---
title: How do I use item-based budgeting with QuickBooks Online in ProcurementExpress?
description: Learn item-based QuickBooks Online budget coding in ProcurementExpress — map QBO items to departments and budgets, restrict to mapped products, and lock budgets on your POs.
---

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# How do I use item-based budgeting with QuickBooks Online in ProcurementExpress?

## Create and edit purchase orders using item-based budget coding that maps your QBO items to departments and budgets.

ProcurementExpress ties your purchase orders to QuickBooks Online in two ways:

- account-based (a chart of accounts line)
- item-based (a QBO item that carries its own expense coding).

1. If your company uses item-based QBO, spending is coded to the QBO item, and you can map each item to a specific department and budget so POs code themselves automatically.
2. Make sure your QuickBooks Online connection is active and your company is set to item-based mode (your account admin enables this as part of the QuickBooks expense settings rollout).
3. Open a PO and choose the department for the purchase. Item-based mode uses the department to decide which products you can pick.
4. Add a product or service. For item-based companies a product is required on each line, and you can add a QBO line description if you want it to differ from the product's default.

The budget and account/class are pulled from your mapping automatically. When a product is mapped to a department and a budget, its budget is locked (you'll see a lock icon) and you can't change it on the line - that keeps purchases on the right budget. If your settings link budgets to QBO accounts or classes, those fill in automatically too.

![](https://faq.procurementexpress.com/hs-fs/hubfs/image-png-Nov-10-2026-06-44-36-7290-PM.png?width=1065&height=425&name=image-png-Nov-10-2026-06-44-36-7290-PM.png)

Only products mapped to (or purchased from vendors in) the selected department are shown by default if your account restricts products to mapped ones. You can turn this on or off in your settings.

![](https://faq.procurementexpress.com/hs-fs/hubfs/image-png-Nov-10-2026-06-45-27-1709-PM.png?width=1014&height=649&name=image-png-Nov-10-2026-06-45-27-1709-PM.png)  
![](https://faq.procurementexpress.com/hs-fs/hubfs/image-png-Nov-10-2026-06-46-25-7148-PM.png?width=966&height=507&name=image-png-Nov-10-2026-06-46-25-7148-PM.png)

Note: item-based budget coding is currently rolling out under a feature flag — contact your account admin / ProcurementExpress support if you don't see item-based mode on your account yet.

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