A Stock Adjustment is a transaction designed to update a product's stock value and Stock On Hand (SOH) quantity. They can be used to account for any inventory changes made to a product, such as stock losses, write-offs, and damages, to ensure your stock levels are accurate and help identify any issues that may need to be addressed.
Adjustment Reasons
Within each Stock Adjustment, you're required to select a "reason" as to why the adjustment has taken place. You can create reasons specific to your business and inventory processes, to then allocate as appropriate to your adjustments, and help you review and maintain control of your stock's changes.
Adjustment Reasons can be created and updated at any time by heading to your account's Settings > System > Adjustment Reasons.
Stock Adjustment role permissions
For a user to be able to create, manage and complete a Stock Adjustment, their role must have the "Stock Adjustment" permission granted.
Tutorial videos
Creating Stock Adjustments
Stock Adjustment and Counts for Batch/Serial Items
Create a Stock Adjustment
There are three different ways to create a new Stock Adjustment:
From the main menu, navigate to Inventory > Transactions > Stock Adjustments, select Add Adjustment, and a blank "Add Stock Adjustment" page will open.
From the main menu, navigate to Inventory > Products > View Products, hover over the action cog icon displayed on the product's row, and select Adjust. The "Add Stock Adjustment" page will open, and the Product field will be pre-populated with the selected product.
In a product's record, go to the Product drop-down menu and select Create Adjustment. The "Add Stock Adjustment" page will open, with the Product field pre-populated with the selected product.
Once on the Add Stock Adjustment page, you will then be able to select the warehouse the adjustment is for, the reason for the adjustment, and the products, quantities, and values being adjusted.
Add Stock Adjustment
At the top of a new or Parked Stock Adjustment, you'll see some drop-down menus that manage the Stock Adjustment's impact on your account. Select the appropriate warehouse, reason, and account in the menus shown before completing the Stock Adjustment.
Stock Adjustment menu name | Descriptions |
Warehouse | The Warehouse menu determines which warehouse's SOH will be updated when the Stock Adjustment is completed. Initially, your account's Default Warehouse will be populated, but you can update it to any of the options shown in the menu. |
Reason | The Reason menu identifies why the Stock Adjustment is taking place. If the appropriate reason isn't available in the menu, create a new one by heading to Settings > System > Adjustment Reasons. |
Account | If your account is integrated with an accounting provider, such as Xero or QuickBooks, you will see the Accounts menu. Initially, your integration's default Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) account will be populated, but you can update it to any of the options displayed in the menu. |
🤓Tip: If a Stock Adjustment is only due to adjust the value of a product, not its SOH, you must still select a warehouse that currently has an on-hand quantity greater than zero.
Add lines to a Stock Adjustment
To identify which products from your inventory require a SOH or value update, they need to be added as lines on your Stock Adjustment. Stock Adjustments are predominantly designed to take immediate effect, but you have the option to save them in a Parked status and update later if the products, quantities or values included are not yet confirmed.
Whilst a Stock Adjustment is in Parked status, the quantities, values, batch and serial numbers set in each line will not affect the current on-hand quantity, availability, or value in your inventory.
📌Note: If the Average Landed Cost (ALC) of a product added to a Stock Adjustment in Parked status changes, the Value set for the product in the Stock Adjustment will not automatically update.
To add a new line to a Stock Adjustment:
Use the Product field to search and select the product to be added.
Advise the total number of base units being adjusted for the product in the selected warehouse in the Quantity field. To add stock, enter a positive quantity, e.g., 5, to remove stock, enter a negative quantity, e.g., -5, or to make no change to the product's SOH, enter 0.
The Value field will automatically populate to suggest the total value being adjusted for the product, based on the product's current ALC and the quantity entered, but you can override the value suggested in the Value field directly. To increase the product's total stock value, enter a positive value, e.g. 10, to reduce a product's total stock value, enter a negative value, e.g. -10. To make no change to the product's total stock value, enter 0.00.
Enter any line or product-specific notes into the Comments field, then click Add.
As soon as the first line is added to a Stock Adjustment, the transaction will be given a unique, auto-generated Stock Adjustment Number and Parked status. From here, you can add more lines for products to be adjusted in the same warehouse and for the same reason, or you can update the lines that have already been added.
🤓Tip: The Value advised for a line on a Stock Adjustment will not automatically update if the Quantity (Qty) changes, or vice versa. Check both the value and quantity per line of an adjustment are correct before completing the Stock Adjustment.
Stock Adjustment lines explained
A grid detailing how the lines of your Stock Adjustment will impact your selected warehouse, and subsequently your global inventory, will be displayed below the line adding fields. You can use this grid to review and update the quantities and values advised for adjustment, ensuring it'll have the desired effect on your stock. Similarly, you can also assign the appropriate batch or serial numbers for the tracked products included.
The table below describes each detail displayed, per line, in a Stock Adjustment.
