I entered and paid a bill without applying it to an open purchase order. How can I go back and add the information to the purchase order?

Thanks for joining the Community space, @marthaw.

You can delete the paid bills created so you can add the information of your purchase order. Before doing so, make sure to take note of the details of the payment.

To delete the paid bills, here's how:

1. Go to Vendors.
2. Choose the Vendor Center.
3. Select the vendor's name.
4. Double-click the bill payment, bill or credit.
5. Press Ctrl and D at the same time to delete.
6. Select OK to confirm.

Then, enter the information of your purchase order. Let me show you how:

1. Go to Vendors and select Create Purchase Orders.
2. In the Vendor dropdown, select the vendor you'd like to create a purchase order for. You can also select Add New to add a new vendor.
3. Fill out the rest of the fields, and add the items you'd like to order.
4. Select Save & Close.

For reference, just click this article: Create purchase orders in QuickBooks Desktop.

Once everything is done, you can now recreate the bill and the payment, here are the articles for your guide:

• Enter bills in QuickBooks Desktop
• Pay bills in QuickBooks Desktop

In case you want to run reports to see how your business is doing. You can access various job reports by going to the Reports menu. For more information click this article: Understand Reports.

I'm always around if you have other questions or clarification. Keep safe!

Just for clarification, one of the check payments has already cleared and been reconciled. Is it still appropriate to follow your instructions to delete the bills and payments?

Thank you for following up with us, @marthaw.

Allow me to step in for a moment and share with you some additional information about your bill and payment transaction.

Yes, you can follow the steps provided above to fix and record your transactions correctly. With regards to your reconciliation, you can fix this by doing a mini or special reconciliation. Just ensure you remember the ending balance from the most recent reconciliation. 

Here's how to do a special reconciliation:

1. Open your QuickBooks Desktop file, then go to the Banking menu and select Reconcile.
2. Select the bank account with the transactions you need to reconcile.
3. In the Date of Statement field, enter the date for an "off-cycle reconciliation." This date can be any date between your last reconciliation and the next scheduled one. When you enter an "off-cycle" date, QuickBooks will remind you that you're doing a mini reconciliation. This puts previously unreconciled transactions back without affecting the "cycle" that they follow.
4. In the Ending Balance field, enter the balance of your last successful reconciliation. Then select Continue.
5. In the Reconcile window, check off the transactions you are fixing and re-reconciling.
6. Make sure the Difference field shows $0.00.
7. When everything looks good, select Reconcile Now.

For additional references when fixing reconciliations in QuickBooks Desktop, you can check out these articles:

• Reconcile previously deleted and re-entered checking or credit card transactions
• Fix beginning balance issues in QuickBooks Desktop

If you need additional resources while working with QuickBooks and banking, you can as well read the topics from our Banking help articles.

Please let me know if you need further assistance with this. I've got your back and am always happy to help. Thanks for reaching out, wishing you and your business all the best.