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J
Juwan10
September 3, 2025
Question

Allocating Inventory to a Job

  • September 3, 2025
  • 1 reply
  • 30 views

Is it possible to allocate inventory items to a particular job for job costing purposes? We do not want those items to appear on a invoice but we want it to reflect our inventory levels. 

 

We invoice based on a quoted price and use materials in inventory to complete the work. 

 

I know this question was asked in 2021, but I wanted to see if QB has made any changes for construction like companies. 

 

Solved: Allocating Inventory to a Job

1 reply

J
Jelayca VQuickBooks Team
QuickBooks Team
September 3, 2025

I appreciate your proactive approach to optimizing your workflows and ensuring that QuickBooks meets your business needs, @Juwan10. I understand the importance of allocating inventory directly to jobs for accurate job costing, especially when invoicing is handled separately based on quoted prices. Let’s explore the available options to help you achieve your goals effectively.

 

While QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT) doesn’t have a built-in feature to allocate inventory directly to jobs without invoicing, we can create a sales receipt, select the job you’re working on, and list the inventory items used as line entries. Then, set the price for each item to $0.00 so that it doesn’t count as revenue or affect invoicing.

 

This'll allocate the cost of those inventory items to your Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) account while also linking them to the appropriate job. It will also ensure that these materials show up in your job profitability reports. Alternatively, we could use a sales order where each item is listed with a zero selling price.

 

  1. On the Customers menu, click Enter Create Sales Receipts.
  2. Select the specific Job you’re working on.
  3. In the line items section, list the inventory items you’ve used for the job.
  4. Set the price for each item to $0.00 to ensure it doesn’t show up as revenue or billable cost, but still tracks the expense tied to the job.

 

Although QBDT doesn’t currently offer a direct way to address this need, we’re always looking for ways to enhance the software through customer feedback. We encourage you to share your thoughts on features like inventory allocation for job costing. You can do this directly from your QBDT account:

 

  1. Hover over the Help menu. Select the Send Feedback Online option.
  2. Choose the Product Suggestion, and a pop-up window will appear. 
  3. Type your feedback suggestion in the space provided.
  4. Hit the Send Feedback button.

 

If you're growing and exploring advanced options, QBDT offers tools better suited for construction workflows. Let us know if you'd like a more detailed walkthrough on these processes. I’m here to help you set this up. Take care!

J
Juwan10Author
September 4, 2025

Thank you for your help! Would we be able to use the sales order fulfillment page to send the items to the sales receipt page to track the cost? 

 

Also, we will send out items and then not use all of the items how can we credit those items to show the true usage instead of entering in everything one by one. 

N
NerbynMaeIQuickBooks Team
QuickBooks Team
September 4, 2025

QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT) does not directly allow the transfer of the Sales Order Fulfillment to the sales receipt page, Juwan10. I will provide further details on this matter.

 

The Sales Order Fulfillment process updates inventory records by transferring items from stock to Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) after they have been picked, packed, and shipped. QuickBooks will track the costs associated with sold items by creating invoices for each transaction.

 

If you do not want to return the items to your inventory, you can adjust the inventory quantity to reflect their usage. Alternatively, you can also explore a third-party app to specifically credit those items in your account without entering them one by one.

 

Additionally, I recommend consulting your accountant to ensure your inventory is well-organized and that you record everything correctly.

 

Feel free to reply below if you have any other questions related to QuickBooks.

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