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Create an Item

Five decisions make an item, and only one of them is awkward to change once you have transacted it.

Creating an item asks what kind of thing it is, what to call it, what it costs and sells for, which accounts it posts to, and whether you count it. Everything else on the form has a sensible default you can come back to.

Create an item

  1. Open the form

    Go to ItemsItem. Set Structure to Single item unless this product comes in sizes or bores; variants have their own guide.

    The Create Item form. Basic Information holds a Structure toggle with Single item selected over Has variants, and a required Name field. Product Information below holds a Type choice of Goods or Service with Goods selected, an SKU field, a required Unit set to Pieces, a Returnable choice set to Yes and a Lead Time field, with an Images upload panel beside them reading 0 of 15. An Other Details section follows with MPN, UPC, EAN and ISBN fields.

  2. Choose goods or service, and name it

    Only goods can be counted. The name prints on documents; the SKU is what your warehouse, your scanner and your imports match on, so make it meaningful and keep it unique.

  3. Enter the prices and pick the accounts

    Sellable and Purchasable gate the two sections independently, so an item can be one, the other, or both. Each wants a price and an account.

    The middle of the Create Item form. Classification holds Category, Manufacturer and Brand pickers. Sales Information holds a Sellable choice set to Yes, a required Selling Price in GBP, a required Sales Account set to Sales and a description box. Purchase Information holds a Purchasable choice set to Yes, a required Cost Price in GBP, a required Purchase Account set to Cost of Goods Sold, a Preferred Vendor picker and a description box. A Tax section beneath holds one Tax picker, noted as the default rate used in sales and purchase transactions.

  4. Set the tax rate

    There is one Tax field, not two. It is the default on sales and purchase documents alike, and either can override it on the day.

  5. Decide on stock tracking, then save

    Only goods offer it. Opening stock is entered per depot, with the value each unit is held at. Select Save Item to finish.

    The Inventory Tracking section of the Create Item form. A ticked checkbox reads Track inventory for this item, with an orange line beneath reading Inventory tracking cannot be disabled once transactions are created for this item. A required Inventory Account is set to Inventory Asset and a required Valuation Method to Weighted Average Cost, with a Reorder Point of 0 below. A table headed Warehouse, Opening Stock and Value per Unit holds five empty depot rows.

Field reference

The form groups its fields the way documents use them: what identifies the item, what a sale needs, what a purchase needs, and what counting needs.

Basic and product information

Create Item, the Basic Information and Product Information sections
FieldWhat it does
StructureSingle item or Has variants. Decides whether the form asks for one record or a grid of them.
NameRequiredPrinted on documents and shown in every picker.
TypeGoods or Service. Defaults to Goods, and decides whether stock can be tracked.
SKUA code used by search, imports and your warehouse. Optional, but unique across the catalogue when set.
UnitRequiredPieces, box, kilogram. Shown on the document line and beside every stock figure.
ReturnableWhether it may come back on a sales return.
Lead timeHow long it takes to arrive, as a note to whoever is ordering.
ImagesUp to fifteen, JPG, PNG or WebP.

Other details and classification

Identifiers and groupings. Nothing here is required, and nothing here changes how a document behaves.

Create Item, the Other Details and Classification sections
FieldWhat it does
MPN, UPC, EAN, ISBNTrade identifiers, for matching against a supplier catalogue or a scanner.
HSN/SAC codeThe goods or service code your customs and tax paperwork needs.
Country of originAn ISO country code, carried onto customs paperwork.
Dimensions and weightMeasured in the units set under item preferences, not per item.
Category, manufacturer, brandGroupings used for filtering and reporting.

Sales, purchase and tax

Create Item, the Sales Information, Purchase Information and Tax sections
FieldWhat it does
SellableTurns the sales fields on. An item that is not sellable never reaches an order or an invoice.
Selling priceRequiredWhen sellable. The default rate on sales orders and invoices.
Sales accountRequiredWhen sellable. Where revenue from this item posts.
PurchasableTurns the purchase fields on.
Cost priceRequiredWhen purchasable. The default rate on purchase orders and bills.
Purchase accountRequiredWhen purchasable. Defaults to Cost of Goods Sold. Tracked goods post to stock instead.
Preferred vendorFills in first when you raise a purchase order for this item.
TaxOne rate, applied as the default on sales and purchase documents alike.

Inventory tracking

Create Item, the Inventory Tracking section
FieldWhat it does
Track inventory for this itemTurns counting on. Goods only, and per variant.
Inventory accountRequiredWhen tracked. The stock asset account the goods are held in.
Valuation methodRequiredWhen tracked. FIFO or Weighted Average Cost. Defaults to whichever item preferences names.
Reorder pointThe quantity at which the item is flagged as low.
Warehouse, opening stock, value per unitWhat you hold today, per depot, and what it is held at. A quantity with no depot chosen is dropped.

Cost price is not valuation

Two numbers on an item look like cost and are not the same thing. Confusing them is the commonest reason a margin figure reads oddly.

Cost priceon the item
A default you type, used to fill in a purchase document. Changing it changes nothing already posted.
Valuationfrom the receives
What the goods you hold are actually carried at, worked out from what you paid on the receives that brought them in. This is the number your reports use.

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