Stock Adjustments
Every stock adjustment tile — when to use each one, what fields it requires, and what journal it posts.
Stock adjustments are the mechanism for recording any stock change that is not generated by a sales delivery, purchase receipt, or production batch. The adjustment tiles cover every scenario a business encounters: migration, corrections, damage, internal use, permanent removal, and conversions between items.
Accessing Adjustments
Navigate to: Operations → Inventories → select the item → Adjustments tab
The Adjustments tab is available to administrators. It shows a row of tiles; clicking one opens a form tailored to that adjustment. Tiles that reduce stock are disabled when the item has no stock to reduce, and every tile is disabled until the item resolves an inventory account ("Set up inventory accounts to make adjustments").
The Adjustment Tiles
| Type | Purpose | Stock Effect | P&L Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opening Balance | Bring existing stock into the system when going live or starting inventory tracking for an item | Increase | No P&L impact — offsets to the business's opening balance account |
| Qty Adjustment | Correct a stock discrepancy found during a count, or record any unplanned addition or removal | Increase or decrease | No P&L impact — offsets to the same opening balance account |
| Wastage | Record stock lost to physical damage, spoilage, or natural deterioration | Decrease | Debit to the expense account you choose — P&L impact |
| Operational Use | Record internal consumption of stock not part of a production batch (demonstrations, office use, internal projects) | Decrease | Debit to the expense account you choose — P&L impact |
| Write-off | Permanently remove stock that is irrecoverable, stolen, or has no value | Decrease | Debit to the expense account you choose — P&L impact |
| Transform | Convert this item into another (repackaging, unit conversion) — no net value change | Decrease this item, increase the target item | No P&L impact — inventory value transfers between items |
| Recipe Transform | Combine several input items into one or more output items | Decrease the inputs, increase the outputs | No P&L impact — inventory value transfers between items |
Stock transfers between business units are not an adjustment; they live on the sending unit's Stock tab. See Stock Transfers.
1. Opening Balance
Use when migrating from another system or when starting to track an item that already has physical stock.
| Field | Required? | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Center | Yes | One row per business unit where this stock sits — add a row for each location. |
| Quantity | Yes | The physical count at that unit. Must be positive. |
| Rate/Cost | Yes | The per-unit cost used to value this stock. This becomes the item's initial average cost. Use the book value from your previous system or the last purchase price if historical cost is unavailable. |
| Date | No | The effective date — typically your go-live date or the date of the physical count. Defaults to today. |
| Note | No | Reference to the count sheet, previous system report, or migration note. |
| Account | Debit | Credit | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inventory Account (item mapping) | Qty × Rate | — | Stock added to the balance sheet at cost |
| Opening balance account | — | Qty × Rate | The business's opening-balance equity account — standard treatment for migration entries |
Opening balances for many items at once can be loaded from a spreadsheet with Import on the Inventories page.
2. Qty Adjustment
Use to correct a discrepancy found in a stock count, or any planned addition or removal not covered by another type.
| Field | Required? | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Quantity (+/−) | Yes | Positive number to increase stock, negative number to decrease. The form shows the resulting balance as you type. Zero is refused. |
| Rate/Cost per unit | No | The cost per unit for the adjustment. The item's cost is used when left blank. |
| Center | No | The business unit where the adjustment applies. Switch the form to per-unit mode to enter a quantity for each location in one go. |
| Date | No | Defaults to today. |
| Note | No | The reason for the adjustment. Shown in Adjustment History and on the Movement row. |
| Account | Debit | Credit | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inventory Account (item mapping) | Qty × Rate | — | Stock increase recorded at the entered cost |
| Opening balance account | — | Qty × Rate | The same offset account opening balances use |
For a decrease, the debit and credit sides reverse: the opening balance account is debited and the Inventory Account is credited.
3. Wastage
These three types share identical journal structure but differ in intent and the expense account they post to. Wastage is for physically damaged or spoiled goods. Operational Use is for goods consumed internally in normal operations. Write-off is for goods that must be permanently removed with no residual value and no clear operational reason (theft, loss, unreconcilable discrepancy).
Use Wastage when stock is lost due to physical damage, expiry, spillage, or natural deterioration.
| Field | Required? | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Quantity | Yes | Units wasted. Must be a positive number — the system treats this as a decrease and refuses more than the stock at the chosen unit. |
| Expense Account | Yes | The P&L account that absorbs the cost of the wastage. Typically "Wastage Expense" or "Cost of Spoilage". Expense accounts only. |
| Center | Yes | The business unit where the wastage occurred. |
| Date | No | The date the wastage occurred. Defaults to today. |
| Note | No | Description: batch number, expiry date, incident reference. |
| Account | Debit | Credit | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Expense account chosen on the form | Qty × cost | — | Damage cost recognized as an expense |
| Inventory Account (item mapping) | — | Qty × cost | Inventory balance reduced at the item's cost |
4. Operational Use
Use when stock is consumed internally — product samples given to potential customers, goods used in staff events, consumables used by maintenance teams, or items used in demonstrations.
| Field | Required? | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Quantity | Yes | Units consumed. Must be positive and no more than the stock at the chosen unit. |
| Expense Account | Yes | The expense account absorbing the cost. Examples: "Operational Supplies Expense", "Staff Welfare Expense", "Marketing Expense". |
| Center | Yes | The business unit from which the stock is drawn. |
| Date | No | The date of consumption. Defaults to today. |
| Note | No | What the stock was used for. |
| Account | Debit | Credit | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Expense account chosen on the form | Qty × cost | — | Internal consumption cost recognized as expense |
| Inventory Account (item mapping) | — | Qty × cost | Stock removed from inventory balance |
5. Write-off
Use when stock must be removed from the books and there is no recoverable value — stolen goods, irrecoverable losses, or unresolvable discrepancies that persist after investigation.
| Field | Required? | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Quantity | Yes | Units written off. Must be positive and no more than the stock at the chosen unit. |
| Expense Account | Yes | The expense account absorbing the written-off cost. Example: "Inventory Write-off Expense". Requires authorization in many businesses — check your approval policy. |
| Center | Yes | The business unit where the write-off originates. |
| Date | No | Date of the write-off. Defaults to today. |
| Note | Recommended | Reason, authorization reference, or investigation summary. Required by most audit standards. |
| Account | Debit | Credit | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Expense account chosen on the form | Qty × cost | — | Loss recognized in P&L |
| Inventory Account (item mapping) | — | Qty × cost | Stock permanently removed from the balance sheet |
6. Transform and Recipe Transform
Converts this item into another, or combines several inputs into outputs. See the dedicated Stock Transforms page for the full field reference and calculation detail.
Adjustment History
Below the tiles, Adjustment History lists every adjustment recorded for the item — Date, Type, Center, Qty, Rate, Note, User — with an Export to CSV. Users with delete permission can remove an adjustment from the row's trash icon; that reverses its stock effect.
Moving Stock Between Business Units
A transfer is not an adjustment. Open the sending unit under Operations → Business Units → Stock tab → Transfers and use Transfer Stock. See Stock Transfers.