How Do I Delete Outstanding Billable Time/Costs?

[Will]

When I create an invoice for a particular customer, Quickbooks warns me that
I have outstanding billable time/costs. We NEVER use the time billing part
of Quickbooks, so that is a flag something got misentered. When I select
the Time/Costs button, there is a charge that is an obvious gibberish
mistake on the Items tab. I cannot figure out how such expenses are
entered in the first place, and I cannot figure out how to delete this
erroneous expense charge. Can someone help me figure out how to delete
that billable expense?

[L]

Post by Will
When I create an invoice for a particular customer, Quickbooks warns me that
I have outstanding billable time/costs. We NEVER use the time billing part
of Quickbooks, so that is a flag something got misentered. When I select
the Time/Costs button, there is a charge that is an obvious gibberish
mistake on the Items tab. I cannot figure out how such expenses are
entered in the first place, and I cannot figure out how to delete this
erroneous expense charge. Can someone help me figure out how to delete
that billable expense?

The expenses are entered as billable to the customer when you use the
Customer:job column when entering a bill, check, cc charge or when you enter
Customer:job information using timesheets.

Using the time/costs button should help you narrow down just what
transaction you entered in error.

[Will]

Your post let me figure out that we are getting this message because for
some customers when we ordered their product from a supplier, we put that
customer's name in the Customer field of the Bill. When we created the
invoice, however, we did NOT select the item through the Time/Costs button.

Is there any way we can associate the costs with the customer without the
requirement to use the Time/Costs button to select the item when generating
the customer's invoice?

At this point I just want the annoying messages asking us to use the
Time/Costs button to go away. No one who creates invoices here would ever
understand such an obscure message, let alone have an understanding of who
the supplier for an order was and which item to select off the Time/Costs
Items tab. Is my only option to go locate each and every bill with a
Customer entry and manually delete those?
--
Will

Post by L

Post by Will
When I create an invoice for a particular customer, Quickbooks warns me that
I have outstanding billable time/costs. We NEVER use the time billing part
of Quickbooks, so that is a flag something got misentered. When I select
the Time/Costs button, there is a charge that is an obvious gibberish
mistake on the Items tab. I cannot figure out how such expenses are
entered in the first place, and I cannot figure out how to delete this
erroneous expense charge. Can someone help me figure out how to delete
that billable expense?

The expenses are entered as billable to the customer when you use the
Customer:job column when entering a bill, check, cc charge or when you enter
Customer:job information using timesheets.
Using the time/costs button should help you narrow down just what
transaction you entered in error.

[Lisa C]

Post by Will
Your post let me figure out that we are getting this message because for
some customers when we ordered their product from a supplier, we put that
customer's name in the Customer field of the Bill. When we created the
invoice, however, we did NOT select the item through the Time/Costs button.
Is there any way we can associate the costs with the customer without the
requirement to use the Time/Costs button to select the item when generating
the customer's invoice?

Sure, mark the costs as 'not billable' when you enter the customer name on
the vendor bill. There is a box next to the name. I'm not near my QB program
atm, but if I recall correctly, it is non-billable when there is an X
through the box.

Post by Will
At this point I just want the annoying messages asking us to use the
Time/Costs button to go away. No one who creates invoices here would ever
understand such an obscure message, let alone have an understanding of who
the supplier for an order was and which item to select off the Time/Costs
Items tab. Is my only option to go locate each and every bill with a
Customer entry and manually delete those?

I wouldn't delete them. I would mark the costs as not billable, by changing
the field next to the customer name.

Look up reimbursable expenses or billable items in the helpfile. You should
be able to glean the information there.

[Will]

In our case the Customer fields are filled out on each line item of purchase
orders, not Bills. I don't see any checkbox anywhere on a PO to not bill
the customer for the line item. Any thoughts on how to avoid billing for
such cases?
--
Will

Post by Lisa C

Post by Will
Your post let me figure out that we are getting this message because for
some customers when we ordered their product from a supplier, we put that
customer's name in the Customer field of the Bill. When we created the
invoice, however, we did NOT select the item through the Time/Costs button.
Is there any way we can associate the costs with the customer without the
requirement to use the Time/Costs button to select the item when generating
the customer's invoice?

Sure, mark the costs as 'not billable' when you enter the customer name on
the vendor bill. There is a box next to the name. I'm not near my QB program
atm, but if I recall correctly, it is non-billable when there is an X
through the box.

Post by Will
At this point I just want the annoying messages asking us to use the
Time/Costs button to go away. No one who creates invoices here would ever
understand such an obscure message, let alone have an understanding of who
the supplier for an order was and which item to select off the Time/Costs
Items tab. Is my only option to go locate each and every bill with a
Customer entry and manually delete those?

I wouldn't delete them. I would mark the costs as not billable, by changing
the field next to the customer name.
Look up reimbursable expenses or billable items in the helpfile. You should
be able to glean the information there.

