What’s the best method to track incoming PO’s for wholesale orders prior to invoicing and mailing to them?

I understand the importance of maintaining an efficient workflow for your business in managing orders and invoicing clients, Ryan. To keep track of these expenses in QuickBooks, you'll want to enter them as bills. This represents an amount you owe to vendors for products or services purchased to fulfill a client’s order. I'd be glad to guide you through this process.

Before we begin, let’s ensure your QuickBooks is set up to display the items table, allowing you to itemize your products and services effectively. Here’s how you can do that:

1. Go to Settings, then Account and settings.
2. Select the Expenses tab, and click the edit icon under Bills and expenses.
3. Turn on the Show Items table on expense and purchase forms, Track expenses and items by customer, and Make expenses and items billable features.
   
4. Hit Save, then Done.

Now, let’s move on to creating bills and marking them as billable so that these expenses can later be added to an invoice for your client. Please refer to the steps below:

1. In the Purchase orders tab, open the PO transaction.
2. Click Copy to Bill to convert the transaction into a bill.
   
3. Complete the necessary information in the form.
4. Check the BILLABLE box and select the appropriate customer in the CUSTOMER/PROJECT field.
5. Hit Save and Close once you’re finished.

After that, you can proceed to Pay bills to close that transaction and mark it as settled.

Next, navigate to the customer profile associated with the bill to create an invoice based on the expenses you recorded as billable. 

You can then utilize the Receive payment feature when your customer makes a payment to mark the transaction as paid.

To further enhance your QuickBooks experience, our QuickBooks Live Expert Assisted team is here to support you in streamlining various tasks including handling POs, refining invoicing practices, and providing comprehensive support for all aspects of your business finances.

I hope this information helps you effectively track your incoming POs and manage your invoicing process. If you need assistance navigating QuickBooks or locating transactions related to your orders, please don’t hesitate to click the Reply button below. I'm here to help you maximize your QuickBooks experience. Take care.

Not what I was asking, I’ll try to clarify/simplify.

We receive a PO from a vendor looking to purchase from us.

We then need to file/document/account for this PO so that it can be processed in a timely manner.

Once the order is fulfilled to be shipped we send the vendor the invoice as this can be a 2 week discrepancy between receiving the PO and being ready to ship.

I need to know how best to document/track the vendor PO prior to invoicing. Draft invoices are not an option as they don’t show in a usable way as far as I can tell. Completing an invoice, without sending prior to sending doesn’t seem to be workable for several reasons either.

You can utilize the Estimates and send it to them, RyanAA.

To document the PO from your vendor who wants to purchase from you, you can create and send estimates to them. This document outlines the anticipated costs of the project or service before it starts. Here's how to create an estimate:

1. Go to Sales and select Estimates.
2. Click the Create estimate button.
3. Select + Add customer. Then select a customer from the dropdown.
4. Click the dropdown in the Product or service field and add the products or services to the estimate.
5. Hit the Save button.

For guidance in creating estimates, you can read this article: Create and send estimates.

Once the order is ready to ship and fulfillment is complete, you can convert the estimates into invoices and send it to them. You can refer to this article on how to convert estimates into an invoice: Convert an estimate into an invoice.

In QuickBooks Online, you can also customize invoices and estimates to better suit your business needs. For more information, please check this article: Customize invoices, estimates, and sales receipts in QuickBooks Online.

If you have any further questions about documenting POs or managing sales in QuickBooks Online, please feel free to leave a comment below.