Linking Purchase Order to Bill vs Expense - Receiving Inventory in QuickBooks Online

Hello R Visser,

Welcome to Community!  In QuickBooks Online, you can easily add the purchase order as a line item.  This will connect to the bill or expense, and close the original purchase order to maintain accurate books.  I'll be happy to share more information, so you can complete your QuickBooks goals seamlessly!

Follow these steps to add a purchase order to an expense;

1. Open +New from the left menu, then choose Expense

3. Select the Supplier from the Payee ▼ dropdown menu

Note; This will show the purchase order in a new window.

4. Hit Add for the corresponding purchase order. They'll appear in the Item details section

5. Hit Save and close when complete

For your reference, here's a helpful guide for adding purchase orders to expenses, bills or cheques in QuickBooks Online.

Should you require additional assistance, please contact us outside of Community. It would be our pleasure to work with you in real-time and ensure you're able to accomplish your QuickBooks goals as soon as possible!

Please don't hesitate to reach back out if you have any other questions. We're always glad to assist!

Hello Trish, 

Thank you for your response. Can you clarify for me:

1. If I create this 'New' expense, would that not duplicate the amounts under my expenses, since the payment for these products is already being captured under 'Expenses'?

2. Also can you please verify, if I link the purchase order to the expense, will my products be 'received' into the inventory in QuickBooks? I was under the impression that the only way to receive the inventory to adjust amounts was to attach the purchase order to a bill. 

Hi R Visser, 

Moving your data to QuickBooks Online, can be done seamlessly. However, there are some important steps that must be taken to ensure a smooth transition.  Although you can transfer most of your data from your company file and prevent manual entries, some data will not convert automatically.  This means there will be some necessary adjustments post migration.  Before starting the conversion, I encourage you to review this helpful guide.  You'll also want to review how data converts, and follow this link, to learn how to set up inventory after converting to QuickBooks Online.  To minimize post conversion discrepancies, it's strongly advised to ensure all of your work is completed in your company prior to transitioning to QuickBooks Online.  

I understand that you'll have additional questions and concerns, and for this reason, I feel you would benefit more by contacting our Customer Care team at 1-855-253-1536 from Monday to Friday between the hours of 9 AM and 8 PM EST.  

Additionally, you can always touch base with us here, as other Community members will also be able to offer their advice with any other concerns you may have.  Your success is our number one priority, and we are here to help!