Inventory

Navigate to Inventory in the sidebar. The tabs along the top are Items, Stocktakes, Locations, Transfers, Stock value, Price lists, BOM and Assembly.

Stock and service items

Track the products and services you sell. Stock items have a purchase price, a sale price and a quantity on hand. Service items are a priced catalogue (consulting, labour, retainers): invoicing them credits revenue and does not change quantity or post cost of sales.

Add an item

Click New Item (on the items list or in the top bar) and fill in:

After saving, Anchor opens the item's page.

Opening stock

When a new stock item has an Initial Quantity and a Purchase Price, Anchor receives that stock at the purchase price and posts a journal on the Opening stock date: debit Inventory (1300), credit Opening Balance Equity (3000), described Opening stock: (item name). The date cannot be in the future or in a locked period. Stock with a quantity but no purchase price is added with no value, so later sales would post no cost of sales. Enter the price.

The items list

Inventory → Items shows the Total items, the Value of stock and how many are Running low, then the list with each item's picture and stock:

• Tabs: All, Running low (at or below the reorder point), Services, Shown and Hidden.
• Search by name, code or SKU, filter by category, and sort by code, name, cost, quantity, sale price or newest.
• Select items to Show or Hide them, Set Category, Change the count (the same number of units added or removed on each, with a reason) or Delete them.

Import and export

• Export downloads the list as CSV: code, name, category, SKU, quantity, reorder point, purchase price, sale price and status.
• Import reads a CSV file. Each row needs a code and a name; Anchor also reads description, category, SKU, purchase price, sale price, quantity, reorder point and type (stock or service). Prices are in rands (for example 12.50). A row whose code already exists updates that item; a new code creates one. For an existing stock item, the quantity is the new count: Anchor records the difference as a stock change, like Change the count (a movement valued at average cost, posted to the ledger, with the reason Inventory import, row N). Leave the quantity blank to keep the stock as it is. The result lists how many items were created and updated and any rows with errors.
• New stock items with a quantity and a purchase price are received at that price, and Anchor posts one combined opening stock journal (debit Inventory, credit Opening Balance Equity) on the Opening stock date in the import window, which starts at your opening balances date. The callout above applies here too.

The item page

The header shows the picture, the name, a Service or running-low badge, and the buttons:

• Add picture, Change picture or Remove: saved straight away.
• Hide item / Show item: a hidden item stops showing in lists and pickers on new documents. Its history stays.
• Write down value and Change the count (stock items only). See Change the count or the value.

The Details tab lets you edit the code, name, category, SKU, unit, type, What it costs you, What you sell it for, Alert me when stock drops to (the reorder point) and the description, and shows the selling price, profit margin and current value in your books. It also has Revalue stock and Delete this item. A deleted item goes to Trash.

The other tabs:

• History: every stock movement
• Suppliers: which suppliers provide this item and at what price
• Variants: size, colour or other variations of the same product

Categories

Organise items into categories for easier browsing and reporting. Choose a category when you add or edit an item, or select items on the list and click Set Category.

Buying and selling stock

• Sell stock on a sales order: send the order to reserve (available drops; on-hand does not). A delivery note (GDN) then issues on-hand and moves cost to GDNI 1350. The tax invoice posts COGS from GDNI — no second issue. See Sales Orders.
• Sell stock on a direct invoice or cash sale: pick the stock item. Quantity on hand drops when the invoice is sent or the cash sale is posted, and cost of sales is posted to Inventory (1300) and COGS (5000). These paths cannot take units another order has reserved.
• Sell a service: pick a service item (or type a free-text line with no catalogue pick). Send posts accounts receivable, revenue, and VAT only — no quantity change, no cost of sales. On a sales order, service lines invoice without a delivery note.
• Quotes still do not reserve or decrement stock.
• Buy stock: pick the stock item on a bill or purchase order. Quantity on hand and inventory value increase when the bill is received. The bill debit goes to Inventory, not an expense. Service items on a bill stay on the expense/revenue account you choose.

Typing the product name without picking the catalogue item does not move stock. Do not create a stock item for work you sell by the hour — use Type = Service.

Price lists

Use Inventory → Price lists to set customer-specific prices for catalogue items (stock or service), for example a different payslip rate per payroll client.

1. Create a price list with a name and currency.
2. Add items with a unit price (excluding tax). Optionally add a higher From qty tier for volume pricing; the highest tier at or below the line quantity applies.
3. On the customer, open Contacts → Bookkeeping → Price list and choose the list.

When you pick an item on that customer's invoice, quote, sales order, cash sale or recurring invoice, the line price comes from their list. Items not on the list, lists in another currency, inactive lists and lists outside their dates use the item's sale price. Prices you type yourself are kept. Invoices, quotes and sales orders created through the API or MCP without a unit price or price list use the customer's list too.

Change the count or the value

On an item's page (stock items):

• Change the count: enter a positive number under Add or remove units to add stock, or a negative number to remove it, with a Reason. Anchor will not let the count go below zero.
• Write down value: the stock is worth less than you paid (damaged, expired, cannot sell). Enter How much to write off and why. The count stays the same.
• Revalue stock (on the Details tab): set a new value for the stock in your books, with a reason. The count stays the same.

Running low

Items at or below their reorder point count towards Running low on Inventory → Items and show a running-low badge on their page. Click Running low (or the tab) to see them all.

Warehouses and transfers

Track stock by location and move it between locations. See Warehouses and transfers.

Stock takes

Count your stock and post the differences. See Stock takes.

Assembly and Bill of Materials

Kit / assemble-to-stock from Inventory → BOM and Inventory → Assembly. Quantity on hand is whole units; Unit (display only) is a label, not a converter. Stock moves only on Complete — in-progress assembly orders do not reserve components, and Anchor does not keep a WIP asset. (Sales-order reservation is a different feature.) See Assembly and BOM.

Stock value

Inventory → