A number of improvements have been introduced to QuickBooks Online (QBO) recently. Mainly, these changes affect how you can work with inventory quantities.
You can adjust starting values for inventory items. The As Of Date, initial quantity and cost can be modified after the beginning setup of QBO inventory quantities and values.
More recently, QBO added a much improved method for adjusting inventory on hand.
Here’s the reason this is such a big deal. Anyone who deals with inventory knows that it is very common for inventory quantities to need adjusting. Things happen. Something gets lost, broken, stolen. It’s why we do periodic inventory counts. Now, there’s an improved way to record those changes into QBO.
You can see from the above screenshot that this can be accessed from the “+” menu. It can also be accessed from the action menu when viewing the product and service list, or from a product/service edit window.
Selecting this option opens the following transaction screen:
Opening this transaction window from the “+” menu will give you a form with no items listed. In the screenshot above, we have selected three inventory type items at random.
The fact that we can enter adjustments for multiple items at once is a very significant improvement. When adjusting inventory to a physical count, you are often entering values for multiple items. Having to make the adjustment through the edit window of each one individually was not an efficient process at all.
Note also the “Inventory adjustment account” field in the upper portion of the window. Those familiar with the desktop versions of QuickBooks can see the similarities of this adjustment transaction with desktop.
QBO selected the account Inventory Shrinkage by default. You can change that. As you fill in the items to be adjusted in the body of the window, the current quantities populate the Qty On Hand column. Enter your actual values in the New Qty column.
It would be nice if the form showed the value change in total for the adjustment as new quantities were added. When entry is complete though, Save the transaction, click on the More button at the bottom of the form, select Transaction journal.
You will get a report showing the amounts that have been adjusted in dollars.
You will see the expense that results from this transaction on your profit and loss report.
Much like desktop QuickBooks, this adjustment is a separate transaction. It can be brought back to the screen by clicking on it from this report, as well as a number of other methods, just like any transaction. It can be edited and re-saved, changing the values of the transaction and any resulting reports.
A very good improvement.
Hector Garcia, CPA
Certified Advanced QuickBooks ProAdvisor
7791 NW 46th St. Suite 109
Doral, FL 33166
954-414-1524
hector@garciacpa.com
