How to Enter Products Into Inventory for Quickbooks
Maintaining accurate inventory records is a basic requirement for business success. The more detail you can provide regarding products in your inventory, the more accurate product inventory records will be. QuickBooks Pro, Premier and Enterprise allow you to enter categorized products into inventory and track as much detail as you need. In addition, QuickBooks also provides alerts you can set for reorder points and duplicate purchase order numbers.
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Things You'll Need
- QuickBooks Pro, Premier or Enterprise
- Vendor information
- Item information
- Accounting information
Instructions
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Instructions
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Establish vendor list. Quicken integrates vendor and reorder information into product inventory so you need to first establish a list of vendors. To add a new vendor, select "Vendors" from the main menu and select "New Vendor." Enter as much information as you can, starting with basic information such as vendor name, contact information, vendor type (inventory), credit information and the tax ID number of the vendor. QuickBooks also allows you to create custom fields for vendors. For example, certain vendors may require an upfront payment for an order and you can add a field to indicate this by clicking "Define Fields" when entering vendor information.
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Establish inventory items. Inventory item records describe the product and integrate associated costs with accounting procedures. Be sure to provide as much detail as you can when describing products. To add a new product, choose "Lists" from the main menu, then "Item List," and finally select "Item/New." Record information about the product in the following fields:
Type: Because this is an inventory item, select "Inventory Part" from the drop-down box.
Ordering Information: Record the item name and item product number, along with the manufacturer's part number.
Description: Record the product name you want to appear on purchase orders and sales transactions.
Accounting integration: Enter wholesale cost, retail sales price, vendor name and the Income account you use to track product sales. Check with your accountant if you are not sure what account to use
Inventory Control: Do not enter any information into this section, as it will automatically update when you enter the product into inventory.
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Create parent and subitems for product variety options. While this is an optional step, creating a subitem for a product can assist in tracking inventory amounts and generate better sales data. For example, if you sell a particular product in four colors, creating a subitem in each color could be very beneficial. To record inventory in this manner, first record the parent item and the subitem:
Parent item: Select the type as "Inventory Part" as normal and provide a name for the product. Make this a generic name, such as "Bic round-point pen." Enter accounting integration information and leave all other fields blank.
Subitem: Select the product type, and then enter a code for the subitem in the Name/Number field. This code can be anything you want it to be, but it must distinguish this subitem from others with the same parent product. For example, identity the product subitem by color or size. Check the "Subitem of" checkbox and select the parent product from the drop-down list. Complete all remaining fields and click "OK" when finished.
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Enter products into inventory. Enter inventory products via the "New Transactions" section of the Vendor tab. When entering products you may have already paid for, select "Receive Items." This typical if you are new to QuickBooks and are entering historical data or if you prepaid before shipment. When entering products bought on credit select the option "Receive Items and Generate Bill." Select the product you want to enter from the drop-down box containing inventory items records and enter the quantity. Select "Save & Close," or "Save & New" to continue entering products into inventory.
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Tips & Warnings
Inventory tracking is not a default feature in QuickBooks. To turn it on, choose "Edit" from the main menu, then select "Preferences," "Items & Inventory." Check the top box to enable inventory tracking and decide whether you want to receive warnings when using duplicate purchase order numbers or are when you must backorder a sold item.
QuickBooks has an additional inventory feature, the "Inventory Adjustment" window, to use when adjusting for discrepancies between recorded and physical product inventory counts. Do not use this feature to record new products into inventory.
