10 Things Fishbowl Inventory Can Do That QuickBooks Can’t

Fishbowl Inventory is an inventory management solution that lets you do many things that even QuickBooks Enterprise can’t.

Because it offers so many features beyond QuickBooks and it integrates with that popular accounting software, Fishbowl Inventory lets small and midsize businesses stay with QuickBooks for much longer than they otherwise could as they outgrow QuickBooks’ feature set.

Here are 10 inventory management features Fishbowl Inventory offers that QuickBooks does not:

1. Advanced Bill of Materials

Fishbowl Inventory lets you create bills of materials for a variety of purposes, including simple assembly and multilevel assembly jobs. QuickBooks only supports a bill of materials for simply assembly work.

2. Barcode Generating and Printing

You can generate, print, and scan barcodes using Fishbowl Inventory. QuickBooks is incapable of generating or printing barcodes, but it does allow users to scan already-existing barcodes.

3. Extra Accounting Methods

Fishbowl Inventory supports Average Costing, First In First Out (FIFO), Last In First Out (LIFO), and Standard Cost accounting methods. QuickBooks only lets you use Average Costing and FIFO.

4. Kitting

A kit is a group of products that are all combined into a single end product. Fishbowl Inventory lets you add a number of kits to a sales order. QuickBooks does not have a kitting feature.

5. Multipurpose Work Orders

Similar to its bill of materials feature, Fishbowl Inventory allows users to create work orders for manufacturing jobs involving simple assembly, multistage assembly, disassembly, repair, replacement, and more. Complex jobs with multiple work orders are grouped under manufacture orders. Again, QuickBooks only allows for simple assembly jobs.

6. Part Tracking Criteria

Fishbowl Inventory has the option to track parts by lot numbers, serial numbers, revision levels, expiration dates, and any other criteria you can think of through its custom fields. QuickBooks only allows you to track parts by either lot number or serial number.

7. Return Merchandise Authorization

Fishbowl Inventory can issue Return Merchandise Authorizations (RMA) to receive returned items, send replacements or substitutions to customers, repair items, or refund the purchase amount. QuickBooks does not process RMAs.

8. Status Updates

Fishbowl Inventory lets you check the status of a manufacturing job by seeing what stage it is at on the bill of materials or work order. QuickBooks Pro and Premier do not offer this status update feature, though QuickBooks Enterprise does.

9. Transfer Orders

Fishbowl Inventory uses transfer orders to move parts, finished goods, and other materials within a warehouse or between locations. Transfer orders don’t require an invoice since nothing is being sold. QuickBooks does not have a feature specifically allowing products to move from one location to another without making a purchase or sale.

10. Variable Prices and Discounts

Fishbowl Inventory lets you offer customers variable pricing and discounts on products in the form of a percent discount, a specific dollar amount off, group pricing, and/or cost-plus pricing. QuickBooks only lets you use a percent discount or a specific dollar amount off.

Above and Beyond

This list really just scratches the surface of the functionality Fishbowl Inventory offers above and beyond QuickBooks. All of these features are a big reason why Fishbowl Inventory is the No. 1 inventory management software for QuickBooks users.  Learn more about Fishbowl Inventory by scheduling an inventory software demo today.