A couple of years ago the design of PO Commitments changed. Previously the commitment amounts recorded on Projects did not include tax. For some reason, it now works as follows:
- If the Tax calculation on the Purchase Order is Inclusive of tax then the Commitment amount on the project is inclusive of tax for that specific commitment.
- If the Tax calculation on the Purchase Order is exclusive of tax then the Commitment amount on the project is exclusive of tax for that specific commitment.
Thus you can have a situation where some of the Commitments are inclusive of tax and other are not. On the Project Screens and Commitment Inquiries there is no indication whether or not the amounts are inclusive of tax. The project actuals are exclusive of tax. The budgets are exclusive of tax. I had a client setup a new project with Budgets (ex GST), and as soon as they raised the Purchase Orders they were over budget. Its like comparing apples and oranges in a completely dark room. The users are presented a dog’s breakfast. This apparently is “working as designed”.
With the 2025.2 release, within the construction edition there are some reports that show the tax amount. My observation is that this is way too late in the normal processing of projects, and only available for users of the Construction Edition.
What is needed: Preference’s switch that determines how tax on Purchase Orders is treated. Default to ex tax for the 99.999% of clients that do not need their figures distorted.