Question: Is there a way to create both a customer acknowledgement and vendor purchase order at once in QuickBooks? I used to be able to do it in ProfitMaker, but in QuickBooks, I am having to enter information twice.
Answer: Yes, there is, but you need the correct QuickBooks software and know what procedure to use. Our industry is complicated and unique. As such, we need specific software that can handle the complexity. QB Premier is generally the best for us. With Premier, you can create the customer sales order and, with the click of your mouse, create the supplier purchase order without reentering any data. You will need to enter the net costs from the supplier, but all of the line items will move from the sales order automatically into the supplier purchase order.
There are two other QB packages that are often recommended by both QB and accountants who are unfamiliar with our business. QB Pro does not have sales orders, so you will end up entering data multiple times to create an estimate, invoice and supplier purchase order. QuickBooks Online is better suited for service businesses and does not handle our complexity well.
Please email your questions to Harriet at Ask The Accountant.
QuickBooks Premier and Enterprise can be modified to better serve ad specialty distributors. Harriet Gatter is a QuickBooks ProAdvisor, a former accounting professor and a former ad specialty distributor. She advises ad specialty distributors to use QuickBooks Premier and Enterprise, often in conjunction with other industry-specific software, to manage the complexities of the ad specialty business, with the results being time saved, errors eliminated and an overall accurate accounting of your business. Contact her at [email protected].
