# Stock and Valuation

Tracking makes an item countable; the valuation method decides what those units are worth when they leave.

Both settings are easy to set and awkward to change, so this is about getting them right before the first transaction rather than after.

![The Inventory Tracking section of the Create Item form. A ticked checkbox reads Track inventory for this item, with an orange warning 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 beneath. 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)

*Four settings and a per-depot opening count. The orange line is the product warning you, not a validation error.*

## What tracking changes

**Tracking on**

- Yes: A quantity, per warehouse
- Yes: Appears in stock reports
- Yes: Can be picked, packed and shipped
- Yes: Cost recognised when it sells

**Tracking off**

- No: A quantity, per warehouse
- No: Appears in stock reports
- No: Can be picked, packed and shipped
- No: Cost recognised when it sells

With tracking on, what you paid sits in stock until the goods sell. With it off, it hits an expense the moment you buy. That difference, rather than the counting, is what makes this an accounting decision.

## The two valuation methods

- **FIFO** (first in, first out): The oldest units leave first, so cost of goods follows your oldest purchase prices. Usually the most intuitive, and the closest fit for dated or serialised stock.
- **Weighted Average Cost** (shown as WAC): Every unit is worth the average of what you have paid. Smooths price movements and is simpler to explain. This is what a new item starts with.

Per-unit costing, where each individual unit carries the price it was bought at, is not offered.

> **Note:**
>
> **Valuation is per variant, and never inherited**
>
> A product whose variants use different methods is legal and is almost always an accident, so check it when you generate a grid.

## Reorder point

The reorder point is the quantity at which an item is flagged as low. It changes nothing on its own: no order is raised and no email is sent. What it does is decide which items the dashboard counts as low rather than in stock, which is the read that tells you what to buy this week.

## Setting opening stock

Opening stock is entered on the item form, per depot, with the value each unit is held at. That second column is the one to be careful about: it sets your starting valuation, and every margin you report afterwards is measured from it.

- **Count what you hold, per depot and per variant**

  Each variant holds its own stock, so a product with six variants is six counts.
- **Enter the quantity and the value per unit against a warehouse**

  A row with a quantity but no depot chosen is dropped when you save, silently. Pick the depot first.
- **Check the item's Warehouses tab against your count sheet**

  Before anybody transacts against it. The Activity Panel on the right records every movement afterwards, depot by depot.

  ![An item record with tabs reading Summary, Inventory, Statistics, Warehouses and Transactions, an Adjust Stock button above them, and an Activity Panel on the right listing stock movements that name Rotherham Central Warehouse and Sheffield Depot.](https://www.sorviai.com/help/inventory/items/item-detail.png)

> **Tip:**
>
> **After go-live, a miscount is an adjustment**
>
> Opening stock is for the day you start. Once the item is live, use **Adjust Stock** on the record so the change is a document with a reason on it rather than an edit nobody can trace.