Purchase Orders Tracking and Invoicing

paulspaper · ‎November 10, 2020

Hello, I'm trying to add something to my quickbooks online. Not sure if I'm able to do it.

Currently I have customers that send Purchase orders for say 500,000 of one item. We bill them as they need them 100,000 for example on one invoice.

Is it possible to input the 500,000 PO into quickbooks. Then have quickbooks track when I invoice out the 100,000. Also I want to be able to show on the invoice (ie. PO Total, PO Remaining etc.).

I'd also like to make a statement or report when the customer needs it at the end of the month that shows all purchase orders with the total / billed out / remaining on there.

Is any of this possible?

Rebecca R · ‎November 10, 2020

Hi there paulspaper,

I'm happy to let you know that most of what you're looking for is in fact available in QuickBooks Online! I know how key it is to track customer transactions as accurately as possible, so I want to introduce you to some of the fantastic features available in QuickBooks Online that I'm confident will suit your needs.

While you can't enter a purchase order for a customer, you do have the option to enter an Estimate. This is a fantastic way to give your customer a quote, bid, or proposal for work you'll be doing or items you'll be selling. When you're ready, you can add data from the estimate directly to an Invoice, and use Progress Invoicing to split the estimate into as many invoices as necessary. Follow the steps below to create an Estimate:

From the + New button, select Estimate.
Select a Customer.
Verify the Estimate Date and enter an Expiration Date if necessary.
Enter the Product/Service and other relevant information just as you would fill out an Invoice.
Select Save and Close or Save and Send to send a copy of the estimate to your customer.

Here's a comprehensive article you can use to help you with Setting up and using estimates.

You can easily add an estimate to an invoice by finding it from the Sales tab then using the dropdown menu in the Action column to select Start Invoice. However, if you want to create an invoice for only a partial amount of the estimate, you'll need to set up Progress Invoicing. The article below will give you the steps to turn on progress invoicing, as well as to create a progress invoice from an estimate.

Set up and send progress invoices in QuickBooks Online

When the end of the month rolls around and you're looking to provide your customer with an overview of their monthly transactions with your business, you'll want to send a Statement. Here's how:

From the Sales tab, navigate to the Customers page.
Find the customer(s) that you want to make a statement for, and select the checkbox to the left.
From the batch actions dropdown, choose Create statements.
Choose the Statement Type from the dropdown. You can choose between Balance Forward, Open Item, and Transaction Statement.
Enter the applicable dates into the date fields.
Use the Print or Preview option at the bottom of the page to see what your customer will see.
Save and send or Save and close once complete.

The article below is a great resource with everything you need to know on creating customer statements:

Create and view customer statements

A customer statement doesn't show Estimates, but since I know how handy this addition would be to the statement feature, I encourage you to submit feedback to our product development team on this. Navigate to the Gear icon, then select Feedback to have your voice heard. We're always looking for ways to ensure that our product is fitting the needs of users like you, so your feedback is highly valued!

I know the options I've provided you with will get you back to doing what you love sooner rather than later. Let me know if you have any other questions.

View solution in original post

Rebecca R · ‎November 10, 2020

Hi there paulspaper,

I'm happy to let you know that most of what you're looking for is in fact available in QuickBooks Online! I know how key it is to track customer transactions as accurately as possible, so I want to introduce you to some of the fantastic features available in QuickBooks Online that I'm confident will suit your needs.

While you can't enter a purchase order for a customer, you do have the option to enter an Estimate. This is a fantastic way to give your customer a quote, bid, or proposal for work you'll be doing or items you'll be selling. When you're ready, you can add data from the estimate directly to an Invoice, and use Progress Invoicing to split the estimate into as many invoices as necessary. Follow the steps below to create an Estimate:

From the + New button, select Estimate.
Select a Customer.
Verify the Estimate Date and enter an Expiration Date if necessary.
Enter the Product/Service and other relevant information just as you would fill out an Invoice.
Select Save and Close or Save and Send to send a copy of the estimate to your customer.

Here's a comprehensive article you can use to help you with Setting up and using estimates.

You can easily add an estimate to an invoice by finding it from the Sales tab then using the dropdown menu in the Action column to select Start Invoice. However, if you want to create an invoice for only a partial amount of the estimate, you'll need to set up Progress Invoicing. The article below will give you the steps to turn on progress invoicing, as well as to create a progress invoice from an estimate.

Set up and send progress invoices in QuickBooks Online

When the end of the month rolls around and you're looking to provide your customer with an overview of their monthly transactions with your business, you'll want to send a Statement. Here's how:

From the Sales tab, navigate to the Customers page.
Find the customer(s) that you want to make a statement for, and select the checkbox to the left.
From the batch actions dropdown, choose Create statements.
Choose the Statement Type from the dropdown. You can choose between Balance Forward, Open Item, and Transaction Statement.
Enter the applicable dates into the date fields.
Use the Print or Preview option at the bottom of the page to see what your customer will see.
Save and send or Save and close once complete.

The article below is a great resource with everything you need to know on creating customer statements:

Create and view customer statements

A customer statement doesn't show Estimates, but since I know how handy this addition would be to the statement feature, I encourage you to submit feedback to our product development team on this. Navigate to the Gear icon, then select Feedback to have your voice heard. We're always looking for ways to ensure that our product is fitting the needs of users like you, so your feedback is highly valued!

I know the options I've provided you with will get you back to doing what you love sooner rather than later. Let me know if you have any other questions.

paulspaper · ‎November 11, 2020

Thank you so much for your help.

Rebecca R · ‎November 11, 2020

Any time! It's what I'm here for.

trezero · ‎October 17, 2022

Estimates are not the same as Purchase Orders. We often send out Estimates for complete jobs. We then receive POs agains the Estimate for the complete job. Then we need to invoice against the PO, often with multiple invoices based on terms like 60% upfront and 40% on delivery. With no way to track POs within QBO I have not found any way of tracking this. Is there something I'm missing here or any recommendations of how to do this?

JamesM4 · ‎October 17, 2022

Hello trezero. Since the function you've described isn't available in QuickBooks, I recommend you to send feedback about this to our engineers. You can send feedback by clicking on the Gear icon and looking for Feedback. New product ideas and improvements are based on the feedback we get from users like you. Let me know if you have other questions by leaving a comment below. I'll be one message away.

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