inventory assembly

What Is an Inventory Part?

Chief Mechanic · September 25, 2010 ·

An Inventory Part is one type of Item and is maintained on the Lists->Item List menu selection.

See our article on all of the Item types supported by QuickBooks for more information.

Generally speaking, Items are designed to pre-fill invoicing and purchasing forms. An Inventory Part represents an item that your firm keeps on hand for sale to customers. It can be stocked and sold on its own or included as part of an inventory assembly.

Here’s a screenshot of the QuickBooks Item List showing a range of inventory parts:

QuickBooks 2011 Item List Inventory Parts

QuickBooks tracks certain information that apply only to Inventory Parts. Fields tracked only for Inventory Parts include:

Quantity On Hand
Quantity On Purchase Order
Quantity On Sales Order
Reorder Point
Asset Account

Some fields are tracked both for Inventory Parts and other item types, such as Inventory Assemblies and Non-Inventory Parts. Some – but not all – of these fields also may be tracked for other item types if you select the checkbox This item is used in assemblies or is a reimbursable charge. These fields are:

Quantity On Pending Builds
COGS Account
Preferred Vendor

The above screenshot shows a mix of inventory parts and sub-items of inventory parts. This structure is often described as a “parent child relationship”, where a sub-item is a child of its parent. While both parent and child items are labeled as Inventory Parts, QuickBooks only tracks quantity information for sub-items (i. e., child items) when this structure is used. It does not aggregate information for parent items where sub-items exist for that parent item.

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What Are the Feature Differences Between QuickBooks Pro and Premier?

Chief Mechanic · September 11, 2010 ·

While the basic data file format is the same for both QuickBooks Pro and Premier, there are a number of features included with Premier that are missing from the less-expensive Pro. The introduction of QuickBooks 2011 further changed the list of differences between Pro and Premier.

For new features introduced with the 2011 version, QuickBooks Pro does not:

allow more than 3 users in a multi-user configuration
track balance sheet by class
allow multiple company files from the same version to be open at the same time

QuickBooks Pro versions prior to 2011 allowed up to 5 users to access a company file in a multi-user configuration. This has been reduced to 3 users for 2011.

The Balance Sheet By Class report is available in QuickBooks Premier 2011 and Enterprise Solutions 11.0. The ability to open multiple company files from the same version is only available in the industry-specific QuickBooks Premier Accountant 2011 or QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 11.0.

In general QuickBooks Pro does not:

record sales orders, which provides for product availability (backorder) tracking
support inventory assemblies
support unit of measure
support price levels by item
support billing rate levels
provide the ability to view unbilled time and expenses on 1 screen
support converting items on an estimate or sales order to a purchase order
provide a list of already recorded general journal entries while recording a new journal entry
identify general journal entries as adjusting
support creating a forecast
support creating a business plan
provide access to previous bank reconciliation reports
include industry-specific reports

All of these features are included in QuickBooks Premier.

Many of these features apply primarily to inventory-based businesses, organizations that want to easily track purchases with Customers:Jobs, or easily track time and reimbursable expenses with Customers:Jobs. For example, the screenshot below of QuickBooks Pro 2012 illustrates that QuickBooks Pro does not have the ability to set the Create invoices from a list of time and expenses preference, which is the first step in setting up easy invoicing for time and reimbursable expenses.

QuickBooks Pro 2012 Time & Expenses Preferences

However, several important general accounting features are missing from Pro and may make the extra cost of Premier a worthwhile investment. One of these features is a list of already recorded general journal entries, shown below.

QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 10 Make General Journal Entry

Another feature is the ability to view previous reconciliation reports. For the sample company file below, no reconciliations have been completed. But if they had been completed, each prior reconciliation (such as a monthly bank reconciliation) would be available. In Pro, only the most recent reconciliation report is available.

QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 10 Previous Bank Reconciliation

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What Is a Group Item?

Chief Mechanic · August 23, 2010 ·

In QuickBooks a group item is a specific type of Item that is used to quickly enter a bundle of individual items that are typically bought or sold together where tracking the detail on individual items is desired.

See our article on all of the Item types supported by QuickBooks for more information.

It is similar to – but different from – an inventory assembly item, another approach to managing a bundle of individual items. An inventory assembly item is a new item created out of a bundle of individual items, reducing the quantity on hand of the individual items used to create the assembly. Where an inventory assembly item functions like a pre-assembled kit, a group item functions like an “on the fly” kit.

