Ask the Accountant…
Question: Is there a good way to number customer and supplier forms in QuickBooks?
Answer: You likely have your own internal number for each of your orders, and if so, use that number on all forms: estimates, sales orders, purchase orders and invoices. This way it is easier to search for the part of an order you want to see with QB’s “Find” function.
As an alternative, I have some distributors who like to number their customer invoices sequentially so that they can more easily see how many orders they have written in a certain time period. QuickBooks Desktop and Online will order invoices sequentially automatically, and you have to override this if you use any other invoice numbering system.
In our industry, we often have multiple suppliers for one order (primarily apparel orders). In this case, you can use the order number with a suffix for multiple supplier purchase orders. For example, you can number the PO’s 1000A, 1000B, etc., to distinguish each purchase order within order No. 1000.
Once you establish a numbering system, stick with it. The “Find” function in QB is very particular. In the example above, if you search for a purchase order with just “1000” or “1000 A” (with a space), you will not find it.
You have options when it comes to numbering your orders in QuickBooks. Choose one that makes perfect sense to you and stick with it.
Please email accounting questions you would like considered for the column to [email protected] with the subject line of “Ask the Accountant”.
