Creating an Item
Every field on the item creation form — what it does, when it is required, and what happens if you get it wrong.
Items are created once and reused on every transaction that references them. The investment of time in setting up items correctly — especially their account mappings — pays dividends every time an invoice, bill, or production batch is processed without a financial error.
Before You Create
Ensure the following exist before creating an item:
- Ledger accounts — if you want the item to post somewhere other than the business defaults (Sales, Cost of Sales, Inventory, Purchases), create those accounts in Finance first.
- Categories — if you plan to assign the item to a category, create the category first under Operations → Items → Categories. The Category field only appears once at least one category exists.
- Item type decision — know whether the item is a Product, Service, Material, or Expense. See Item Types for guidance.
Creating an Item
Navigate to: Operations → Items → New
The Type field decides which other fields are shown. Fields that do not apply to the selected type are hidden to prevent confusion.
Enter the Name and, for Product and Material items, the SKU. Choose the sub type (Make or Buy, Service Type, or Expense Type) and, for stock items, the Valuation Method. Pick a Category if you use them.
Expand the Ledger Accounts section at the bottom of the form. Each slot is optional — blank means the business default for that role. Pickers only offer accounts of the matching element.
Click Create. The item is saved and appears in the Items list.
Open the item. On the Pricing tab enter the Selling Price and Cost Price (Product and Service). On the Overview tab, the Ledger Accounts card flags any slot still reading "Not set".
Full Field Reference
| Field | Required? | Item Types | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Image | No | Product, Service, Material | Upload a product photo or icon. JPEG, PNG, GIF or WebP, maximum 5 MB. Shown on the item page header. |
| Type | Yes | All | Product, Service, Material, or Expense. Determines which fields appear and which workflows accept the item. |
| Name | Yes | All | The display name used on invoices, bills, delivery notes, and stock reports. Must be unique — a duplicate name (or SKU) is refused with "Item name already exist". Short, descriptive names print best on documents. |
| SKU | No | Product, Material | Stock Keeping Unit — your internal code or reference for this item. Must be unique if provided. Used in bulk imports and printed on labels. |
| Sub Type | Yes | All | Product and Material — Make or Buy: Buy (purchase from vendors) or Make (manufacture in-house). Service — Service Type: In-house or Outsourced. Expense — Expense Type: Direct or Indirect. |
| Valuation Method | Yes | Product, Material | Weighted Average is the default and the only method the costing engine actually implements. FIFO, LIFO and Latest Purchase are offered and stored, but no engine computes them — see the warning below. |
| Category | No | All | Groups items for filtering and reporting. One category per item. Shown only once a category exists; managed at Operations → Items → Categories. |
| Sales Account / Service Revenue Account | No | Product, Service | The income account credited when this item is sold. Income element only. Blank uses the business default Sales account. |
| Cost of Sales Account / Service Cost Account / Material Cost of Sales Account | No | Product, Service, Material | The expense account debited when the item's cost is recognized. Expense element only. Blank uses the business default Cost of Sales account. |
| Inventory Account / Material Inventory Account | No | Product, Material | The current asset account that holds the stock value on the balance sheet. Asset element only. Blank uses the business default Inventory account. |
| Purchases / Expense Account | No | Expense | The P&L account debited on every purchase bill that includes this item. Expense element only. Blank uses the business default Purchases account. |
The form offers four valuation methods and stores whichever you pick, but the costing engine implements one: weighted average. Choosing FIFO, LIFO or Latest Purchase does not change how stock is valued — cost of sales, the inventory balance, and every stock report stay on weighted average. It does have one visible consequence: the monthly inventory valuation rollup marks a business holding non-weighted-average items as unsupported valuation method and reports no closing value for it. Leave this on Weighted Average unless you have been told otherwise.
Selling Price, Cost Price, and Description are not on the create form. Prices live on the item page's Pricing tab; a barcode is generated automatically for Product and Material items.
If a slot is given an account of the wrong element, the save is rejected with a message such as "Item inventory account must be an Asset ledger account" and nothing is created. Blank slots are always valid — they resolve to the business defaults.
After Saving
Once saved, the item page provides:
- Header — image, name, type, SKU, sub type, category link, and (Product and Material) the barcode
- Overview tab — transaction summary cards, the Inventory Status card (Product and Material), the Valuation Method card, and the Ledger Accounts card
- Pricing tab — a Default Pricing card plus one card per business unit, and a Location Comparison table. See Pricing an item.
- Transactions tab — every document that has referenced this item (labelled History for Service and Expense, Usage for Material)
- Location dropdown — All Locations or one business unit
Stock levels, movement history, adjustments, and label printing are on the item's page under Operations → Inventories.
Editing an Item
Open the item page and click Edit. All fields on the create form can be changed, including the Type.
Account mappings can be changed at any time — the new mapping applies to all future transactions. Historical transactions retain the account they were originally posted to.
Related
- Item types — what each of the four types can do
- Account mapping — the ledger slots in full
- Pricing an item — setting cost and selling price after creation
- Importing items — the same fields, in bulk
- Item categories — the Category field's target
- Barcodes and labels — what Product and Material items get automatically