When a vendor's invoice for a purchase order comes in and you mark the PO Billed, Run a Call records it in QuickBooks Online as a Bill — so what you owe suppliers, and what each job's materials cost, is in your books without re-typing.
Before you start
In Settings → Integrations → QuickBooks Online → Manage → Sync settings & account mapping:
- Pick a COGS Account (Purchase Orders) — the account PO lines post against. Job Materials or Cost of Goods Sold is the usual choice. Purchase orders don't sync without it.
- Make sure the Purchase Orders switch under Sync Settings is on, then Save Settings.
When a PO goes to QuickBooks
Only purchase orders with the status Billed sync. A QuickBooks Bill represents the vendor's actual invoice, so Requested, Draft, Ordered and Received POs stay in Run a Call. See Purchase order statuses.
Billed POs go over on the hourly sync. To be sent, a PO also needs:
- A vendor — QuickBooks bills require one.
- At least one line item.
What carries over
| Run a Call | QuickBooks Bill |
|---|---|
| Vendor | Vendor — matched to an existing QuickBooks vendor with the same name, or created |
| PO number | Bill no. |
| Billed date (or received date, or ordered date if those are blank) | Bill date |
| Line items | Expense lines on your COGS account |
| The job's type | Class on the lines, using your class tracking mapping |
| PO notes | Memo |
Paying the Bill stays in QuickBooks, the way your bookkeeper already pays vendors.
Cancelling or deleting a synced PO
If you cancel or delete a purchase order that's already in QuickBooks, Run a Call removes its Bill from QuickBooks so your books don't show a cost that no longer exists. If QuickBooks won't allow it, you'll see a warning — remove or adjust the Bill in QuickBooks yourself.
When a PO is held back
It appears on the QuickBooks page under records that need attention — most often because the COGS account isn't set or was deleted in QuickBooks. Fix the cause, then Retry. See Resolving common QuickBooks errors.