I am using the projects feature to manage restricted grant funds for a nonprofit, using the International version of QBO.

Initially, I set up broad projects to track funds from different grantmakers. Then, I was excited to see that different projects can be added to line items of a transaction, so I created more narrow projects and divided transactions between projects to provide better reporting to grantmakers.

However, I’m now seeing incorrect data on the projects page when using line items. When a transaction contains multiple line items related to the same project, the expenses are correctly added to the project, but when a transaction has items related to different projects, the data is excluded from reports by project and P&L charts on the projects page.

To recreate the problem, use this example: Imagine you are building two houses for a customer, and you order $10,000 of lumber divided equally between the two projects.

1. 1. Set up a customer.
2. 2. Set up two projects for that customer (“House 1” and “House 2)
3. 3. Add two lines to the transaction (I usually use the items section) with $5,000 of lumber on each line.
4. 4. Fill in the project fields on each line with a different project (eg. “House 1” and “House 2) and save.

Result:

1. If you view the Profit and Loss charts on the projects page, both projects say 0. (Expected behavior: Both should say -$5,000)
2. If you click on one of the projects, then click “Transactions”, it lists the expense with the full amount ($10,000) (Expected behavior: Should say $5,000)
3. Note that if you edit the expense so that both line items are related to the same project, the P&L chart will correctly show -10,000, and the transaction will be included in reports.

It seems redundant to select the project on a line item basis when the only way for reports to work correctly is for all the items to have the same project.