Assemblies in Pro

Pro does not have the assembly item, so the options to accomplish making an assembly are involved and not very elegant. If you really need assemblies as a normal part of business operations, consider getting premier.

In premier what happens when QB builds an assembly is:

1. you define the parts and quantities needed to build it (BOM), then issue a build.
2. when QB builds it

• 2a. the items in the BOM are removed from inventory, the costs of those items are added together and assigned to the assembly.

• 2b. the quantity of the assembly item is increased and it shows as a stocked item.

So what you have to do in pro is the same thing using several steps.

There are two ways to accomplish this.

Use a Group:

Create a group, list all the items that make up the assembly, and then sell the group.
Disadvantages:

1. You cannot get sales reports on group sales.
2. There is no item in stock that is the assembly.
3. If you sell a group and one or more inventory items are at zero balance, QB will sell the group anyway.
4. The group sales price is the total of the inventory items that make it up, you can adjust that with a discount or other charge item, but it is a hassle.

Use Inventory Adjust:

Create an inventory item that represents the assembly.
Bring up inventory adjust

1. set the adjusting account to a clearing expense account
2. lower the quantities of the items that make up the assembly item.
3. on the adjustment screen QB tells you the total value of the adjustment – write that down
4. save the adjustment.
5. bring up inventory adjust again
6. set the adjusting account to the same clearing expense account
7. mark the adjustment as a value adjustment
8. set the quantity for the assembly item to one
9. in the new value column enter the value you wrote down in step 3 above
10. save the adjustment
11. bring up the accounts list and insure that the balance in the clearing expense account is zero.

What this did was move the costs of the items you are going to use in the assembly to the clearing expense account and lower the stockage quantities for those items. Then in the second adjustment you increased the stockage quantity of the assembly item and assigned a cost. QB took that cost from the clearing expense account and assigned it to the assembly item – zeroing out the clearing expense account. If the clearing expense account is not zero when you are done, there is a problem.