Next year I am hoping to change the way I bill my customers. I run a landscaping business where the majority of my income is from services (labor) while a smaller portion if from products that I sell.
Currently, I bill my customers for time and materials.
When I purchase materials, I set up the item in my inventory where it is assigned a cogs and income account and then I receive the item where I can assign its cost. Then when I bill the customer, I list labor and then each item that I used in the project which will then assign a sale price to the item.
With this method, when I run various reports (P&L for instance) I can see under the appropriate cogs account, the amount that I purchased the materials for and the amount it sold for under the appropriate income account.
Next year I want my bills to be much more condensed. I would like for them to only see a total for the project or perhaps a total for labor and a total for materials.
My concerns/dilemma with this method is this...
How will I be able to track cogs and income? I can obviously still receive items like I am now, but I am unable to figure out an efficient way to make the necessary income entries to account for the appropriate markup on the items. I could conceivably make an inventory adjustment and specify the appropriate income accounts but this does not allow me to "sell" the item for more than I bought it for.
I am sure that this question is somewhat vague and/or unclear and there is a reason for this, I'm not really sure what I am asking. If someone could possibly point me in the direction of some material that might help me clarify what it is I am trying to accomplish or an explanation of some other ways to use QuickBooks for billing I would be greatly appreciative.
Jimmy