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How to Create a Purchase Order in QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Online is a great platform for business accounting needs, but you may be looking for a purchase order system to integrate with QuickBooks to replace any outdated paper processes. Adopting add-on systems is part of vital digital transformation happening in accounts payable to stay competitive with current best practice in business finance.

Zahara is an all-in-one AP solution that is used globally as a purchase order system for QuickBooks. Purchase order processes are streamlined using Zahara, ensuring orders are correct from the beginning and giving businesses control over their spending.

Zahara allows you to raise purchase orders, send them through multi-step approval workflows emailed to the correct approvers, automatically send them to suppliers and match them to corresponding invoices. You can send it through various workflows based on certain conditions and criteria that it may meet. This could be by cost amount or department (‘divisions’ in Zahara). If you decide to edit it after creation, it will go through the approval workflow again, to ensure that the new information has been approved. You can also opt to automatically send the purchase order to the supplier as part of the workflow to save time and reduce financial administration. Before creating a purchase order there are some things that need to be in place, including adding suppliers onto Zahara, a default tax code and populating with some GL codes. See our guide to creating a purchase order for help getting set up starting to make orders.

Businesses benefit from using Zahara as full audit trails are left behind each PO for easy tracking of every purchase, including who ordered it, which budget it is allocated to and who approved it. Users can even add information or documents found relevant to the order that may be of use to the approver or for records. This provides secure control and visibility of spend for businesses using QuickBooks and allows for forecast of spend using advanced reporting functions. It is simply not good enough for modern businesses not to have a firm grasp on their finances.

Choosing Zahara as your purchase order system for QuickBooks gives you greater spend control and visibility over your purchase orders, their details, approvals, and records. Zahara is an all-in-one solution that is simple yet sophisticated and will take care of all of your AP needs, however you decide to use it. Read more about how Zahara can elevate your use of QuickBooks.

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What is accounts payable automation software?

An AP automation solution transforms finance teams by replacing paper processes with digital solutions that integrate with your current finance system. Popular accounting software like Xero, Sage, QuickBooks and MYOB enable apps and add-ons to their systems that allow you to make the most out of controlling business finance. Accounts payable automation software saves businesses time by eliminating manual data entry, meaning employees do not have to waste their time on tedious administration. Month-end figures can be pulled together much faster, helping businesses to forecast spend and pay suppliers on time. Zahara Systems is an accounts payable automation software that provides easy-to-use features to streamline AP processes and provide strong visibility of spend. Here are a few key features of Zahara:

Multi- step invoice approval workflows

Zahara sends invoices through customised workflows of your selected approvers in the company, with each invoice triggering various workflows depending on its conditions. This easy process prevents any paper chasing around the office or invoices getting lost on desks. Every invoice is recorded securely with an audit trail behind it’s approval, allowing it to be processed and paid swiftly.

Optical Character Recognition

Zahara is one of the few accounts payable automation software to have optical character recognition (OCR) built in to the system without needing a third party software. OCR accurately reads invoices, extracts data, and converts them into digital formats, even matching them with corresponding purchase orders. This also provides fraud prevention, as OCR detects discrepancies between invoices and purchase orders and checks for any fraudulent bank details.

Purchase Order management

In Zahara, POs are sent through yourworkflows and can be assigned to department budgets or projects for maximum control of spend, leaving a clear audit trail behind so you know where the order came from and who approved it. Finance teams see significant benefits to streamlining their purchase order approvals in this way, with greater control on costs and happier suppliers due to efficiency of the process.

Staff Expenses

Zahara provides staff expenses approvals on the convenient mobile app. Photos and other information can be added to claims recorded by staff and held until they are ready for approval. Employees can capture receipts even when they are out of the office. This prevents rifling through receipts that often end up lost.

When looking for an accounts payable automation software, check that it integrates with your system, provides features that adapt to the needs of your team and gives you full control. Zahara is easy to set up, provides training sessions with our experts to get started and has a whole support team of AP enthusiasts waiting for your questions. Book a free 1:1 demo.

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Purchase Oder System for Xero

Businesses are moving on from old-fashioned methods of manually creating purchase orders which lose themselves in emails or filings cabinets. There is so much growth potential to be found when choosing to upgrade accounts payable processes for increased efficiency. Zahara seamlessly integrates with Xero as a cloud-based purchase order and invoice processing system, it is easy to set up with nothing to install. Xero is an ideal accounting platform for businesses which allows for integrated add-ons such as purchase order systems to provide extra benefits. A purchase order system for Xero such as Zahara streamlines your purchase orders, ensuring orders are correct from the moment of creation, saving your finance team time and understanding your suppliers.

When someone in your business raises a purchase order, it usually needs to be approved by one or more approvers, which can be difficult to keep track of as a manual or paper process. Zahara allows you to create fully customised approval workflows where purchase orders that meet a certain condition can go down its corresponding workflow. This allows for the right people to approve the purchase order easily via email, leaving a full audit trail of who created, edited, approved or rejected it.

Before making a purchase order in Zahara, you need to simply add your suppliers onto the system, alongside a default tax code and some GL codes. You can also add comments or documents to the purchase order for the approvers and suppliers, providing any relevant information they may need. Once raised, the purchase order will have its delivery receipted with a goods received note recorded alongside the invoice. In Zahara you can view your purchase orders and its details, including all line items and history. This process fully records each purchase order, tracking your business spend and making sure you get the purchases correct. Finance teams see huge benefits from having visibility provided by their purchase order system for Xero, such as forecasting and analysing spend.See our guide to creating a purchase order.

Choosing Zahara as your purchase order system for Xero gives you greater spend control and visibility over your purchase orders, their details, approvals, and records. Zahara doesn’t stop there, it also intelligently reads and matches invoices to POs, as well as recording staff expenses to ensure maximum benefit from your current finance system. Businesses around the world are saving time by letting Zahara do the work. Read more about how Zahara can elevate your useof Xero.

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Staff Expenses Approvals

If you don’t currently have a staff expenses approvals system, now is the time to get one. Almost all businesses have to manage various numbers of staff members, and with this comes staff expenses. A staff expense is any money paid by the employee for the benefit of the company orin order to perform their duties. This can include buying milk for the office, buying a train ticket to meet a client, or booking a hotel for a business trip. These are expenses that are not expected to be paid out of the staff members wages but will be reimbursed by the business.

It is important to keep track of staff expenses for control of business spend and segregating purchases from expenses for complete visibility. Finance teams may be familiar with the outdated process of collecting receipts and filing them away but may not have an automated way of doing this. A staff expenses approvals system can help to forecastspend and prevent human error, which can reduce unnecessary loss. Approval workflows for expenses ensure that the right people see the expense before it is paid, which reduces the number of any false or incorrect claims and reduces human error.

Zahara has recently released a staff expenses approvals module on the mobile app. Photos and documents can be added to claims made by staff and held on the phone until they are ready for approval, then they are released. This article explains exactly how it works. Employees can capture receipts via the mobile app to ensure they are recorded on Zahara even when they are out of the office. This prevents rifling through stacks of receipts that end up lost or in someone’s back pocket. Claims can even have documents and photos attached to each line item, so there is a full record of the expense and each item purchased.

The staff expenses approvals module of course allows the claim to go through a customised workflow so admins can select who needs to approve it for different conditions, such as amounts. Having this in place has already saved thousands of businesses time and streamlined their expenses process for complete visibility. This is one of the many ways that Zahara automates accounts payable processes for spend control, replacespaper-based systems,and makes business AP easier for finance teams. Take a look at our complete feature list to see everything we offer. Join over 1,000 businesses using Zahara worldwide.