When inventory is received in Fishbowl, Fishbowl records the transaction in a couple of its Post tables. When an export to QuickBooks is performed, Fishbowl logs into QuickBooks and creates an item receipt to represent the transaction. Fishbowl then makes record of the QuickBooks Item Receipt’s database record ID in its own post table for future reference. At this point, sometimes a strange thing can happen.

There is a little check box in QuickBooks version previous to v15 that must never be checked or unchecked. In QB v15 and later, there is a button that should never be pushed. It is the button or check box that “changes” an item receipt to a bill or a bill to an item receipt. When someone converts an Item receipt to a bill or vice versa, QuickBooks actually deletes the record being changed. Any record ID Fishbowl referenced disappears from QuickBooks entirely… for good.

Later, when the PO Receipt in Fishbowl is Reconciled Fishbowl searches for the previous Item Receipt in QuickBooks using the record ID. If Fishbowl can find the previous record, ID then Fishbowl delete the previous Item Receipt (as it should) before creating a bill. If Fishbowl cannot find the previous record to delete, then well… It creates a Bill and essentially duplicates Accounts Payable for that transaction.

The best thing to do to prevent this is to follow the steps below to lock down the ability to change an Item Receipt or Bill in QuickBooks.

To Edit the roles

1. Choose Company from the QB menu bar and select Users/Set up Users and Roles

2. Select the Role tab

3. Select the Role to edit from the list of roles

4. Under the vendors and payables category select the Item Receipts screen. Uncheck Create, Modify and Delete from the list of access levels. Click Okay

5. Repeat the steps for each role you think may have rights to the Item Receipt screen.

Note: Of course the user Fishbowl Inventory uses to log into QuickBooks needs full rights.