth that delays approvals by days. The priority field lets your finance and operations teams triage incoming requests instead of processing them all in submission order.
For teams without formal procurement software, formformform provides the structured intake layer that makes purchase approvals manageable. Every request arrives in your approver's inbox immediately, is stored in a searchable dashboard, and can be exported for quarterly spend reviews. The total cost and expense category fields make it possible to track departmental spending against budget without a full ERP system.
14 fields to make your own12 required in this starting form
Make it fit your workflow.
Use your own copy to change labels, remove questions and add the details you need. Try the preview alongside this guide to see what respondents will be asked.
The questions, explained
Fields in this template
Review the starting questions and choices. You can change them in your own copy.
Full Name
Jane Smith
Work Email
jane@company.com
Department
Marketing
Manager / Approver Name
John Doe
Item or Service Name
Standing desk, Figma Pro license, Semrush subscription
Vendor or Supplier
IKEA, Figma, Amazon
Product Link (if applicable)
https://www.example.com/product
Quantity
1
Unit Price ($)
0.00
Total Cost ($)
0.00
Expense Category
8 choices
- Office Supplies & Furniture
- Software & Subscriptions
- Hardware & Equipment
- Marketing & Advertising
- Travel & Accommodation
- Training & Professional Development
- Facilities & Maintenance
- Other
Priority
4 choices
- Low — nice to have
- Medium — needed within the month
- High — needed within the week
- Urgent — blocking work
Business Justification
Explain why this purchase is needed, how it will be used, and the benefit to the team or business.
Budget Code or Cost Center (if applicable)
MKT-2025-Q2
Where it fits
Who uses this template
Suggested uses, and why this starting point can help. Adapt the questions to your own process.
Finance teams
Collect the details needed to review a request consistently and identify missing information before the next step. Review “Vendor or Supplier” in particular and adapt it to the detail you need.
Office managers
Replace scattered requests with a consistent starting point. The answers help you understand the work, identify gaps and prepare a follow-up. Review “Product Link (if applicable)” in particular and adapt it to the detail you need.
Department heads
Use this as a starting point when you need the same essential information from each person. Review the questions against your process before sharing your copy. Review “Quantity” in particular and adapt it to the detail you need.
Small business owners
Turn initial interest into information you can review. Use the answers to prepare a relevant follow-up and decide whether the opportunity fits your work. Review “Unit Price ($)” in particular and adapt it to the detail you need.
Procurement coordinators
Use this as a starting point when you need the same essential information from each person. Review the questions against your process before sharing your copy. Review “Total Cost ($)” in particular and adapt it to the detail you need.
IT managers handling software requests
Replace scattered requests with a consistent starting point. The answers help you understand the work, identify gaps and prepare a follow-up. Review “Expense Category” in particular and adapt it to the detail you need.
Facilities managers
Replace scattered requests with a consistent starting point. The answers help you understand the work, identify gaps and prepare a follow-up. Review “Priority” in particular and adapt it to the detail you need.
What's included
Item name, vendor, quantity, and unit price fields
Total cost field for quick approval scanning
Product link for direct review without back-and-forth
Expense category dropdown for budget classification
Priority level to help approvers triage by urgency
Business justification field for accountability
Budget code / cost center for accounting
Free with unlimited submissions
How to create a purchase request form
- 1
Click 'Use this template' to open the purchase request form in formformform.
- 2
Update the intro paragraph to reflect your company's actual approval thresholds and process (e.g., under $500 = manager approval, over $500 = finance approval).
- 3
Customize the expense categories to match your chart of accounts or budget categories.
- 4
Set your finance team's or operations manager's email as the notification recipient.
- 5
Consider creating separate forms for different spending tiers — a lightweight 3-field form for small purchases under $50 and this full form for larger requests.
- 6
Share the form link on your company intranet and include it in employee onboarding documentation so everyone knows how to submit a purchase request.
Best practices for your purchase request form
Set clear thresholds in the form description
employees submit better requests when they know upfront what approval level their purchase requires. State your thresholds (e.g., '$0-$500: manager approval, $500+: finance review') in the intro paragraph.
Acknowledge requests within 24 hours
even a 'received and under review' response prevents employees from re-submitting or going around the process. Use the post-submit message to set timeline expectations.
Require the product link for software and hardware
a direct link to the exact product or subscription page lets approvers review specifications and pricing without requesting more information.
Track by expense category
the category field over time reveals spending patterns. If 'Software & Subscriptions' is growing rapidly, that's worth investigating before renewal season.
Review priority designations during high-volume periods
'urgent' should mean blocking work, not 'I'd like this soon.' If you're seeing priority inflation, address it in your purchase request policy.
Export monthly for budget reconciliation
a monthly export of approved requests by category gives your finance team a running budget view that complements your accounting system.
Frequently asked questions
Is this purchase request form template free?
Yes, completely free. You can collect unlimited purchase requests with no subscription required.
How does the approver get notified?
Every submission triggers an instant email to the notification address you configure. Set this to your finance team's inbox, a shared approvals alias, or the relevant department manager.
Can I add different approval paths for different cost levels?
The form itself collects the information. For routing to different approvers based on cost, you can use Zapier to trigger different email notifications based on the total cost field value.
Can employees track the status of their request?
The form doesn't have built-in status tracking. Use the post-submit message to explain the review timeline, and build a communication step into your workflow to notify requesters of the decision.
Can I export all purchase requests for a budget review?
Yes. All submissions are stored in your formformform dashboard and can be exported as a CSV. Filter by date range and expense category for quarterly budget reviews.
What's the difference between a purchase request and an expense report?
A purchase request is submitted before a purchase to get approval. An expense report is submitted after a purchase to request reimbursement. formformform has templates for both.
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- Employee request and approval form templates10 templates
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