Currently when I run the estimates vs actuals report, the est cost shows as the est revenue. How do I enter the job to change that information. The revenue is accurate

"we no longer have actual inventory"

That's fine. As long as all inventory items are 0 value and 0 quantity on hand, you can stop using them and make them all Inactive.

"and everything is ordered as a non inventory part and that material is charged against Job Materials in the general ledger."

You did not Answer the Question: Are they Two Sided?

"Since all purchases are ordered as job material (nothing is set up individually), obviously the cost of everything is different.  Can we enter 0.00 as the cost in the item list?"

Yes, that is fine, but that means there is no Estimated cost for Estimates Vs Actuals. Instead, you would at least not have one generic "Materials" item or one generic Service Items, but a few, similar to what I showed.

"When I run the reports, will it populate with the amount from the AP invoice received?"

That would show in your Actuals reporting. AP is part of Actual Purchases: bills, credit card charges, checks to Buy Stuff.

Can you share those attachments?

The files are Images and are displayed in this topic. If you cannot see them, then I recommend coming here using your own Web Browser. This is the Topic's URL:

https://quickbooks.intuit.com/community/forums/replypage/board-id/account-management/message-id/2950

I have done this and the est cost and est rev are still the same.  My cost is correct, my revenue is the one that is wrong.  Am I possibly making the estimate or invoice wrong?

Hey there, @BK672.

I appreciate your efforts in trying the steps provided by our Established Community Backer. Let me provide some details about your revenue and get you back to business.

When the sales price of your items is the same as the cost, it'll also be the same on your estimated cost and revenue. 

Also, when you update your inventory cost, you'll need to edit your invoice to update the posted cost. You can edit your invoice by deleting the line item and adding it again.

Please let me know if you have other questions about your estimated costs and revenue. I'll be around to help. 

I am having the same issue in that the Est. Cost and Est. Revenue are the same amount.  Both are coming from the Customer Sales Estimate, which is correct for the Est. Revenue amount, but not the Est. Cost amount.  Where should the Est. Cost amount be pulling its data from?  I only have service items, and they are all 2-sided with an income and COGS account.  At this time, I do not have any estimated costs, except for purchase orders.  Is that what the estimated cost should be?

HELP from JP512!

Hi JP512,

For a service item, yes, QuickBooks will get the cost from your purchase orders. Unlike the inventory item, you'll need to create an invoice to generate an average cost.

Feel free to read this article for more information: Understand reports.

You can also visit our page for future reference: Reports.

If you have additional questions, please don't hesitate to swing by anytime.

In multiple reports, the Est. Cost amount is being taken from the Sales Estimate, not the Purchase Order.  Could it have something to do with the account that the Estimate vs the PO is using?  The Estimate is posting to account 90000 Estimates and the PO is posting to account 90100 Purchase Orders.  Could the Est. Cost column be hard coded to only look at what is posted in account 90000 Estimates?  How could I change which account the report picks the info from?

Thanks Jen D.  I now see what is happening.  I will adjust my estimates accordingly.

I too have been battling the est cost=est revenue issue. I have worked through your answers thus far, and unless I am missing something, theyre not applying to me. We are construction, we do not sell or markup our non inventory purchases, we use them and bill them at cost for that specific job. We submit our monthly draw request (an invoice to the job) as a percentage based how far we are in the job. Our estimates are not marked up per item either.

What I have attempted to do is go to my estimate, select create invoice, and figure the overall percentage of what the draw is to the total estimate amount, and apply it to the items entered. this now leaves me without the nearly all zeros in my act revenue column, but when running profit n loss, it shows nothing in my income line.

Feeling this is not entered or connected correctly somewhere

Hello advanced reports,

Thank you for joining the thread here in the Community. It would be my pleasure to lend a hand with the income line from the Profit and Loss report.

When you create an invoice from an estimate, the amount should reflect on your P&L report in QuickBooks Desktop. You can review the income account of the items added on the invoice to ensure it reflects on the income line.

Here are the steps:

1. Click the List tab at the top menu bar.
2. Select Item List.
3. Double-click the item.
4. Next to Income Account, select the correct account.
5. Click OK.

Please refer to the sample screenshots I'm attaching for your visual guide:

To know more on adding items, such as the specific guidelines to the fields you need to complete, I recommend checking out this article:

Add, edit, and delete items.

Let me know if you need further help with figuring out the missing figures, and I'll be sure to get back to you.

I have read through this thread several times and still can’t figure out where I’m going wrong.  I have service items set up as two sided but my estimated cost is still pulling total from the job estimate (estimated income). I entered a PO using the same service item as the estimate but the report still pull estimated cost from the job estimate. Once I create an invoice from the PO, actual cost is updated to the invoice amount but estimated cost still shows the total job estimate. What am I missing?  I am using Desktop Premier 2019. Thank you. 

Good day, ComCapp.

You can't create directly an invoice out of the purchase order. You need to create first a bill and mark it as billable to the customer. 

