The procedure varies depending on whether you have a purchase order and/or bill. This is a great QuickBooks Training article.
Next to processing payroll, recording and tracking inventory items is probably the most painstaking, exacting task in QuickBooks. If you’re charged with this duty, a QuickBooks training course is probably a very good idea.
If you break it down into individual steps, it’s more manageable and easier to understand. The process of receiving inventory, for example, is not that complicated.
We’ll look here at how you’d handle the necessary QuickBooks transactions when you had sent a purchase order for needed items.
Start by going to Vendors | Receive Items. The Create Item Receipts window opens, and looks something like this, depending on your version:
A partial view of the Create Item Receipts window in QuickBooks. You’ll begin the process of recording inventory items received here if you haven’t yet received a bill.
Select a vendor by clicking the arrow to the right of the Vendor field. Since you sent a purchase order for the items, the Open POs Exist window will open, asking if you want to receive against one or more of them. Click Yes.
Another small window will open displaying the open PO numbers. Put a check mark next to any relevant ones and click OK. QuickBooks will fill in the grid under the Items tab with the information from the PO (clicking Show PO next to an item you’ve checked will bring up the original PO). Make any changes necessary (number received, date, etc.) and save the transaction.
If there was no PO, simply enter the details about the item(s) received, under the Items tab, and save your work.
Behind the scenes: When you complete and save an item receipt, QuickBooks does two things in the background. It increases your accounts payable – even if you haven’t received a bill – and changes your inventory count to reflect the additions. These actions:
- Increase your inventory asset account
- Reduces the quantity on order, and
- Calculates a new average cost for the item(s).
(It’s a good idea to understand the double-entry bookkeeping behind your transactions. You can learn these things in a QuickBooks training course.)
When you receive a bill for the items you’ve already accounted for, you must enter the bill against the item receipt you created. If you don’t, those items will be recorded twice and your inventory count will be incorrect.
Instead, go to Vendors | Enter Bill for Received Items. The Select Item Receipt window opens. Select the vendor by opening the drop-down list and highlight the item receipt that corresponds to the bill. It’s recommended that you also check the box next to Choose the Item Receipt which corresponds to your bill. Click OK.
The Enter Bills screen will open, already filled out. If there is more than one item receipt, you need to go through this process for each one individually.
Once you’ve completed an item receipt, your bill will be filled out.
When you’re sure that everything is accurate, save the transaction. Now you’re ready to pay the bill.
