Great topic, AA. This is the classic bottleneck we see when companies start scaling up their purchasing.
We usually push for summarizing by Cost Code.
If you try to replicate the Sales Order line-for-line, you're just creating a data entry nightmare for AP. We try to teach PMs that a PO is a financial bucket, not a shopping list.
Using your ABC Supply example: If that order has 12 items but they all fall under "Roofing Material" and "Safety," the PO should just have those 2 lines.
As long as the Total $ matches the bill (within a small tolerance), AP processes it without flagging every 50-cent variance on a box of nails. Usually keeps the PMs happy because it's faster to enter, but keeps the costs hitting the right GL.
Hope that helps!
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Raphael Merlo
Fractional CFO
Bond CFO
Birmingham MI
(313) 566-3254
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-03-2026 12:21
From: Andrew Amrhein
Subject: How detailed are your materials PO's
All-
We've recently started increasing our usage and tracking of PO's for materials. One question we are running into is how much detail is enough? PM's understand the need for accuracy but want less detail, fewer line items. Sales / Estimators are listing, for good reason, all the materials they are estimating. Some orders are super simple. But some are longer.
So, for example, an ABC Supply sales order might have 10-12 line items sometimes. Some of those items go to similar Cost Codes, so lets say 3 CC's over 10-12 items.
How are you using PO's ?
- Are PO's a lump sum (grouped by CC)? with the detail being checked on the Sales Order?
- or Are you listing each line item for purchase on the PO? (replicating the Sales Order)
- Is accounting entering the bill against the PO, and PM's approve.... or the PM does it all
Its getting cumbersome quickly. Thank you for your feedback!
-AA
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Andrew Amrhein
Controller
Florida Certified Contractors
St. Augustine FL
(904) 824-2301
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