Quickbooks and inventory

[dduffee260]

Did you mean: it's NOT impossible... ??

Frankly, I'm glad you made you statement! After reading enough here of how wrong everything is of everyone that thought they knew some business aspect its refreshing to see some business being practiced. Anyone that read the book on wally world would easily see a the reference point.

Sure, this is not a one size fits all world, but there can be a lot said for understanding it.
Sure it's a level of commitment but then again, it is just like anything else, a choice.

Thank you for the comment. I have been told before that if you are a small business that wants to be a big business then run your small business like a big business.

As for the calling materials job expense that is easily done when the supply bills are 100k a year. When they reach 1 million plus it is not something you want to try. If you have 400k in inventory and the IRS walks in wanting to see you $0 inventory you will probably get fined.

 

[tonyou812]

Why dont you guys just answer his question instead of busting his chops. So he wants to track his inventory. Good for him.

 

[nakulak]

I don't think they are busting his chops, I think the comments are extremely helpful - especially the one about spending $25,000 to track a loss of $10,000. It's important to see the big picture.

 

[satcom]

Why dont you guys just answer his question instead of busting his chops. So he wants to track his inventory. Good for him.

As many pointed out, there is a big difference in tracking inventory, and just keeping an inventory list, when you keep inventory and track it your usually tied into you accounting syatem, and under the current laws, your reporting of this inventory is a must, not a choice, and the cost will put most small business owners out of business.
Real world inventory, is an asset not an expense, and is treated different.

 

[Sparky555]

Why dont you guys just answer his question instead of busting his chops. So he wants to track his inventory. Good for him.

I read the OP as he's just considering it and so the suggestions against doing it are helpful.

 

[Kdog76]

Off topic a little here, but I know a lot of us here are using QB...Would be nice to keep a thread going here for EC's that use that program. I for one was told by my accountant that if I buy just for the jobs I have going I will not need to track inventory. I keep a very minimal amount on the truck ...
Anyway: I know QB has the inuit help page which is okay, but I'd like to see some info tailored to us EC's who use the program...

 

[ptonsparky]

I keep inventory and track it with QB Premier Contractor version. Assigning descriptions is a major undertaking and must be thought out. I use a combination of codes that I designed for the most common items and the supply house codes. As you know each time a mfg merges with another the codes change. Each supply house has different description for the same item. Entering the item codes from suppliers helps as long as those filling out job tickets use the same code. The guys are supposed to reference items by description and invoice #. I am the worst at this.

You will need to have someone enter each item in and then out, depending on the detail you want.

I believe the Enterprise edition has the ability to use trade service downloads.

Everyone of you has some sort of inventory and if you don't you are missing out on some major price breaks from suppliers. A 1000 spool of 4 thhn is quite a bit cheaper than 33 - 30' pieces.

 

[kbsparky]

We keep an inventory in Quickbooks. We have Quickbooks Enterprise because the basic QB became too slow. I think we have 6500 items in our QB list. It has been an ongoing thing for about 10 years now. We have to adjust and correct it here and there.

The reason we use the items list is so we can charge for each and every item we sell. Some people want an itemized list of materials when you give a price, bid, estimate or invoice. We have EMT conduit just listed as 1/2" EMT, 3/4" EMT, 1" EMT and so on. The same with PVC, Rigid, IMC and so on. The basic materials looks well, when you get to devices, light fixtures and such it gets kind of tricky. We have to adjust the inventory on hand every year at tax time. It is not really that big of a deal. We do not track each and every item though like a retail store would. It is impossible to do with our business.

This took quite a bit of time at first to set up, just like an estimating program takes time to set up. It pays off in the long run.

We also use the item list, except that everything on the list is classified as non-inventory items. This way, we don't have to use purchase orders, check in deliveries, etc. We can still generate "time and materials" invoices for our customers.

I don't have to adjust the inventory list or do an annual count this way.

 

[Kdog76]

We also use the item list, except that everything on the list is classified as non-inventory items. This way, we don't have to use purchase orders, check in deliveries, etc. We can still generate "time and materials" invoices for our customers.

I don't have to adjust the inventory list or do an annual count this way.

I keep no inventory. Downside is I have to enter in manually each item (which for materials is non-inventory), type in what the part is, and the cost each time. Is there a way I can eliminate all that extra work w/o keeping an inventory list going? That would be a great help.