Creating items

Before you begin to track your inventory, you need to create a record for each item of inventory. An item can be:

■	a physical unit that your company may buy, sell or inventory

■	a service that your company wants to include on item invoices, for example, ‘Shipping’, ’Handling’, and so on.

When you create an item record, you can choose to buy, sell or inventory the item. These selections determine what functions you can use the item with. For example, if you want to include a service item on an invoice (such as installation), you need to specify that you sell the item.

An item that you inventory is an item whose quantities and values you want to track. Maintaining an accurate record of on hand levels of these items requires you to do regular maintenance tasks. For example, you need to record an inventory adjustment to write-off damaged items or to record a stocktake.


Select...	For...
I Buy this Item	Items or services you want to include on an item purchase order. This includes items that are not for resale, and you don’t need to track their quantities and values. For example, items for office use only. It can also include raw materials you use as components to build other inventory items.
I Sell this Item	Items or services you want to include on an item invoice.
I Inventory this Item	Items you buy or sell and whose quantity and values you want to track. It can also include intermediate goods used in the productions process, such as parts used to manufacture finished goods.

Inventory opening balances

If you have existing on-hand quantities of inventory items, you need to record the opening inventory level for each item. For more information, see ‘Enter inventory opening balances’.

To create an item

1	Go to the Inventory command centre and click Items List. The Items List window appears.

2	Click New. The Item Information window appears.

3	In the Item Number field, type a unique identifier and press Tab.

tip : Use the backslash character for service items

The backslash character (\) serves a special purpose: any item number that begins with a backslash won’t appear on printed forms. This is useful for service-type items (such as labour) for which you don’t want to print an item number on the invoice.

4	In the Name field, type the name of the new item.

tip : Copy From

To copy another item’s details to this item record, click Copy From and choose the item whose information you want to copy. All information for that item will be copied to the current item except for the item number, name, supplier number, auto-build information and history information.

5	Specify whether you buy, sell or inventory this item by selecting the relevant options.

As you select the options, account fields appear next to them. These fields will change according to the combination of options you select.

6	Enter the appropriate accounts in the fields that appeared during the previous step.


Account	Description
Cost of Sales Account	Type or select the account you want to use to track the costs associated with producing this item.
Income Account for Tracking Sales	Type or select the account you want to use to record the income you receive from the sale of this item.
Asset Account for Item Inventory	Type or select the account you want to use to record the total value of this item.
Expense Account for Tracking Costs	Type or select the account you want to use to record costs associated with purchasing this item.

7	If you buy this item, click the Buying Details tab and enter your buying details.

[Optional] Type the standard cost of an item.

If you want to use the standard cost price as the default price, select Use Standard Cost as the Default Price on Purchase Orders and Bills preference in the Preferences window (Inventory tab).

Type the unit of measure (such as ‘each’ or ‘unit’) in which you purchase the item. The buying unit is printed on the purchase order.

If you track on-hand quantities and values for this item, type the number of items that comprise a single buying unit. This is the number that is added to your on-hand inventory for every buying unit. For example, if you buy eggs by the carton and track their purchase as individual units, enter 12 as the number of items per buying unit. When you buy one carton, your item inventory is updated by twelve items. If you leave this field blank, the value defaults to one.

[Optional] Enter the restocking information:

•	Type the minimum level of this item you want to keep in your inventory. When the quantity drops below this level, a re-order reminder appears in the To Do List.

•	Type or select the supplier from whom you usually re-order this item.

•	Type the supplier’s number for the item.

•	Enter a re-order quantity for the item.

Choose the GST code you want to use when you purchase this item. You can override the GST code when you record the purchase.

8	If you sell this item, click the Selling Details tab and enter your selling details.



A	Type the retail price of one selling unit.
B	Type the selling unit of the item (such as ‘each’ or ‘unit’). You can type up to five characters. The selling unit is printed on the item invoice.
C	If you track on-hand quantities and values for this item, type the number of items that comprise a single unit in this field. This is the number that is subtracted from your on-hand inventory for every selling unit. For example, if you sell by the six-pack, enter 6 as the number of items per selling unit. When you sell one six-pack, your item inventory is reduced by six items.
D	You can set pricing levels for different kinds of customers. See ‘Creating custom price levels’.
E	Select the tax code you want to use when you sell this item. Note that you can override the tax code on invoices.
F	If the prices on the Selling Details tab are tax inclusive, select the Prices are Tax Inclusive option. If the prices are exclusive of tax, deselect this option.

9	Click the Items Details tab and enter additional information about the item.

Click OK.