Inventory Items

Many businesses consider inventory to be an important asset. Inventory includes stock items: the finished goods and raw materials that cost money, have value, and are stored. Along with stock items, businesses may sell non-stock items: usually non-physical goods, such as services and warranties, that are not stocked. Stock and non-stock items, which are processed differently in MYOB Advanced, are both referred to as inventory items.

For each inventory item, you create a record in the database that provides information about the type of the item, its identifier, its description, the General Ledger accounts allocated for the item, its price and cost information, the various units of measure (UOMs) that apply to it, and the conversions between UOMs. The records for stock items contain additional information required to track the items in the system.

This topic highlights general information about inventory items, the major differences between stock and non-stock items, and the processing of inventory items in MYOB Advanced.

Inventory IDs

Each inventory item is tracked in the system by its inventory ID. This unique identifier can be just a number, or you can configure it to provide basic information about the item type, brand, or use. Inventory IDs can be designed to help you sort and group items for reports.

As with other identifiers in MYOB Advanced, inventory IDs can be configured on the Segmented Keys (CS202000) form. Identifiers for stock and non-stock items are configured by using the same segmented key: INVENTORY. For the key, you can define how many segments it will have, what values may be used, whether they should be validated, and whether auto-numbering should be used for generating inventory IDs. To have inventory IDs automatically generated on creating new inventory items, you can configure the INVENTORY segmented key as having a single segment with the Auto-Number option selected for this segment and a numbering sequence specified in the Numbering ID box.

If users will enter inventory IDs manually, you can configure the INVENTORY key as having a single segment with non-validated values. If the type of items should be indicated by their IDs, consider configuring the INVENTORY key with two segments and creating a list of predefined values for one of the segments. For details on segmented keys, see Segmented Identifiers.

When configuring the INVENTORY segmented key, decide whether you will use alternate IDs for stock and non-stock items. If you enter alternate IDs (item identifiers used by the vendors and customer of the items), users will be able to specify items by typing their alternate IDs as well as inventory IDs in the Inventory ID boxes on sales and purchase orders without the system generating errors. For more information on using alternate IDs and on how to configure the INVENTORY segmented key in this case, see Item Cross-References.

If required, you can change the inventory ID for any non-stock or stock item manually by clicking Change ID on the More menu of the Non-Stock Items (IN202000) or Stock Items (IN202500) form, respectively, and by specifying the new inventory ID in the dialog box that opens.

Your company might want to use subitems to further categorize otherwise-identical stock items with properties such as colors or sizes that are important to customers. Thus, under the same inventory ID, you may have a number of subitems—products that share all the settings of the inventory item's record but have additional properties that differ. If your company has decided to use subitems, all stock items will be identified by a combination of inventory ID and subitem code. For more details, see Inventory Subitems.

Stock Items

If the Inventory feature is enabled on the Enable/Disable Features (CS100000) form, you can create stock items on the Stock Items (IN202500) form. Stock items are usually physical goods that you purchase or manufacture and sell to your customers. Examples of stock items include computers, cell phones, cables, and auto parts. Stock items may have lot or serial numbers that you can use to track the items in your system.

You can create a stock item of any of the following types: Finished Good, Component Part, or Subassembly. The type of a stock item is intended for informational purposes and does not affect processing.

The system automatically tracks stock items and maintains availability data. You can track stock items by their cost value.

For more information on stock items, see Stock Item Creation: General Information.

Non-Stock Items

Non-stock items are typically non-physical goods (such as labor, services, or warranties), or items with very low values that might be hard to track. Examples might include labor and repair charges, warranties, and small repair or installation parts.

You enter each non-stock item on the (IN202000) form and specify one of the following types: Non-Stock Item, Labor, Service, Charge, or Expense.

Available quantities of non-stock items are not tracked by the system; they are treated as if they are available in any quantity at any time. A line on a sales order that features a non-stock item cannot be back ordered.

For more information on non-stock items, see Creating Non-Stock Items: General Information.

Posting Classes for Item Classes and Inventory Items

Posting classes facilitate specifying General Ledger accounts for multiple new inventory items assigned to specific item classes. Each item class has a posting class assigned. When a user creates a new stock item by using the Stock Items (IN202500) form, the item is assigned to an item class and, hence, to a specific posting class. If necessary, the user can select another posting class for the item.

Once the posting class is selected, the General Ledger accounts and subaccounts for the item on the GL Accounts tab of the Stock Items form will be filled in based on the accounts and subaccounts specified on the GL Accounts tab of the posting class (the Posting Classes form). When you create new non-stock items by using the Non-Stock Items (IN202000) form, posting classes are also used to provide the default accounts and subaccounts for these items.

For more information about posting classes, see Posting Class Creation: General Information.