Material Purchases

Use Material Purchase transactions to enter materials that you buy.

WORKING WITH MATERIAL PURCHASES
Using Material Purchases | Instant Purchases
Purchases for Inventory | Returns | Rebates and Credits

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Accounting Software | Accounts Payable Software | Expense Tracking Software | Job Costing Software

Creating Material Purchases

To enter Material Purchases, follow these steps:

Choose Material Purchases from the Costs menu.
Click the New button, or choose New Record from the Edit menu.
Enter details about the purchase.

QUICK SETUP HINT-- You only need to enter Supplier, Brief Description, Gross Price, Payment Method and Details. For job costs, fill in the Job and Category fields.

Data Fields

Enter the following information for each Material Purchase:

Supplier-- Choose the Material Account from whom the purchase was made.
One Time Name-- If you are paying to an account which allows you to enter one-time names, turn on the checkbox and type in a vendor name. Otherwise this field shows the full name of the vendor account.
Brief Description-- Enter a brief description of the item purchased.
HINT-- If there is more than one item, use a Category Breakdown or an Item Breakdown.
Gross Price-- Enter the price of the purchase before sales tax. If you use a breakdown, the gross price is computed from the total of breakdown items.
Tax Rate-- Choose the sales tax rate used for this purchase.
Net Price-- The total price with sales tax is calculated.
Invoice Number-- Enter the number on the vendor's sales receipt or invoice.
Comments-- Enter any comments you have about this work.

Date-- Today's date is entered automatically. You can change the date if desired.
Record Number-- A purchase number is entered automatically.
HINT-- To reset the number, choose Record Numbers from the Options menu.
Job Class-- Enter the type of account for which you are making this purchase.
Job-- Enter the account against which this purchase will be job costed.
Apply To-- If the purchase is an ordinary expense, leave this field as none. Otherwise choose the special conditions that apply.
Transaction-- If you are applying this purchase to an Allowance, Change Order or Purchase Order, enter it here.
Payment Method-- Choose the payment method used for this purchase.
Payment Details-- Enter the payment terms or the account used to pay for this transaction.

More Info

Click the More Info button to enter the following details:

Job Cost Details
Category-- Enter a cost category, under which this purchase will be costed.
Subcategory-- Enter a cost subcategory, under which this purchase will be costed.
Location-- Enter a location against which this purchase will be costed.

Billing Details
Vendor Withholding-- If you withhold any taxes from this vendor or take a credit for GST taxes, enter the rate here.
Billing Date-- The billing date for this purchase is calculated automatically, based on the sale date and payment terms.
Retainage-- If you deduct retainage from the purchase, Goldenseal calculates the amount.

Apply To

Some purchases have special conditions-- they apply to another transaction, or receive special treatment in expense accounting. To enter a special condition, choose an item in the Applies To field.

Some purchases have a linked transaction which you will enter into the Transaction field:

Allowance-- project purchases that apply to an allowance. Goldenseal will include this item when you do Allowance billing.
Bid-- purchases that apply to a prior bid from this vendor. Goldenseal warns you if the total amount of purchases exceeds the bid amount.
Change Order-- project purchases that apply to a change order. Goldenseal will include this item when you do Change Order billing.
Purchase Order-- this purchase will be applied to a prior purchase order for this vendor. When you complete the transaction, Goldenseal will warn you if the total amount of purchases exceeds the purchase order amount, or if purchase orders are required and none has been entered.

You can also use the Applies To field to identify other special conditions:

Capital Improvement-- a purchase that adds to the asset basis value of an investment, equipment or real estate account, rather than being handled as an expense.
Credit-- a transaction that reduces the amount owed to the supplier. The gross amount of a credit is negative.
Finance Charge-- a payment for interest on overdue items.
Return-- a transaction that reduces the amount owed to the supplier, and reduces the inventory quantity of any items that it includes. The gross amount of a return is a negative number.
Prepaid Expense-- a purchase that will be used over a future time period. In financial reports, the pre-paid amount is considered as an asset.
Special Order-- a purchase that has not yet been received.

Payment Methods

Enter one of the following into the Payment Method field:

Cash-- If you paid cash for an instant purchase. Enter the Cash account you used into the Details field.
Check-- If you wrote a check for an instant purchase. Enter the Checking account into the Details field. When you close the record, Goldenseal will ask you which checkbook to use.
Checking Debit-- Enter the Checking account into the Details field.
Credit Card-- If you made an instant purchase by credit card. Enter the Credit Card account that you used into the Details field.
Barter-- For purchases paid for by an exchange of items. In the Details field, enter the barter transfer that serves as payment.
Employee Reimburse-- For purchases made by an employee. In the Details field, enter the employee who made the purchase. When you close the purchase, Goldenseal will automatically create a reimbursement transaction.
Escrow Check-- Enter the Escrow account into the Details field. When you close the transaction, Goldenseal creates an instant purchase and will ask you which checkbook to use for the purchase.
Escrow Debit-- Enter the Escrow account into the Details field. Goldenseal creates an instant purchase.
Gift-- For items given to you free. There will be no payment transaction or billing for the item.
Investment Debit-- Enter the Investment account into the Details field. Goldenseal creates an instant purchase.
Loan Debit-- Enter the Loan account into the Details field. Goldenseal creates an instant purchase.
Savings Debit-- Enter the Savings account into the Details field. Goldenseal creates an instant purchase.
Vendor Invoice-- Choose Vendor Invoice as a payment method if you'll be billed later for this item. Goldenseal automatically enters the vendor's usual payment terms into the Details field. If this purchase uses other payment terms, change the contents of the Details field. You'll pay for the item later with the Pay Bills command.