It's possible that you've linked the available estimate instead of the Billable Time and Costs of the customer. Let's check if this is the case. 

1. Open the Invoice.
2. Locate the Customer. 
3. If you're prompted with the Available Estimates window, click the Cancel button.
4. Then, you'll be prompted with the Billable Time/Costs window.
5. Choose the Select the outstanding billable time and costs to add this invoice? radio button.
6. Click OK.
7. Form the Choose Billable Time and Costs, select the Items tab.
8. Mark the item, then click OK.

You can also check these articles about A/P and A/R workflows in QuickBooks Desktop for reference:

• Accounts Receivable workflows in QuickBooks Desktop

• Accounts Payable workflows in QuickBooks Desktop

Let me know if you have follow-up questions about this. I'll be around to help.

Thank you for the reply.  I incorrectly referred to a bill as an invoice in my previous post.  My problem still lies with the cost/expense side of job costing.  We are a construction company and when we start a new project we would like to have the job estimate showing as estimated revenue and a PO for the job to show as estimated cost.  Currently, when we enter both of those items, the job estimate shows for both (i.e. estimated cost = estimated revenue).  How do I get the PO total to show as estimated cost?  Once I enter a bill from the PO it shows in actual cost, so I can't figure out why the PO does not show as estimated cost.  I have attached some reports for reference.  Thank you.

Thank for the additional details, ComCapp.

The option to show the estimated cost on the Purchase Order (PO) page, isn't available. The PO will display the details you've entered in the PURCHASE INFORMATION field.

I have a workaround for you. You can add another column on the PO thus, you'll have to manually enter the estimated cost. Here's how:

1. Open the purchase order transaction.
2. Go to the Formatting tab.
3. Click Customize Data Layout.
4. Go to the Columns tab.
5. Go to Other 1, and tick (✓) the fields under Screen, and Print columns.
6. Enter Estimated Cost as the column name.
7. Click OK, and then OK.

Here's a screenshots are your visual guide:

Though you can add a column for the estimated cost, this will not reflect on your Bill.

If you have addtional concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out to me. Have a great day!

The solution above still does not change what is showing in the Job Estimates vs. Actuals Detail report.  How do I get the estimated costs to reflect job costs (POs)?  I can't figure out why revenue and costs are pulling form the same source (Job Estimate).

Hello, ComCapp.

Thanks for getting back to us. Allow me to help and provide few insights regarding estimated costs in QuickBooks Desktop.

The Job Estimates vs. Actual Detail report will show estimates and sales transactions or invoices. Purchase orders (POs) will not be reflected in this report. To show the estimated cost, you'll need to put a cost amount on your inventory item.

You may find these articles helpful:

• Tracking job costs in QuickBooks Desktop.
• Customize reports in QuickBooks Desktop.

For additional help, you can also reach out to our QuickBooks Desktop Support.

1. Within your QuickBooks Desktop, click Help at the top menu bar.
2. Click Contact us.
3. In order to route you to the correct support expert, we need to know what type of question you have. Give a brief description of your issue and click Continue.
4. We’ll provide you a few options. You choose which one is best for you.

Feel free to get back to me if you have any other estimate concerns. Have a great day.

Hi,

I have set up my Items List as your instructions and made my template using the Items list.  When I run the Estimate vs Actual report, I get a "Total" actual cost, but the actual costs do not break out the detail so I can compare each item.  How do I get the paid job invoices to show the detail by item?

Thank you

We can pull the detailed type of the Estimates vs. Actuals report, debpenne52. 

The detailed report gives you all the items associated per job. You can export the report to Excel and collate all the detailed information from there. 

Let me show you how:

1. Go to the Reports menu.
2. Hover your mouse to Jobs, Time and Mileage and click Job Estimates vs. Actuals. 
3. Select the first Customer/Job to run.
4. Hit the Customize report button to filter the item to either all items or selected ones. 
5. Click the Excel option from the menu to export it.

Do the same steps for the rest of the jobs. I'l be here if you need anything else.

I have followed this thread. I have two-sided items. In our firm we use items for income and different items for cost when entering the information for the job estimates. Each income item and each cost item will differ for each job. I leave the amounts at zero at the item level. The items for cost force me to put in a revenue account, and I need to leave the revenue blank.

When entering the estimate, I don't know where to enter the item cost amount.

The cost item amount shows in both the estimated cost and the estimated revenue.

Is there anyone who can give me clear direction on this?

Thanks

Hello there, pennees,

The system will not allow you to save an item without selecting an income account.

When you create sales transactions such as estimates, you'll want to use the item for sale. You don't need to add the item for revenue to avoid duplication. Item for revenue will be used when you create expense transactions, such as replenishing or purchasing items from your vendors.

Check out these articles for future reference:

• Add, edit, and delete items
• Understand inventory assets and cost of goods sold tracking

Let me know if you need further assistance about this, I'll be right here to help.