Advanced Purchase Order Tracking With Accounting Software

Why excel-based purchase order tracking isn’t that great

Admittedly, keeping track of purchase orders in Excel spreadsheets isn’t too bad an idea and the internet is full of both free and pay-only templates that come preformatted for such a purpose, ensuring the spreadsheet is ready to use the moment it’s opened. However, putting together such a document yourself isn’t that complicated either, since all it takes is creating and formatting columns that include the most important information – the order number, the supplier’s data, information about the ordered item, the amount due, and the dates – at which point the spreadsheet can be filled out with any necessary data.

The biggest problem with this approach is that no matter how much data spreadsheets can hold or how it is presented, there is still a need for a lot of manual data entry – and since time is money in business, that’s something that successful companies simply cannot afford. Although Excel is capable of autofilling data that was already entered into the same spreadsheet, most things still have to be recorded manually, which could become quite frustrating when other closely-related spreadsheets have to be updated as well. And if that’s not enough, using Excel can be dangerous, too, since it doesn’t warn of any erroneous data entry and cannot create an audit trail either, meaning that businesses have little to no control over what is entered into the spreadsheets or by who.

Online purchase order tracking: Excel spreadsheets done right

Even though tracking purchase orders via Excel spreadsheets is manageable, doing so in the cloud with online accounting software – or with a third-party program integrated into the accounting solution – means much less hassle for the business and its employees. In fact, online accounting solutions unify the data handling capabilities of Excel with the convenience provided by cloud technology. And this convenience comes in the form of many different aspects, covering features like a real-time inventory – which automatically alerts you should stocks start running out – or the option to autofill purchase orders or make them automatically recurring to speed up data entry and ensure that the right item is always ordered in the right amount and by the right supplier. As a matter of fact, accounting solutions can do so much more in this regard, especially when it comes to tracking purchase orders.

For starters, the moment a PO entry is made into the software’s cloud database it leaves an audit trail behind, meaning that all users connecting to the same account can look up and confirm any purchase order based on number of different criteria, such as item, cost, order/delivery date, or supplier. Additionally, the current status of purchase orders is displayed by the software, which is a huge asset in telling drafts apart from POs that are either waiting for approval by a supervisor or are ready to be sent straight to the corresponding supplier.

The tracking of purchase orders doesn’t stop when the document is delivered to suppliers, though. The content of POs can be easily copied to bills with a single click meaning that purchase orders can easily be recorded as expenses, which comes in handy when the company needs to file reports for tax season or an upcoming audit. However, turning purchase orders into expenses has another advantage related to tracking. Since expenses are displayed in the program’s informative dashboard – which is usually the first screen after logging into the software’s online interface – you will always be able to see if any outstanding purchase orders have been paid to suppliers or not at a single glance.