Items & stock: the complete guide
Units, prices, transfers, adjustments and reports — from the shelf to the balance sheet.
Inventory & Services
Every item in the right unit — and its value in the books.
Buy in boxes, sell in bags and count in kilograms. Move stock between godowns, bundle items into kits and count the shelves. Every quantity is checked before it is saved, and the stock value always matches the inventory account in your balance sheet. TamilAccounting keeps stock and accounts in one system.
Items, services & kits
Unit mapping
Prices by unit & location
Multi-location transfers
Batches & expiry
Valuation that ties to the GL
What’s new
What’s new in Items & Stock
In 2026 the module was rebuilt around two things: quantities in the right unit, and a stock value you can show to your auditor.
New
Unit mapping: buy in boxes, sell in bags
Count stock in one unit and map boxes, bags or packs to it once on the item. Orders, receipts, invoices, credit notes, adjustments, price lists and the retail till all convert for you.
Watch the walkthroughNew
Decimal precision enforced
Each unit carries the decimal places it allows — three for kilograms, none for pieces. A quantity that does not fit is refused before it is saved, wherever it was entered.
Watch the walkthroughNew
Inventory account matches the valuation
The inventory balance in your trial balance now equals the Inventory Valuation report on any date. Selling before the receipt is entered shows a short negative that clears itself when the goods arrive.
New
Stock value per location
An item’s Status tab now shows the value held at each location next to its quantity, with a total, for users allowed to see cost.
Free goods lower your average cost
Free units on a goods receipt go into stock at no value, so the moving-average cost reflects what you actually paid for the whole delivery.
Learn moreNew
Stock with job workers
Material sent to a job worker sits in that job worker’s own location, still your stock, and is valued in its own inventory account until it comes back.
Learn moreNew
Convert an item’s type
Set an item up as a service by mistake? Convert Item Type turns a service into a stocked item, or back, and lists any document to review first.
Back-dated entries checked on their date
Unless you allow negative stock, a back-dated issue is refused if it would leave the item short on its own date or on any later date.
New
RFID counts, reviewed before posting
With the EdgeBridge app, a reader sweep becomes a stock count. You review what was found against the books and send only the lines you accept to Inventory Reconcile.
Learn more
Without a stock system
Where stock quietly turns into lost money
Most traders and workshops keep stock in a register or a spreadsheet next to their accounting package. These are the gaps that follow.
Conversions done in someone’s head
The supplier bills in boxes, the godown counts kilograms and the customer buys by the bag. Every hand conversion is a chance to get the quantity wrong.
Cost: stock that never matches, and invoices raised for the wrong quantity.
The books and the stock report disagree
The inventory account in the balance sheet says one figure and the stock valuation says another, and the gap grows every month.
Cost: days of reconciling at year end, and awkward questions from the auditor.
Nobody knows which godown has it
Stock moves between branches on a phone call. The shop says it is out of stock while the second godown has fifty units.
Cost: lost sales on one side, dead stock on the other.
Shelves empty before anyone notices
Reordering happens when a customer asks for something you no longer have. By then the supplier’s lead time is your problem.
Cost: customers who go elsewhere, and urgent buying at a higher price.
Count differences written off quietly
The physical count is three short and the register is simply corrected. Nobody records why, and the value disappears from the books.
Cost: losses you cannot trace, so you cannot stop them.
Expired stock found too late
Batches and expiry dates live on the carton, not in the system, so the oldest stock is not sold first.
Cost: stock written off that could have been sold.
With TamilAccounting
One item, from setup to the balance sheet
Each step uses the one before it. Every stock movement also posts its own accounting entry when it is saved.
Set up the itemCategory, accounts, tax type and stocking unit
Map units & priceBox, bag, pack — a price for each
ReceiveGRN in the supplier’s unit, stock in yours
MoveTransfers between locations, batch and all
SellDelivery in the customer’s unit, cost posted
ReorderLow stock goes onto the requisition list
Count & adjustDifferences posted with a reason
ValueValuation report equals the GL account
In depth
What the module does, area by area
Items & services
Goods, services, kits and alias codes in one list
Physical items carry stock, cost and an inventory account. Services are bought and sold on the same documents, with no stock to track. A kit sells several items as one product, and each component leaves stock when the kit is sold.