Stock Adjustment grid header | Description |
Product | Displays the product's unique Product Code. |
Product Description | Displays the product's current description. |
Qty | Displays the total number of SOH units being adjusted for the product. Click on the Qty field to update the adjusting quantity. |
Value | Displays the total stock value being added or removed from the product's on-hand value. Click on the Value field to change the line's adjusting value. |
Comment | Displays and notes added to the line on the Stock Adjustment. Click on the Comment field to update it. |
Serial | If the product is serialized and a quantity is entered, click on the Serial field to assign serial numbers to the adjusting quantity. |
Batch | If the product is batch tracked and a quantity is entered, click on the Batch field to assign batch numbers to the adjusting quantity. |
On Hand | Displays the number of units that would be in the selected warehouse's SOH if the Stock Adjustment is completed. |
On Hand Value | Displays what the total stock value would be for the product, in the selected warehouse, if the Stock Adjustment is completed. |
Available | Displays the number of units that would be available from the product's SOH of the selected warehouse if the Stock Adjustment is completed. |
Qty (Global Values) | Displays the number of units that would be in the selected warehouse's SOH if the Stock Adjustment is completed. |
Value | Displays the total number of units in the product's SOH, across all warehouses, if the Stock Adjustment is completed. |
Avg. Land Cost | Displays what the product's Average Landed Cost (ALC) will be if the Stock Adjustment is completed. |
Delete | Use the bin icon displayed to delete the line from the Stock Adjustment. A bin icon will only be displayed if the Stock Adjustment is in Parked status. |
When working with serial and batch-tracked products, ensure that each adjustment line includes the correct batch numbers and their corresponding quantities. This will help maintain accurate tracking and prevent inventory discrepancies. If adjustments are made for multiple batches of the same product, separate lines should be created for each batch.
Below the grid on a Stock Adjustment, you'll see a Total Adjusted Quantity, which is the cumulative total of quantities across all lines, and the Total Adjusted Value, which is the cumulative total of the values across all lines. These totals provide an overview of the total effect the stock adjustment will have on your stock on hand and stock value.
🤓Tip: If your account is integrated with an accounting provider, the Stock Adjustment's Total Adjusted Value will be the value exported on the adjustment journal to update your default SOH account and selected COGS account.
Completing Stock Adjustments
Click Complete in the top right corner of a Stock Adjustment for the quantities and values set in the Stock Adjustment to take effect, updating your inventory's SOH and stock value in real-time.
Important: Stock Adjustments cannot be back-dated, and will only update your SOH and stock value as of the date the Stock Adjustment is completed.
Integrating Stock Adjustments with accounting providers
If the Total Adjusted Value of a Stock Adjustment is either greater than 0.01 or less than -0.01, an adjustment journal will be exported to your account's integrated accounting provider, such as Xero or QuickBooks, for approval. The adjustment journal will update your accounting provider's default SOH account by the Total Adjustment Value, and the inverse of the Total Adjustment Value will update the COGS account selected in the Stock Adjustment. You must approve the adjustment journal in your accounting provider directly for it to update the SOH and COGS accounts accordingly.
Sync Stock Adjustments to a COGS account
When a new Stock Adjustment is created, your accounting provider's integration's default COGS account will be automatically allocated in your Stock Adjustment's Account field. Use the Account drop-down menu in the Stock Adjustment to select an alternative COGS account for the Stock Adjustment to export to. If the Stock Adjustment is completed, its Account cannot be changed.
📌 Note: Go to Integration > Integration Store > Xero/Quickbooks > Configuration to update your default COGS account.
The COGS account selected in the Stock Adjustment will take precedence over the COGS account saved the product's default COGS account.
Frequently asked questions
Can I import a Stock Adjustment from a CSV file?
Can I import a Stock Adjustment from a CSV file?
Individual Stock Adjustments cannot be created by importing a CSV file. However, you can instead Import Stock Counts, which allows you to advise a new total SOH for multiple products in a selected Warehouse. When the Stock Count is completed, a Stock Adjustment will be automatically created and completed to update the product's SOH accordingly.
Why are products showing 0 value when added to a Stock Adjustment?
Why are products showing 0 value when added to a Stock Adjustment?
If a product currently has SOH, you've entered a non-zero value in the Quantity field, the Value will only show as 0.00 if the product's current ALC is zero.
What's the best way to write off stock?
What's the best way to write off stock?
Create an Adjustment Reason with a name specific to stock that is written off from your inventory, e.g., "Write off". Then complete a Stock Adjustment, with Write off in the Reason field, listing each product and quantity that needs to be removed from the selected warehouse's SOH.
Can I update the stock on hand for a product without changing its total stock value?
Can I update the stock on hand for a product without changing its total stock value?
Create a Stock Adjustment for the product, entering the appropriate adjustment quantity in the Quantity field, with zero in the Value field. When the Stock Adjustment is completed, the product's SOH will be updated its total stock value will be unchanged. Just bear in mind that this adjustment will change the product's ALC.