For more about purchase payments, click here.

Status Field

All purchases start with Purchased status.
When a payment is made on account, the affected invoice will be marked as Part Paid or Paid.
When the material purchase is included in a Time & Materials Bill, the status will change to T&M Billed.
When the material purchase is included in a Time & Materials Bill, and you receive payment, the status will change to Billed & Paid.
If you are disputing the legitimacy of a purchase, mark its status as Disputed (see page ).
If an order is still waiting or not completely delivered, mark its status as Incomplete.
If you are entering past purchases that will be used only for job costing, change the status to Job Cost Only.
If you are pre-entering an estimated future purchase, change the status to Planned.
If you are entering a price quote from a vendor that is not an actual purchase, change the status to Pricing Only.
To cancel a purchase, change its status to Void.

Category Breakdowns

Enter Category into the Breakdown field to itemize a purchase by cost category.

The Category breakdown shows you a breakdown table where you can type exactly what you purchased.

Fill in the following columns for each row in the table:

Cost Area-- Enter the basic job cost area for the item. Generally it's Material, but you can also use Delivery Charges, Sales Tax or another choice.
Category-- Enter the Cost Category for the item.
Subcategory-- If the job account uses a category system with subcategories, enter a cost subcategory.
Item-- Type in a brief description of a specific item that you've purchased.
Unit Cost-- Type in the cost of one unit of the item.
Size-- Type in the size of one unit.
Quantity-- Type in the number of items that you've purchased.
Item Total-- Goldenseal calculates the total cost for this line items (unit cost x quantity).
Tax-- Turn off the checkmark if this item is not taxable. Turn it on if it is.
Location-- Enter a Location for the item.

Goldenseal calculates the overall Gross Price for the purchase, and adds sales tax for all items with a checkmark in the Tax column.

Item Breakdowns

Enter Item into the Breakdown field to include specific Cost Items or Assemblies in a purchase.

The Item breakdown shows you a breakdown table where you can type exactly what you purchased.

Fill in the following columns for each row in the table:

Cost Area-- Enter the basic job cost area for the item. Generally it's Material, but you can also use Delivery Charges, Sales Tax or another choice.
Category-- Enter the Cost Category for the item.
Subcategory-- If the job account uses a category system with subcategories, enter a cost subcategory.
Item-- Choose a Cost Item from the clairvoyant field. Goldenseal will only show you items in the entered category.
HINT-- If you don't see the desired item, leave the Category column blank. Then you'll see all available cost items.
Unit Cost-- Goldenseal will fill in the unit cost for the entered Cost Item.
Size-- Goldenseal will fill in the unit size for the entered Cost Item.
Quantity-- Type in the number of items that you've purchased.
Item Total-- Goldenseal calculates the total cost for this line items (unit cost x quantity).
Tax-- Turn off the checkmark if this item is not taxable. Turn it on if it is.
Location-- Enter a Location for the item.

Goldenseal calculates the overall Gross Price for the purchase, and adds sales tax for all items with a checkmark in the Tax column.

Instant Purchases

When you pay for a purchase by cash, check or credit card, Goldenseal lets you enter both the purchase and the money transaction instantly.

To do so, follow these steps:

Choose Material Purchases from the Costs menu.
Click the New button, or choose New Record from the Edit menu.
Enter details for the purchase.
Enter Cash, Check or Credit Card into the Payment Method field.
When you complete the transaction, Goldenseal will automatically create a bank transaction to pay for the purchase.

HINT-- You can also create instant purchases with some of the other less common Payment Methods-- for debits from a checking account (via ATM withdrawal or debit card), escrow account, investment account, loan account or savings account.

Inventory Purchases

When you purchase items that will be in inventory until sold, follow these steps:

Choose Material Purchases from the Costs menu.
Click the New button.
Enter Inventory into the Job Class popup menu.
Enter an inventory account into the Job field.
Enter Items into the Breakdown popup menu (at the left side of the window).
Enter the items that have been purchased.

Returning a Purchase

To return a purchased item for credit after it has been billed or paid, follow these steps:

Choose Material Purchases from the Costs menu.
Find the original purchase transaction.
Choose Duplicate Record from the Edit menu.
In the new record, enter Return into the Apply To popup menu.
If there is a restocking charge, you can either reduce the amount of the return transaction, or create an additional purchase transaction that covers the restocking charge.

Rebates and Credits

When you receive money back from a supplier for rebates or miscellaneous credits, follow these steps:

Choose Material Purchases from the Costs menu.
Click the New button.
In the new record, enter Credit into the Apply To popup menu.
Enter details for the rebates.

If the credit is subtracted from your accounts payable, you'll subtract it when you use the Pay Bills command to pay the vendor.

If you receive the rebate or credit as a check or cash payment, enter a Bank Deposit and reference the material purchase transaction that you entered above.

Using Material Purchases

If you didn't pay for a purchase with an instant purchase, use the Pay Bills command to pay it when it is due.

Goldenseal automatically includes Material Purchases in Job Costs reports and Time and Materials billing.

Use the Find command to locate a specific purchase. You can search by date, supplier, or any other info about the purchase.