How to Set Up Purchase Order and Bill Approval in QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise

Before you start

• Intuit's approval article carries the note "Available only in QuickBooks Enterprise Diamond or Platinum." The article's title names Enterprise 22.0.
• Only the admin and the primary admin in the Intuit account can create an approval process, Intuit says. During setup you sign in to your Intuit account as an admin.
• Intuit says transactions you create as an admin won't need approval. So we suggest giving the people who enter purchase orders and bills their own users and roles. Only an admin can add them, at Company > Users > Set Up Users and Roles.
• In Intuit's steps, users are prompted to sign in to an Intuit account when a transaction needs approval, and approvers sign in to approve. An admin invites Intuit account users at Company > Users > Intuit Account User Management.
• We suggest deciding the rules before you build them: which amounts, vendors or vendor types need approval, and who approves each.

Setting up users and roles is covered in How to set up users, roles and permissions in QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise. To compare subscriptions, see QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise editions.

This guide covers only the approval process in Intuit's QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise article, not approval features in other QuickBooks products.

How approval works

Step 1: Create the approval process

1. 1Go to Company > Set Up Approval Processes.
2. 2Select Get Started, then Set up on the purchase order/bill template card.
3. 3Sign in to your Intuit account as an admin if you haven't already. The approval process creation screen opens.
4. 4Enter a name and description for the process.
5. 5Set the conditions that trigger approval. Intuit lists Amount, Vendor name and Vendor type.
6. 6Choose the approver name and enter the approver's email address.
7. 7Change the email subject and message if you want. To notify someone else as well, add their email address.
8. 8Select Save & Activate. Or save the process and activate it later from the Approval processes tab.

Intuit says an active process applies to newly created purchase orders and bills.

Step 2: Send a purchase order or bill for approval

1. 1Create the purchase order or bill as usual.
2. 2When QuickBooks finds it needs approval, sign in to your Intuit account if asked.
3. 3Select Yes, send for approval to send it to the approver.
4. 4Or select No, save as draft to keep it as a draft. A draft doesn't affect the register.

Entering the transactions themselves is covered in How to create purchase orders for items below their reorder point and How to enter and pay bills.

What doesn't go for approval

• Purchase orders and bills created as an admin.
• Bills created from an item receipt.
• Edits to a transaction's memo or address. Intuit says these don't start the approval process again.

The item receipt rule matters if you receive stock before the bill arrives. Intuit's Enter Bills against Inventory steps convert an item receipt into a bill. Its approval article says a bill created from an item receipt isn't sent for approval. If you want those bills reviewed, we suggest a separate check.

Step 3: Approve or reject

1. 1The approver goes to Company > Track and Approve Transactions and signs in if asked.
2. 2The list shows the purchase orders and bills assigned to them under Pending, Rejected, Approved and All.
3. 3Select each pending purchase order or bill, then select Approve, or Reject to deny it.

Intuit says the approval list shows only the first 101 transactions. Past that, the admin can't see every pending one. Approving or rejecting transactions makes room for more to appear.

What happens to transactions that aren't approved

• Drafts: a purchase order or bill saved as a draft doesn't affect the register while it stays a draft.
• Pending: the transaction waits under Pending in the approver's list.
• Rejected: the approver's list shows it under Rejected.
• Intuit's article doesn't say whether a pending or rejected transaction affects the register, or whether a pending bill shows in Pay Bills. We suggest testing this in a sample file before you rely on it.
• Intuit's article also doesn't describe what the person who entered a rejected transaction sees, or how to resubmit it.

Edit, turn off or delete a process

• Edits apply only to newly created purchase orders and bills. Existing ones still follow the earlier version of the process.
• Turning a process off means new purchase orders and bills won't need approval. Intuit says current transactions still need approval.
• To delete a process that still has transactions needing approval, QuickBooks asks you to delete those transactions first.

Common problems

• You can't create a process: Intuit says only the admin and the Intuit account primary admin can.
• Your subscription isn't Platinum or Diamond: Intuit says approval processes are only in those two.
• A bill didn't go for approval: check whether an admin created it, whether it came from an item receipt, and whether it matches the rule's conditions.
• A rule change didn't reach older transactions: edits apply only to new purchase orders and bills.
• The approver can't see everything waiting: the list stops at 101 transactions until some are approved or rejected.

Where QuickBooks Desktop leaves the work to you

• Intuit's article lists three conditions: amount, vendor name and vendor type. Checks it doesn't list, such as whether a price matches the quote, stay with a person.
• Admin users and bills created from item receipts skip approval, so those need their own review if you want one.
• Someone has to work the Pending list, and it shows only the first 101 transactions.
• Intuit's article doesn't describe resubmitting a rejected transaction, so following up with whoever entered it falls to your team.
• Paying bills is a separate step in Intuit's accounts payable workflow, so approved bills still need paying.

How Logistify helps

Logistify doesn't create, approve or pay purchase orders or bills. The Procurement Service follows up with suppliers on open purchase orders once your team has approved and sent them.