I have set up a default account for a supplier. All purchases should go to the same expense account. When I upload an invoice it selects random accounts. Why?

Hi accounting-futur,

Welcome to Community!  QuickBooks Online is an exceptional accounting software providing everything you need to reach your bookkeeping goals.  Having the ability to apply default options is a great time saver.  I'll be happy to provide more information so you can reach your QuickBooks goals with confidence!

When you set up a supplier you can add an opening balance and a default expense account.  However, based on the information you've provided, when creating an invoice, you can also set a default account to your products and services.  Here's how:

1. From the Gear in the top right, select Products and services

2. Locate the product/service in the list and hit Edit in the Action column

3. Enter the Sales price, Income account and applicable Sales tax

4. Under Purchasing Information enter a Description, Cost and default Expense account

5. Select the applicable Sales tax and hit Save and close when finished

If you require additional assistance or have other questions, please don't hesitate to reach back out.  We'd be glad to assist!

Thanks for the reply but I think you may have misunderstood.  I am talking about invoices I receive from a supplier (a Bill)  that I upload in Banking - Receipts.  I drag and drop the invoice and after it uploads, the Account/Category is almost always incorrect.  I uploaded three invoices from the same supplier with the exact same type of invoice format (just different products/amounts purchased) and the category for one was "Business Development", one was "Inventory", and one was "Meals and Entertainment".  None of these is the account I set up as the default account these purchases are supposed to go to. 

Another example:  I uploaded an invoice from a company we purchase raw materials from and the Account/Category came up as Travel Costs.  There is nothing on the invoice that would indicate this has anything to do with Travel.  The only thing related to travel that I can see is a Shipping and Handling charge at the bottom of the invoice.  

Is QBO attempting to read the invoice and assign a category?  

If I assigned a default account to a supplier, shouldn't anything from that supplier default to that account?

Thank you.

Hi accounting-futur,

Thank you for reaching back out with valuable details on your situation with default accounts.  Setting up default accounts is a time saver, but in your situation the behavior is unexpected.  I'll be happy to provide additional insight here!

Based on what you've described, I'm steering towards bank rules as the possible cause for transactions to be incorrectly categorized.  There's another option in the banking module that can be set to suggest a category to your transactions.  Let's take a look at the banking feature and look into a couple of things there.  

Follow these steps to see if suggested categorization is turned on:

1. Open Banking from the left menu

2. Click on the small Gear above the Action column

3. Remove the checkmark beside Enable suggested categorization 

Now let's have a look at bank rules by clicking on the Rules tab.  Review any possible rules that are set to contain specific details in relation to how the transactions are being categorized, and which account they're directed to.  Make any changes as you see necessary.  If you don't currently have any bank rules set up, you can follow the steps here.  This is an exceptional feature that will automatically categorize all of the transactions associated to the specifics you apply to the rule, making reconciling a breeze.

If the issue persists, please don't hesitate to contact our phone support, so we can work with you in real time and ensure you're able to get back to what you love as soon as possible.  

Schedule a Callback or start a Chat: click (?) Help in the upper right in QuickBooks Online > enter "Contact support" > hit Contact Us > provide a brief summary of your situation > hit Let's Talk > choose Get a callback or Start a Chat.
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Please feel free to reach back out with any other questions.  We'd love to help!

I have the same issue. Bank Rules did not address it. When I upload a bill (from a .pdf that a vendor sends me), there should be some way for QBO to automatically assign a default expense account to that bill - either the default account associated with that vendor, or a generic default account. Is there any way to control this behavior?

Hey there Rodbert,

Welcome to the QuickBooks Community! Thanks for chiming in on this thread. QuickBooks Online is a great software that can help manage your business. I can provide some information.

You would need to follow the sample file and import your bills in excel format. To do this, Head to the Gear icon and select Import data. Next download sample file. Follow the sample file to create your own spreadsheet, removing any unnecessary columns. Once you're done, you can upload it to QuickBooks.

If you have any other questions, feel free to reach to us here.

Thanks for the reply, however it doesn't address this issue since I'm not uploading data from a .csv file. In this case, I am using the bill upload feature, where QBO scans the image of a .pdf file to extract information such as vendor name, bill number, bill amount, bill date, and due date. QBO is somehow assigning a (seemingly random) account/category to the bill, which I have to manually change during the review process. I would like to control what account/category QBO automatically assigns to bills uploaded from a scanned image file (not .csv data file).

Hi Rodbert,

Thanks for getting back to us here.  I see you've spent much of your time on this issue and it's important that it's resolved without further delay.  I encourage you to contact us outside of Community, so our Customer Care team can work with you directly, and escalate the issue for further investigation and resolution with our Development Team.

Should any other questions or concerns come to mind, please reach back out.  We're here for you!