Getting Started: Notes on Item Quantities and Cost

Available Quantities | Decimal Quantities | Decimal Costs

Basic

The Average Unit Cost field in inventory reflects the average cost of the currently on-hand quantity of an item. This value is automatically recalculated by Point of Sale when you create a voucher to receive an item at a cost different than what is currently recorded. How does order cost differ from average unit cost?

The On-Hand Quantity field reflects the number of units of an item currently in stock. This value is automatically updated as you create vouchers, receipts, and, if applicable, transfer slips.

Item quantities and costs have significant impact on your inventory value and your financial records. For this reason, it is recommended that you manually enter or edit these values only when entering items already in your store when you begin using Point of Sale. From that point on, Point of Sale maintains an accurate ledger of changes in these values with the use of transactional documents (receiving vouchers, receipts, transfer slips, and adjustment memos) and the Physical Inventory utility. The table below summarizes how quantities and/or costs are updated in various ways.

Method | Comments
Receiving vouchers | Updates on-hand quantity, average unit cost, and order cost in inventory. Should be used for receiving all new and reordered items into inventory. When you define a new item in inventory that is to be received later, we recommend you leave the On-Hand Quantity and Average Unit Cost fields blank in inventory and allow the receiving voucher to update them.
Receipts | When an item is sold or returned on a receipt, the on-hand inventory quantity is adjusted up or down accordingly.
Adjustment memos | A memo is used anytime quantity or cost must be manually adjusted (because it is not handled by a receiving voucher, receipt, or physical inventory count). Many actions, such as conducting a physical inventory, or manually editing the cost or quantity fields, automatically create adjustment memos for you.
Physical Inventory | Updates on-hand quantities only. Updating a physical inventory automatically creates adjustment memos to update inventory.
Transfer slips (Pro) | A transfer slip has no affect on company inventory quantities, though it does increase or decrease the on-hand quantities at the specific stores involved in the transfer.

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