Negative Quantity on Purchase Order

Great day, @MariamG.

I'm here to guide you in fixing negative inventory in QuickBooks. 

There are some factors for having negative inventory. These are the following:

• Your first transaction(s) for an item are sales
• You have sold inventory items without recording purchases
• You have entered purchases or adjustments before entering sales

Let's first check your Inventory Valuation Detail (IVD) report to evaluate the extent of your negative inventory. 

Here's how:

1. Go to the Reports menu.
2. Select Inventory.
3. Select Inventory Valuation.

The negative inventory shows negative numbers in the Quantity on Hand (QOH) column. 

To fix this, I'd recommend following the steps under the How to fix negative inventory section outlined in this article: Fix negative inventory issues in QuickBooks Desktop.

Let me know if you have additional concerns. I'll be there to help you again. 

was this ever fixed because I was on the phone with Quickbooks for 6 hours and this issue still isn't resolved

This isn't the kind of experience we want you to have, jh2023. I'll guide you on how you can fix negative inventory in QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT) to keep your data accurate.

Negative inventory quantity is caused by recording sales transactions before entering the corresponding purchase transactions. For example, you sell inventory items you do not have in stock.

If your first transaction(s) for an item are sales, assure that the earliest dated transaction for an item is a bill, check, credit card charge, or Adjust Qty/Value on Hand. Before doing so, please back up your QuickBooks company file without overwriting any previous backups. Then, consult with your accounting professional to assure these changes are legitimate.

Whenever you're ready to fix your negative inventory, perform the following steps:

1. From the QuickBooks Reports menu, choose Inventory, then select Inventory Valuation Summary.
2. QuickZoom an item that 's showing incorrect values by double clicking the item name. This opens the Inventory Valuation Detail report for the item. The transactions associated with this item are listed in order by date.
3. QuickZoom the first Bill listed to open the Enter Bills window.
4. Change the date on the bill to a date earlier than the first invoice listed on the detail report you opened in Step 2.
5. Click Save & Close to record the bill with the new date.
6. Repeat Steps 2 through 5 for each incorrect item.

If you have sold inventory items without recording purchases and entered purchases or adjustments before entering sales, please see the How to fix negative inventory drop-down section in this article to guide you the appropirate fix: Fix negative inventory issues in QuickBooks Desktop.

In case the issue continues, I'd recommend contacting our Customer Care team again to have this investigated.

Additionally, QuickBooks lets you combine inventory parts and other items to build a product. You may want to look into this article to learn more about this process: Inventory assembly overview.

You can always post again here if you have other inventory quantity concerns in QBDT. I'll be here ready to assist you.

QB - the original post is NOT having an issue with negative inventory!!  The issue is reports are showing a negative quantity on PURCHASE ORDERS when the purchase order has been received in full and there are no existing open purchase orders.  We continue to have this issue.  Often rebuilding the data fixes the issue, sometimes deleting the receiver and re-entering works, but neither option is ideal.  Why does this keep happening?? and why hasn't this bug been fixed??

Thanks for getting involved with this thread, Heather S88.
 

If you've already performed each of our recommended troubleshooting steps covered in katherinejoyceO and Rea_M's posts, but aren't seeing any negative inventory that needs to be corrected while your reports are showing purchase orders with negative quantity, I'd recommend getting in touch with our Customer Care team. They'll be able to pull up the account in a secure environment, conduct further research, and create an investigation ticket if necessary.
 

They can be reached while you're signed in.
 

Here's how:

1. Use the Help (?) icon.
   
   
    
2. Click Contact Us.
   
   
    
3. Enter a description of your situation in the What can we help you with? field, then hit Let's talk.
   
   
    
4. Select Start messaging or Get a call.
   
   

Be sure to review their support hours so you'll know when agents are available.

I'll be here to help if there's any additional questions. Have an awesome Monday!