Inventory: Creating purchase orders
When you use POs to buy goods, QuickBooks keeps track of which goods are on order so you'll know when they're due to be received. Usually, you'll use a PO to buy inventory goods, but you can also use POs for non-inventory items — for example, to order office supplies for your business.
- If you haven't already, turn on inventory and purchase orders . (QuickBooks > Preferences > Inventory)
- Choose Vendors > Create Purchase Orders. You can also create purchase orders using the Vendor Center and Transaction Center .
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To create a new PO, click the "Create Purchase Order" on the left panel or click the + at the bottom of the list. To edit a PO, select a PO in the list on the left panel. (If you don't see this list, click the Left View.)
- Fill in the purchase order, then click Next to create another purchase order or Save and close the window.
Note: You can also create POs starting at the Vendor Center and Transaction Center .
Want to create a PO starting with the info you've already got on an estimate? Here's how:
- Click Create Purchase Order.
- Choose whether you want to create the PO for All allowable items on the estimate (good if you've only got items from one vendor on the estimate) or Selected items (good if you've got items from multiple vendors on the estimate).
- Select the items you want on your PO, if you chose that option.
- Finish up any additional info on your PO, click Save, and send the PO off to your vendor.
- Vendor. The vendor you're ordering from. If the vendor isn't in this list, you can add them in the Vendor Center or through Quick Add here.
- Class. If you are using classes , select the class you want to use here. If you don't see this list, turn Classes on through QuickBooks > Preferences > Transactions.
- Vendor (address). When you select a vendor from the dropdown menu at the top of the form, the address appears here. You make any changes you need to. (If you're adding the vendor through QuickAdd, you'll need to manually enter the address.)
- Ship To. The address that you want the goods shipped to. By default, this is your company's address .
- Expected. The date you expect the goods to arrive.
- FOB. Indicate to the vendor how you want your order to be shipped. FOB refers to "free on board." Set your preferred FOB on Preferences .
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Item.
Select what you are order. You can include anything on the Items list here. You also enter a new item, and QuickBooks will prompt you to set it up.
Tip:
If you need to insert an item between two others, select the item line where you want the new one and choose Edit > Insert Line. Likewise, if you want to delete an item, select the item then choose Edit > Delete Line.
You can use a purchase order for items you don't stock or even resell. When you write a purchase order for non-inventory items, you can include these types of items on the PO form:
- Non-inventory Part
- Service
- Other Charge
When you write purchase orders for non-inventory items, you can still track your open POs to see what you have and have not received. Note, however, that QuickBooks excludes non-inventory items from reports that show items on order.
- Description. The description of the item you entered when you created the item. You can change this if you need to. Tip: You can enter multiple lines for your description, up to 4095 characters. Use Option-Return to put in a line break.
- Quantity. How many of the items are you ordering? If you leave this blank, QuickBooks assumes the quantity is 1.
- Rate. How much does your vendor charge for the item? If you entered this when you created the item, QuickBooks enters it for you. If you didn't or you need to change it, just edit this box.
- Amount. This is the total amount (Quantity x Rate) for this item that QuickBooks calculates for you.
- Vendor Message. A message for your vendor.
Note: You'll see a mark in the Rec'd column when you've told QuickBooks you've received the items .
When you receive goods you ordered with the PO, you also record that in QuickBooks. The transaction you use depends on when you pay for the items.
- Item receipt — You've received the goods, but won't get the bill until later.
- Bill — You've received the goods and the bill at the same time.
- Check or credit card charge — You've received the goods and paid for them at the same time.
Other things to know about POs:
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View history for the purchase order. Click history to see the history for this invoice.
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Print, email, add to Calendar.
You can mark the PO
to be printed
or
emailed
later. Then choose File > Print forms or File > Email forms. You can also add a reminder to Calendar that the items on the PO are due to arrive.
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Close the purchase order. When you receive all the items on the purchase order, QuickBooks marks the PO as "Received in Full." If you do not expect to receive all the items you ordered, you can close either part or all of the PO manually so that QuickBooks doesn't show the items as "on order" anymore. When you close a PO manually, QuickBooks marks the PO as "Closed."
- More about using purchase orders