Purchase and Work Orders

Use Purchase Orders and Work Orders to authorize and track expenses in the Goldenseal accounting software.

PURCHASE ORDER BASICS
Entering Purchase and Work Orders | Data Fields | More Info | Status Field
Conditions | Using Purchase and Work Orders

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Accounting Software | Business Management Software | Expense Tracking Software

When to Use Purchase and Work Orders

Use Purchase and Work Orders in any of the following cases:

If you need separate paperwork before purchasing items
If you need separate paperwork before approving work from employees or subs
If one person sets up an order, and another person fulfills it
If you want to track pricing in cases where you won't use a Bid or an Estimate
If you want a simple reminder for supplies that you need to buy

Purchase and Work Orders are a good way to make sure that you really get what you planned to get, and pay what you expect to pay.

Entering Purchase and Work Orders

To enter a Purchase or Work Order, follow these steps:

Choose Purchase & Work Orders from the Costs menu.
Click the New button, or choose New Record from the Edit menu.
Enter details for the order.

Data Fields

Enter the following information for each Purchase Order and Work Order:

Kind-- Use the pop-up menu to select the type of cost account that will receive the order.
Account-- Use the clairvoyant field to select the account that will fill the order.
Brief Description-- enter a brief description of the item to be purchased or the work that is to be done. This text will appear in menus.
NOTE-- If more than one item will be included in this order, choose Category or Item as a breakdown.
Gross Price-- Enter the total amount of the item, including all taxes and other costs. If you use a breakdown, the gross price is computed from the total of breakdown items.
Tax-- This vendor's usual tax rate is entered automatically. You can change it if you want.
Amount-- The total price with sales tax is calculated.
Comments-- Enter any comments you have about this order.

Date-- Today's date is entered automatically. You can change it if you want.
Record Number-- A sequential number is given to each purchase order or work order. To set the next number that will be used, choose Record Numbers from the Options menu.
Conditions-- Enter any special conditions that apply to this order.

More Info

Click the More Info button to enter additional details for this order:

Job Cost Info
Job Class-- Enter the class of job for which this order applies.
Job-- Enter the job for which this order applies.
Category-- Enter a cost category to which to apply this order.
Subcategory-- Enter a cost subcategory to which to apply this order.
Location-- Enter a location for which this order will be used.

Billing Details
Payment Terms-- Goldenseal automatically enters the vendor's normal payment terms. Use the clairvoyant field to change it if desired.
Labor Hours-- Enter the number of labor hours to schedule for this item. If you use a breakdown, Goldenseal calculates labor hours automatically.
Crew Size-- Enter the usual crew size that you will use for this item.
HINT-- Goldenseal uses the Labor Hours and Crew Size fields to set up the schedule timing for this item when it is included in an Estimate.

Purchase and Work Order Status

When you first create a purchase order, its status will be listed as Requested. If the order has been confirmed, change the status to Approved.
When an invoice is entered that refers to the purchase order, it will automatically be change to Completed. If there is a breakdown and only some items have been filled, the status will be Incomplete.
When the invoice is paid, the status will automatically be changed to Paid.
If you decide not to use a purchase order, change its status to Void.

Special Conditions

Enter one of the following conditions:

None-- No special conditions apply.
Must Be Prepaid-- Goldenseal will require that you prepay for this order.
No Cost Overruns-- Goldenseal will not allow you to create purchases if the amount is more than the order amount.
Flexible Price-- Goldenseal will allow you to create purchases even if the amount is more than the order amount.
Reference Only-- This order will not be included in estimates or purchases.

Purchase/Work Order Breakdowns

Purchase and Work Orders can show a detailed list of items that are included in the bid. To use a breakdown, choose Category or Item from the Breakdown menu at lower left.

Use a Category breakdown to type in a list of items.
Use an Items breakdown to enter specific Cost Items and Assemblies.

Assigning Expenses to a Purchase or Work Order

To enter costs for a purchase or work order, follow these steps:

Create an Equipment Hours, Labor Hours, Material Purchase, Subcontractor Cost or Other Cost transaction.
Enter the supplier, description and amount for the expense.
Enter Project into the Job Class popup.
Enter the specific project into the Job field.
Enter Purchase/Work Order into the Apply To popup.
Enter a specific order into the Transaction field.

Goldenseal 'posts' the expense to the order. If the purchase amount is greater than the order amount, Goldenseal will warn you.

Using Purchase and Work Orders

To use a purchase or work order in an estimate, follow these steps:

Create an estimate, or open an existing one.
Give the estimate a category or item breakdown, and add a breakdown line.
Enter PO & WO into the Cost Area column.
Enter a purchase or work order into the Cost Item column.

When you enter expenses that are covered by a purchase or work order, enter the order into the Apply To field of the expense transaction.

Goldenseal will warn you if you pay more than the Purchase Order amount. To control the type of warning, choose Preferences from the Options menu, and choose Expenses from the submenu.

HINT-- Purchase and work orders are very similar to bids, but you can reference them in expense transactions even if they are not included in an estimate.