# 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

- **Open the form**

  Go to **Items > Item**. 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.](https://www.sorviai.com/help/inventory/items/create-item-basics.png)
- **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.
- **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.](https://www.sorviai.com/help/inventory/items/create-item-sales-purchase.png)
- **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.
- **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.](https://www.sorviai.com/help/inventory/items/create-item-inventory.png)

## 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*

### 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*

### Sales, purchase and tax

*Create Item, the Sales Information, Purchase Information and Tax sections*

### Inventory tracking

*Create Item, the Inventory Tracking section*

> **Warning:**
>
> **Stock tracking is the one to get right first**
>
> The form says so itself: tracking cannot be disabled once transactions exist. Turning it on afterwards leaves movements the system cannot value, and turning it off after stock has moved orphans the quantities already recorded.

## 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 price** (on the item): A default you type, used to fill in a purchase document. Changing it changes nothing already posted.
- **Valuation** (from 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.