QuickBooks purchase orders with real approvals
QuickBooks Online is a strong accounting system, and in its higher editions it lets you create purchase orders and turn them into bills. What it is not built to be is a purchasing process for a company with dozens of people asking to buy things. Procurer adds the part before the bill: purchase requests from anyone, approval rules, budgets checked before the order, receiving and invoice matching. Then it syncs suppliers and approved bills to QuickBooks Online, so your books stay where they are. The QuickBooks Online integration is included on every plan.
What QuickBooks Online does with purchase orders
In general terms, QuickBooks Online treats a purchase order as an accounting document: you create it for a vendor, send it, and later copy it into a bill when the invoice arrives, with open POs listed for reference. Purchase order features depend on the QuickBooks edition, so check Intuit's current plans for what your subscription includes. What companies usually find missing as they grow:
- A place for employees who are not accountants to request purchases without access to the books.
- Approval chains by amount, department or category, recorded with who approved and when.
- A budget check before the order is placed, including money already committed on open POs.
- Receiving by the person who took delivery, including partial deliveries.
- Automatic comparison of the invoice against the PO and the receipt before the bill is paid.
A QuickBooks purchase order workflow with control before spend
With Procurer in front of QuickBooks Online, each purchase follows one path:
- Request: any employee with an account fills a one minute form. They do not need a QuickBooks login.
- Approve: rules route the request by amount and department (up to 2 steps on Team, unlimited and conditional from Business), with the remaining budget on screen. See purchase order approval software.
- Order: the approved request becomes a numbered purchase order, emailed to the vendor as PDF.
- Receive: the receiver records full or partial deliveries against the PO lines.
- Match: from Business, invoices sent to your invoice inbox are read and matched to the PO and the receipt with tolerance rules. See three way match software.
- Sync: the matched invoice becomes a bill in QuickBooks Online with vendor, lines, account, class and the invoice PDF, ready for payment.
Your accountant keeps working in QuickBooks. What arrives there is already approved, received and matched.
What syncs between Procurer and QuickBooks Online
- From QuickBooks to Procurer: vendors, chart of accounts, classes and locations, tax codes and terms. Requests are coded with the same values.
- From Procurer to QuickBooks: new vendors approved in Procurer, and bills created from approved or matched invoices, with the attachment.
- From QuickBooks back to Procurer: bill payment status, so requesters see when the vendor has been paid.
The connection uses Intuit's standard authorization; you connect once as a QuickBooks admin and choose which accounts and classes Procurer can use. Xero works the same way on every plan, and NetSuite and Sage Intacct are on Scale. See all procurement software integrations.
A QuickBooks purchase order, start to finish
A 90 person company on the Business plan runs QuickBooks Online with classes for each department.
The office manager requests a coffee machine and kitchen supplies for 2 450 USD from a preferred supplier, class Operations.
The Operations manager approves; the request is under the 5 000 USD finance threshold, so no second step is needed.
The PO goes to the supplier by email. The Operations budget now shows 2 450 USD committed.
Delivery arrives complete and the office manager records the receipt.
The supplier's invoice for 2 470 USD arrives in the invoice inbox. The 20 USD difference is freight, within the 50 USD tolerance, so the match clears.
A bill for 2 470 USD appears in QuickBooks Online under the supplier, class Operations, with the invoice PDF attached.
The controller pays it in QuickBooks, and the payment status appears on the request in Procurer.
Which plan to choose with QuickBooks Online
Team, at 149 USD per month (124 USD billed yearly), fits a company starting a formal purchase process: up to 25 user accounts, 2 approval steps, 250 POs a month, department budgets, receiving and QuickBooks Online sync. Business, at 299 USD per month (249 USD billed yearly), adds three-way matching, invoice capture by email, unlimited approval steps, project and GL budgets, spend analytics, Slack and Microsoft Teams approvals and up to 100 user accounts. Companies that outgrow QuickBooks and move to NetSuite or Sage Intacct keep Procurer and switch the connection on Scale. See pricing.
Does QuickBooks Online have purchase orders?
Yes, purchase orders are available in some QuickBooks Online editions, depending on the plan. They work as accounting documents that can be copied into bills. Check Intuit's site for what your current subscription includes.
Do requesters need a QuickBooks login?
No. Requesters, approvers and receivers work in Procurer. Only the person who connects the integration needs QuickBooks admin access.
What exactly syncs to QuickBooks Online?
Vendors, accounts, classes, locations and tax codes come from QuickBooks. New approved vendors and bills from matched invoices go to QuickBooks with the invoice attached, and payment status comes back.
Which Procurer plan includes the QuickBooks integration?
QuickBooks Online sync is included on every plan, starting with Team at 149 USD per month. Three-way matching before the bill is created is included from Business.
Does it work with QuickBooks Desktop?
The integration is built for QuickBooks Online. For other accounting systems, CSV export is available on every plan.
Keep QuickBooks, add a purchasing process
Try the demo to route a request through approvals and matching, then create your account and connect QuickBooks Online.