- Categories set the default accounts, unit and tax type, so new items need fewer fields
- Kits for combo packs and offers; alias codes sell one item under another name or code
- Barcode on the item, plus a barcode label report
- Each item opens to its status by location, movements, prices and the documents it appears on
Units
Buy in boxes, sell in bags, count in kilograms
Choose the unit you count and value stock in, then map every other unit to it once on the item’s Unit Mapping tab. From then on, every document converts for you.
- Purchase orders, goods receipts, sales orders, deliveries, invoices and credit notes
- Adjustments, disposals, price lists and supplier purchasing data
- The retail till shows stock on hand in whichever unit the customer asks for
- Each unit has its own decimal places. A quantity that does not fit is refused before it is saved
- A unit’s decimals cannot be reduced while finer quantities are already saved in it
On hand50.000 kg
As boxes2
As packs10
Box25 kgBought in
Bag50 kgWholesale
Pack5 kgCounter
2.5 packs entered—Refused: whole packs only
Prices
One item, the right price for every buyer
Sales prices are kept per sales type, currency and unit, and per location when you run more than one. The bag buyer gets the bag rate without a second item code. Purchase prices are kept per supplier, together with the supplier’s own unit and item code.
- Retail, wholesale or any sales type you define, each with its own price list
- A price per mapped unit: per kilogram and per bag on the same item
- Location prices for branches that sell at a different rate
- A standard cost for every item, updated as supplier prices change
Retail · per kg60.00All locations
Wholesale · per bag2,800.00All locations
Retail · per pack310.00Branch B
Purchase · per box1,200.00Supplier A
Locations
Every godown, branch and job worker as its own location
Stock is held by location. A transfer moves it from one to another without touching a sale or a purchase. It carries batch and expiry along, and the item’s Status tab shows quantity and value at each place.
- Transfers with their own list, view and report
- A job worker’s location keeps the material on your books at your cost
- Reorder level and reorder quantity per item and location, with a preferred supplier
- Stock on hand restated at any date, by location
Counts & adjustments
Count the shelf, fix the books, keep the reason
An adjustment raises or lowers stock at a location on a date. The value goes to the item’s adjustment account in the same step. Disposals write off damaged or expired stock, and the loss is posted for you.
- Stock check sheets to take round the godown
- The Inventory Reconcile app records what the count found and turns the differences you select into an adjustment
- With EdgeBridge, an RFID reader sweep becomes a count. Closing it posts nothing, and you choose which lines go to Inventory Reconcile
- Opening stock entered as an adjustment, or imported from a spreadsheet
Valuation & reports
A stock value the balance sheet agrees with
Every receipt, delivery, transfer, adjustment and disposal posts its own journal, including cost of goods sold, when it is saved. With Keep Inventory GL balanced with Valuation on (now the default), the inventory account equals the valuation report on any date.
- Inventory Valuation, Planning, Movement and Costed Movement reports
- Sales, purchasing, GRN valuation and stock sales-purchase analysis
- Adjustment, disposal and transfer registers
- Free goods on a receipt lower the moving-average cost automatically
Worked examples
How the stock value stays honest
Invented round numbers. Nobody types these entries; the documents post them.
Buy 100, get 10 free
Goods receipt: 100 priced at 10.00 each plus 10 free
| On the goods receipt | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| Inventory — 110 units into stock | 1,000.00 | |
| Goods received, not yet billed | 1,000.00 | |
| Totals | 1,000.00 | 1,000.00 |
110 units now carry 1,000.00, so the average cost falls from 10.00 to 9.09. The supplier’s bill charges only the 100 priced units.
Sold before the receipt was entered
10 units costing 50.00 each, with Keep Inventory GL balanced on
| Day | On hand | Inventory account | Valuation report |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon — deliver 10 | −10 | −500.00 | −500.00 |
| Wed — receive 10 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
The two right-hand columns agree every day. No adjustment is parked on Monday and left behind, so no difference is left over to explain at year end.
Watch it in action
Watch stock move from the shelf to the balance sheet
Recorded on a demo company: items, prices, transfers, adjustments and reports — and one item bought in boxes, sold in bags and counted in kilograms.
Unit mapping: buy in boxes, sell in bags
Buy in one unit, sell in another and count stock in a third — the books convert for you.
Quick takes · under a minute or two
More features
The details that keep the shelves and the books in step
Batches & expiry
Pick the batch on receipts, deliveries, credit notes and transfers. A Batches tab shows what is left of each one.
