Hi there, @dkassner. Welcome to the Community,
I appreciate you sharing the details regarding your assemblies reverting to pending status when paying an invoice. I can certainly see how this workflow interruption impacts your manufacturing process, especially following your previous outreach to our support team. This is not the experience we aim to provide, and I'd like to help you get to the bottom of this.
From what you described, QuickBooks is reacting to dates. In QuickBooks Desktop, the date on the Item Receipt/Bill controls when inventory quantities increase. When AP converts an Item Receipt to a Bill and changes the bill’s Date to the vendor’s invoice date, QuickBooks treats that as the receipt date. If that new date is after the date on your Build Assembly, QuickBooks sees that the components weren’t on hand on the build date and automatically marks the build (and any builds that depend on it) as Pending.
How to Resolve the Current Issue:
1. Check and align dates:
- Open the Bill that was created from the Item Receipt go to Vendors then Enter Bills. If its Date is later than the build date, either change the Bill Date back to the actual receipt date, or plan to re‑date the Build Assembly.
- Open each Pending Build, go to Inventory Activities then Build Assemblies. If you kept the bill dated later, change the Date on the build to be on or after the bill/receipt date so components are available as of the build.
2. Finalize the builds:
- In the Build Assemblies window, confirm the Shortage column shows zero for all components, clear Mark Pending if selected, then click Build & Close.
3. Verify what was short:
- Run the Inventory Stock Status by Item report for the date of your build. This identifies which items are showing a shortage, confirming which receipt dates need to be adjusted to restore availability.
To avoid this in the future, you have two practical options:
- Keep the bill’s Date equal to the physical receipt date (on or before the build date). AP can still record the vendor’s invoice date in Ref No/Memo and control due dates with Terms. This keeps inventory timing correct but means AP aging follows receipt date rather than the vendor’s printed date.
- If you must use the vendor’s later bill date, date your builds on or after that date so components are available “as of” the build.
If you’re on QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise, there’s also an advanced option: Enhanced Inventory Receiving (EIR). It separates item receipts from bills so the bill date won’t change the inventory receipt date. Intuit notes this is a one‑way, permanent change that affects several inventory workflows, so it’s best to evaluate with your accountant or IT lead before turning it on
If you have follow-up questions, please don't hesitate to click the Reply button.