A group item enables a company to track the detail of each individual item in the group while optionally providing a way to simplify information presented to customers and vendors. Data entry is faster because a single group item automatically fills in the information for all of the items in the group.

QuickBooks Premier 2009 Edit Item Group Item

If the Print items in group box is not checked, QuickBooks will print only the group item itself. A customer or vendor will not see the detail on the individual items included in the group. However, company reports will track the detail of each item in the group.

Here’s an example of invoicing for the group item A1 Custom Storage Shed shown above. Entering the single group item automatically added the 2 individual items that make up the group.

QuickBooks Premier 2009 Create Invoices Customize

The price of a group item is the sum of the items in the group; the price of the group cannot be changed directly, but the price of each individual item can be changed.

Sales tax for group items is calculated based on the taxable status of each individual item in the group. In the example above, both taxable and non-taxable items are included in the group.

A group item can include any other item except other groups; it cannot be included in an inventory assembly item. There are no reports for group items. Instead, the detail of each individual item in the group is reported.

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What Is an Inventory Assembly Item?

Chief Mechanic · August 23, 2010 ·

In QuickBooks an inventory assembly item is a specific type of Item that is the result of putting together a new inventory part out of a bundle of individual items to enable tracking finished goods separately from individual components. Normally, an inventory assembly item is used when separate raw materials are assembled, packaged, and sold as an inventory item that is separate from the component parts.

See our article on all of the Item types supported by QuickBooks for more information.

The inventory assembly item type is only available in QuickBooks Premier and Enterprise Solutions. It’s not available in QuickBooks Pro.

It is similar to – but different from – a group item, another approach to managing a bundle of individual items. A group item is a way to quickly add a bundle of items to a form while preserving the ability to track those items individually. Where an inventory assembly item functions like a pre-assembled kit, a group item functions like an “on the fly” kit.

An inventory assembly item is made up of a Bill of Materials (visible by clicking the Full View… button) which can contain a range of item types: service, inventory part, another inventory assembly, non-inventory part, and other charge. Note that a subassembly can be nested within an inventory assembly. However, the Bill of Materials cannot contain these item types: subtotal, group, discount, payment, sales tax item, or sales tax group. Further, there’s a limit of 100 items in the Bill of Materials for an inventory assembly in QuickBooks Premier; for Enterprise Solutions, that limit is 500 items.

QuickBooks Premier 2009 Bill of Materials Full View

The Cost shown for an inventory assembly item should normally not be entered. When a Cost is not entered, QuickBooks will use the Bill of Materials Cost that appears at the bottom of the table.

An inventory assembly is built from its components parts by clicking on the Vendors->Inventory Activities->Build Assemblies menu selection. During the build process, the Quantity on Hand of the inventory assembly item is increased by the Quantity to Build, and the Quantity on Hand of each component is reduced by the product of that item’s Qty in the Bill of Materials and the Quantity to Build.

Builds in QuickBooks can be either pending or final. If there are insufficient quantities of the component parts, a build will automatically be marked as Pending. You can also manually mark a build as pending by clicking on the Edit->Mark Build As Pending menu selection while the Build Assemblies window is displayed. The Pending Builds report (Reports->Inventory->Pending Builds) supports managing future build requirements.

Here’s an example of invoicing for the inventory assembly item Interior Door kit shown above. Unlike a group item, which automatically adds other items to a form and controls whether these other items are printed, the inventory assembly item appears as a single line item on a form.

QuickBooks Premier 2009 Create Invoices Inventory Assembly Item

The price of an inventory assembly item is specified, just like the price of an inventory item, and can be changed directly on a form.

Sales tax for an inventory assembly item is calculated based on the single Tax Code assigned to the inventory assembly.

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What Item Types Does QuickBooks Support?

Chief Mechanic · August 23, 2010 ·

QuickBooks supports 11 Item Types.

Items themselves are maintained on the Lists->Item List menu selection, but the Item Types are pre-configured in QuickBooks and can’t be maintained by a user.

QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 10 New Item

The 11 Item Types are:

Service
Inventory Part
Inventory Assembly
Non-inventory Part
Other Charge
Subtotal
Group
Discount
Payment
Sales Tax Item
Sales Tax Group

There is a 12th Item Type, Fixed Asset, which is maintained on the Lists->Fixed Asset Item List menu selection.

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inventory assembly

Accounting

Developer

Intuit