Bills not factoring into project costs

The Community has you covered, @tom42.

Let's make sure that project transactions are not under asset, liability, or equity accounts. If expense transactions are posting to a liability account, this will not factor into the costs section as it is not classed as an expense. Those transactions you enter like bills should be under the account connected to your project. Also, the costs figure on the projects page shows paid transactions to expense accounts. If the bills are not yet paid, they don't factor into the costs figure. For more info, see this article: Projects FAQ. 

I've added this wonderful source to help you track income, costs, and profitability by a project in QuickBooks Online (QBO). 

Then, to review your profits, you can run the Project Profitability report. This will give you an itemized view of your project accounts and transactions. Here's how to open the report:

1. Go to the Project menu.
2. Select a project to open.
3. Click the Project Reports tab.
4. Choose Project Profitability. 

Feel free to post here in the Community if you have any concerns about managing projects in QuickBooks. I want to make sure you're taken care of, and I'm here to help you anytime. Take care always.

Thank you for the reply. 

A couple of comments. For the non-inventory materials I use on my projects I have them associated with COGS expense. When I input a Bill from my vendor it does get factored into the COSTS of the project prior to payment. 

On the labor side I have the expense set to Contract Labor which is a COGS expense. When I post a bill from a vendor it doesn't show it factoring into the COSTS of the project, even AFTER it is paid.

When I run a report, it reflects proper earnings (prior or post payment of bills), but it sure would be nice to quickly view the % profit margin to identify if there were any errors or issues on a particular project instead of having to run a report on each individual one. 

Any reason why two project expenses both associated to COGS would behave differently? 

Thank you for the reply. 

I have two expenses associated with a project, materials and labor. Both are assigned as a COGS expense. 

When I receive a bill from my material provider and put it into the project it gets tallied in the nifty 'project costs' graphic on the top of the page as soon as it is entered, even prior to making payment. 

When I receive a bill from my labor provider and put it into the project, it does not get tallied into the project costs, even AFTER making payment. 

If at any time I run a Project Report (before or after making labor payment) it calculates out correctly. 

Any reason two different COGS expenses would behave differently? Have I setup products/services incorrectly? It sure would be nice to be able to at quick glance look at the Profit Margin % to know if there were any issues as I believe it is intended, rather than going in and running a report on each individual project. 

Thanks!

Hi there, tom42.

Thanks for taking the time out of your day to stop by the Community, I'm happy to help get you in the right place. In order for us to help you to the best of our abilities, we'll need to see how the bills are set up. For this reason, your best bet would be to reach out to our support team, they can dive into your account with you in a private 1-on-1 setting and screen share so you both can see exactly what's going on and how to set it up to achieve your goal. TO reach them, follow these steps:

1. Sign in to your QuickBooks Online company.
2. Select Help (?) at the top right.
3. Enter your concern, then select Let's talk.
4. Select Contact Us to connect with a live support agent.
5. Choose a way to connect with us:
   • Start a chat with a support expert.
   • Get a callback from the next available expert.

If you have any other questions, feel free to post here anytime. Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day.