One list of items
Procurement › Stock lists every item in the catalogue — the same items as Sales › Items, not a copy — with its Selling price, and for people who may see them its Buying price and the Margin the two make, beside what is On hand and Available. Goods, Services or Everything chooses which items are listed; goods are shown to start with.
An item that is not counted as stock yet says Not counted: an order for it reserves nothing and delivers nothing from the shelf. Count as stock in its row's Actions starts counting it, and Count every good as stock does it for all of them at once. A service is never counted.
Prices and margin
- On an item's row, choose Actions › Prices….
- Change the Buying price, and either the Selling price or the Margin — type one and the other follows, with the markup (or the margin) beside it.
- Press Save the prices. It changes the item itself: Sales › Items shows the new prices too.
An item's two prices are its margin on an order: a line for it is priced from what it costs at the margin they make, unless the order has a target of its own (see Orders and the customer's LPO). A target typed on an item earlier is replaced by the margin its prices make when they are saved here. A price for another unit — a box — is set under Units. Somebody who may see selling prices but not costs sees only the selling price.
Units
Every item is counted in its own unit — the one on the Items screen — and that never changes here. Units on an item adds the other units it is bought or sold in: a box, a carton, a 6 m length, each with how many of the item's own unit it holds, and, if you like, its own selling and buying price (otherwise the item's price times that number). Choose which unit it is sold in and bought in by default. Up to 12 per item; lines already written keep the unit they were written in.
Opening stock and counts can be entered in any of the item's units — 4 boxes at 14.40 a box are 48 pieces at 1.20 — and are kept in the item's own. The item's margin is set with Prices (above).
Quantities, not money in the books
Procurement counts goods: what came in from suppliers, what went out on delivery orders, and what is where. It keeps an average cost for each item, so it can estimate margins and value the stock for management — and it posts neither. The Inventory account and cost of sales in the ledger stay what your accountant enters. Procurement reports puts the stock's value beside the Inventory account's balance, so the two can be brought together, usually at month end.
Opening stock from another system
Import reads an item list or a stock report exported from another system — QuickBooks, Zoho, Odoo, Tally, Square, Shopify or a spreadsheet — and brings in the goods with what is on hand at each location, at cost.
- On Stock, press Import and drop the file in.
- Check What each column is. A quantity column per location (Current Quantity Main store, In stock [Warehouse 2]) or a Location column says where each quantity is.
- Under Questions, say which of your locations each name in the file is, or let Add it as a new location make it.
- Read Every row and press Apply.
Each good is counted as stock, with its reorder level, and its quantity at each location is recorded as an opening adjustment at the file's cost — one adjustment per location. Nothing is posted. An item that already has stock here is left alone: a second opening balance would double it, so count it instead. A line with no cost is valued at zero, and the preview warns you.
Reading the page
| Column | What it means |
|---|---|
| Selling price | The item's own selling price, per its own unit. |
| Buying price and Margin | The item's buying price, and the margin (or markup) the two make — only for people who may see them. |
| On hand | What is physically there. |
| Available | On hand less what is promised (set aside) for confirmed orders: what a new order can have. What is promised shows beneath it. |
| Reorder at | The level at which the item shows as Low: when what is available falls to it or below. |
| Average cost and Value | Only for people who may see costs. |
Choose a location, or Every location; tick Low only to see what is running low; search by name, code or price (1,250 finds items at that sale price — or purchase price, for people who may see it). The list is Name, A to Z; Sort gives Name, Z to A, Code, A to Z, Code, Z to A, Highest sale price first, Lowest sale price first, Newest added first or Oldest added first. Open a row to see where the item is kept. Each row's Actions holds Prices…, Units…, Movements and Reordering…. Movements lists every change that made the balance — Opening stock, Goods received, Delivered, Returned at delivery, Delivery cancelled, Adjustment in, Adjustment out, Transfer in, Transfer out, Goods received, reversed — with the date, where, the quantity, what was on hand after it and the reason, and the cost for people who may see costs.
Check balances, for people who manage stock or the setup, confirms that every balance still agrees with its movements.
Which items count as stock
An item counts as stock once counting is switched on for it, and a service never counts. Goods added from inside Procurement count from the start. Other goods are switched on when you first change their stock by hand: the item shows as not counted yet, with Count it as stock. Reordering… on a row sets Reorder at and Usually buy (a note for whoever buys), the Usual supplier and how many days it Takes; leave the level empty and the item is never marked Low. Stop counting… switches counting off, only once none of it is on hand anywhere — count it out first. Every movement stays on record, and it can be counted again.
Sales › Items is the same list of items. It keeps each item's prices, accounts and VAT for every document, shows the margin its prices make, and — with Procurement added — how much of each good is in stock. An item added in either place is in both, and adding one with the same name as an item already there is refused, so the same product is never listed twice.
How stock changes by itself
| What happens | Stock | At what cost |
|---|---|---|
| Goods received on a supplier LPO | In, where it arrived | The LPO's price after discount, before VAT; the average is worked out again |
| A delivery order is dispatched | Out | The average cost, which does not change |
| The customer does not accept some at the door | Back in, set aside for the order again | The cost it left at |
| A delivery order comes back unsigned | Back in, set aside for the order again | The cost it left at |
| A goods received note is reversed | Out | The cost it came in at |
Changing stock by hand
Opening stock, Count, Transfer and Adjust open Change stock by hand, with the kind of change chosen under What kind of change. Each is recorded with a location, a Date and Why — kept on every movement and in the audit trail — and numbered ADJ-00001 onwards. None of them posts anything.
| Kind | What you enter | What it does | Button |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opening stock | Each item's How many and Cost of each (required) | Brings the stock in at that cost — where the average cost starts | Record opening stock |
| Adjustment | Add to stock or Take out of stock, and How many; a cost is optional when adding | Finds stock (at the cost given, or the average) or writes it off | Record the adjustment |
| Count | What was Counted of each item, 0 if none | Records the difference from what was on hand, up or down | Record the count |
| Transfer | From, To, and How many to move | Out of one location and into the other, at the average cost | Move the stock |
- Stock set aside for orders cannot be written off or moved away while it is reserved — it is released when its order is delivered, closed or cancelled. A count is the exception: it records what is really there, even when that is less than was promised.
- Nothing can go below zero unless your company allows negative stock under Procurement setup.
Locations
A location is anywhere stock is kept: a Warehouse, a Shop, a Site, a Vehicle or Quarantine (stock held back — damaged, returned or waiting to be inspected). Main store is made when Procurement is added. Under Procurement setup › Locations, Add a location with a Name, Short code, Kind and Address, and choose which one is the default — used whenever nothing else names a location. A location is never deleted, because its movements point at it. It is taken out of use instead, and only once it holds no stock: transfer or count it out first. The default location is always in use.
The average cost
The average is worked out per item across the whole company. Each time stock comes in at a cost — goods received, opening stock, stock found — what came in is combined with what was already on hand. Deliveries, goods coming back at the door and transfers move at the average and never change it. It is what an order's estimated margin and the stock valuation use.