About Purchasing

Use the Purchasing application to automate purchasing transactions and to monitor and manage the acquisition of goods and services.

To get started with Purchasing, you or your system administrator subscribes to and configures the application. When you configure the application, you select the features that you want to appear in the Purchasing menus and pages. You also give permissions to those users who need to access those features.

With the Purchasing application, you can:

• Create requests for quote, purchase requisitions, purchase orders, vendor invoices, debit memos, and returns.
• Convert documents from one type to another type, which maintains accuracy and speeds data entry. For example, you can convert a quote to a purchase order.
• Tailor the workflow to your business model. Sage Intacct includes a set of standard transaction definitions that meet the needs of most businesses. You can also create custom transaction definitions that are specific for the way that you do business. No scripting or coding is needed.
• Set user permissions to give user access only to specific processes, transactions, and reports. For example, several employees might create requests for quotes, but only a purchasing manager issues a final purchase order.

Other key features:

• Automatically update current costs with the latest price that you paid for items, which Intacct takes directly from the data that you enter.
• Obtain goods at the best possible price using features such as automatic quantity price breaks and replenishment. The replenishment process helps identify which goods to reorder, suggests the most economical quantity to order, and automatically generates the purchase orders for you.
• Use deliver-to functionality to specify the address in your company where shipments are to be received, consolidate items that are to be delivered to different addresses on a single transaction, and help with tax calculation.
• Use deliver-to control to specify the address in your company where shipments are to be received and simplify transaction creation. For example, with deliver to, you can consolidate items that are delivered to different addresses on a single transaction.
• Run standard reports that help both purchasing personnel and management place orders, monitor order status, and analyze the state of your inventory.
• Create custom reports for further insight and analysis for continual business process improvement.
• Use the integration with the General Ledger, Purchasing, Order Entry, Accounts Payable, and Accounts Receivable applications. With this integration, you can create a seamless chain of transactions from requesting quotes from vendors to receiving merchandise into your warehouse to invoicing your customers.

Differences between Purchasing and Accounts Payable

Purchasing	Accounts Payable
Uses a workflow matched to your business process.	Uses single transactions, with no workflow.
Data is entered by item and quantity.	Data is entered by General Ledger (GL) account and total amount.
Uses price lists, units of measure, and price extensions.	Requires manual calculations and data entry.
Uses items mapped to GL accounts. You do not need to know the GL account.	Uses account labels. You need to know the account label that's associated with the GL account that's associated with the item being purchased.
Uses simplified automation to create recurring transactions.	Requires manual calculations and data entry.