Question: Is there a way to create both a customer acknowledgement and vendor purchase order at once in QuickBooks? I used to be able to do it in ProfitMaker, but in QuickBooks, I have to enter information twice.
Answer: Yes, there is, but you need the correct QuickBooks software and know which procedure to use. Our industry is complicated and unique. As such, we need specific software that can handle the complexity. QuickBooks Premier is generally the best for us. With Premier, you can create the customer sales order and, with the click of your mouse, create the supplier purchase order without reentering any data. You will need to enter the net costs from the supplier, but all of the line items will move from the sales order automatically into the supplier purchase order.
There are two other QuickBooks packages that are often recommended by both QuickBooks and accountants who are unfamiliar with our business. QuickBooks Pro does not have sales orders, so you will end up entering data multiple times to create an Estimate, Invoice, and Supplier Purchase Order. QuickBooks Online is better suited for service businesses and does not handle our complexity well.
Please email accounting questions you would like considered for the column to HGatter@AccountingSupportLLC.com with the subject line of "Ask the Accountant."
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Harriet Gatter, owner of Accounting Support LLC, was an ad specialty distributor for 23 years and an adjunct professor of accounting at Neumann University. She sold her ad specialty business in 2012, became certified as a QuickBooks ProAdvisor, and now works exclusively with ad specialty distributors nationwide on their QuickBooks, order management and accounting needs.