[Leo Navoichick]

Post by Will
In our case the Customer fields are filled out on each line item of purchase
orders, not Bills. I don't see any checkbox anywhere on a PO to not bill
the customer for the line item. Any thoughts on how to avoid billing for
such cases?
--

Possibly check the items themselves in the item list. They might be
set up in there incorrectly which is causing this to happen.

[Will]

How should the items be set up in the item list so as to not generate
billable charges to customers?

I see a checkbox that talks about "this item is purchased for...a specific
customer job" but that is NOT selected.
--
Will

Post by Leo Navoichick

Post by Will
In our case the Customer fields are filled out on each line item of purchase
orders, not Bills. I don't see any checkbox anywhere on a PO to not bill
the customer for the line item. Any thoughts on how to avoid billing for
such cases?
--

Possibly check the items themselves in the item list. They might be
set up in there incorrectly which is causing this to happen.
--
Leo

[L]

Post by Will
In our case the Customer fields are filled out on each line item of purchase
orders, not Bills. I don't see any checkbox anywhere on a PO to not bill
the customer for the line item. Any thoughts on how to avoid billing for
such cases?

Click Help on the PO Screen and you find this entry in the QB helpfile (my
version is 2003 contractor edition)
"Making items ordered for a job billable to a customer
If you order items for a job and specify the job in the Customer column of
the purchase order, you can easily make the items billable when they arrive
if you have QuickBooks Pro.

When you receive items against a purchase order on a bill, item receipt,
check, or credit card charge, QuickBooks Pro transfers the customer or job
name to the Customer column of the Items tab.

Make sure the small invoice icon in the next column (the Billable column)
doesn't have an 'X' through it. If it has an "X," click the icon. "

My 3 seconds of research provided that the "billable" column does not appear
on the PO, it appears on the Receive item screen. When you receive items
against the PO, click the icon in the billable column until an X appears.

[Will]

Is there any way to make items where customer jobs have been specified on
the PO NOT billable as the default case?

Currently everything is coming across as billable, and you have to
explicitly catch the problem in the Item Receipt or Bill step. This
creates a business process issue, because the people who receive inventory
shouldn't be making decisions about how customers will be billed.

Now that apparently we have things pretty messed up (hundreds of billable
items to customer jobs that aren't really billable), is there any report
that will show us item receipts or bills that contain customer job
references, where the items were never actually billed to the customer? If
anyone can think of a strategy to get all of those unbilled items onto a
report I would appreciate the tip.
--
Will

Post by L

Post by Will
In our case the Customer fields are filled out on each line item of purchase
orders, not Bills. I don't see any checkbox anywhere on a PO to not bill
the customer for the line item. Any thoughts on how to avoid billing for
such cases?

Click Help on the PO Screen and you find this entry in the QB helpfile (my
version is 2003 contractor edition)
"Making items ordered for a job billable to a customer
If you order items for a job and specify the job in the Customer column of
the purchase order, you can easily make the items billable when they arrive
if you have QuickBooks Pro.
When you receive items against a purchase order on a bill, item receipt,
check, or credit card charge, QuickBooks Pro transfers the customer or job
name to the Customer column of the Items tab.
Make sure the small invoice icon in the next column (the Billable column)
doesn't have an 'X' through it. If it has an "X," click the icon. "
My 3 seconds of research provided that the "billable" column does not appear
on the PO, it appears on the Receive item screen. When you receive items
against the PO, click the icon in the billable column until an X appears.

[Lisa C]

Post by Will
Is there any way to make items where customer jobs have been specified on
the PO NOT billable as the default case?
Currently everything is coming across as billable, and you have to
explicitly catch the problem in the Item Receipt or Bill step. This
creates a business process issue, because the people who receive inventory
shouldn't be making decisions about how customers will be billed.
Now that apparently we have things pretty messed up (hundreds of billable
items to customer jobs that aren't really billable), is there any report
that will show us item receipts or bills that contain customer job
references, where the items were never actually billed to the customer?
If
anyone can think of a strategy to get all of those unbilled items onto a
report I would appreciate the tip.

Yeah, there is. I know because I ran it.
Not sure what it was though, and I am not at the office.

What version of QB are you running?

In the version I use, the reports menu contains an unbilled expenses report
for job (or a similar name). That is the one that does it.

As to your question about defaults..
you are overriding the QB default when you enter the customer name in the
column for billable expenses. That is what the column is designed for. QB
gives you the option to mark the expenses as not billable to the customer.

It is a problem in my use as well. We purchase supplies for individual
customer:jobs, and routinely enter the customer:job in the vendor bill. BUT,
for jobs that we have estimated, expenses are not detailed in the invoice.
It sure would be nice if you could mark an expense as having been billed. A
method I was told to rid the unbilled expenses in that case, is when
creating invoices, if expenses exist for the customer:job, use the button to
flow them into the invoice, save the invoice, return to it and delete those
lines. I have not tried it out. Just as you have, I have extraneous
'unbilled' expenses to my customers.