Reorder alerts
Switch on automatic requisitions and a sale that takes an item to its reorder level puts it on the purchase requisition list.
Disposals
Write off damaged, expired or obsolete stock with its own document. The loss posts to the right account.
Cost updates
Change an item’s standard cost and the stock already held is revalued through the ledger.
Inventory movements
See every quantity change for an item, with the document it came from and the running balance, by location and date.
Import items & stock
Import items with opening quantities, adjustments and transfers from a spreadsheet. Every row is checked before anything is saved.
Negative-stock guard
Unless you allow it, deliveries, transfers and adjustments cannot issue stock that is not there on that date.
Categories with defaults
Each category carries its accounts, unit and tax type, so a new item starts with the right settings.
Works with
The modules and apps that use your stock
Inventory ReconcileRecord what a physical count found, compare it with the books and turn the differences you choose into an adjustment.Explore EdgeBridgeRFID readers on site: where each tagged item was last seen, and reader sweeps that become stock counts.Explore Purchases & PayablesPurchase orders, goods receipts with priced and free quantities, and supplier bills matched to them.Explore Sales & ReceivablesQuotations, orders, deliveries and invoices in the customer’s unit, with cost posted on delivery.Explore Point of SaleThe retail till sells from the same stock, in any mapped unit the customer asks for.Explore ManufacturingBills of materials, work orders that draw on stock and job workers who hold it at their own location.Explore Quality Control NewInspections on receipts, transfers and production, with stock held until a decision is made.Explore Textile ERP NewYarn in kilograms, cloth in metres and garments in pieces, all on one set of books.Explore
Why businesses stay
Bring your data. We’ll keep it right — and keep making it better.
Switching software is the hard part. We help you move, keep your records sound, and keep improving the system with you.
Data migration & opening balances
Move across from Tally, Zoho, QuickBooks, Xero, Sage 50 or SMACC, or from Excel templates for items, customers, suppliers, employees, chart of accounts and opening balances. You preview every row before it is saved — and our team helps you through it.
Your data, kept right
Your database is backed up three times a day — every 8 hours — and your files are backed up too. Each company keeps its own separate database; roles decide who can see, enter, approve or void; every change is on the audit trail; and everything exports to Excel or PDF whenever you want it.
Always improving, with you
We follow up regularly with the businesses that use it, and their requests become features. Updates arrive on your account automatically — nothing to download or reinstall.
Connected to what comes next
GST e-invoice and e-way bill, ZATCA, WooCommerce, WhatsApp, biometric devices, online payment gateways, mobile apps and an AI assistant — and new connections are added as the market moves.
FAQ
Items & stock: common questions
Yes. Choose the unit you count stock in, then map every other unit to it on the item’s Unit Mapping tab — for example a box of 25 kg and a bag of 50 kg. Buy in boxes, sell in bags or loose kilograms, and stock always moves in kilograms. Each unit can carry its own price.
It is refused. Each unit carries the number of decimal places it allows, and every quantity is checked against it before it is saved — after any unit conversion, on every screen and through the API. A unit’s decimals also cannot be reduced while finer quantities are already saved in it.
The usual cause is selling stock before its purchase is entered. The older handling parked that gap on an adjustment account and never fully unwound it. With Keep Inventory GL balanced with Valuation — now on by default — the inventory account follows the stock honestly and the two figures agree on any date.
Enter it as an inventory adjustment with a reason. The stock figure and the ledger behind it correct themselves in the same step. The optional Inventory Reconcile app adds a screen to record what a physical count found and turn the differences you select into that adjustment.
No, and that is deliberate. With the EdgeBridge app, a reader sweep fills a stock count, one line per tag however often it is read. Closing the count posts nothing, because a tag the reader missed looks exactly like a missing piece. A person reviews what was found against the books and sends only the lines they accept to Inventory Reconcile.
Yes. When you run more than one location, a sales price can be set for one location or for all of them, alongside the sales type, currency and unit.
Yes. Switch batch or expiry tracking on and the batch is chosen on receipts, deliveries, credit notes and transfers, with a Batches tab to see what is left of each.
Yes. Setup → Import has templates for items with their opening quantity, and for inventory adjustments and transfers. Every row is checked before anything is saved, and a bad row is reported with its row number and the reason.
Put your shelves and your books in one system.
Start free with your own items and units — and see the stock value match the balance sheet from day one.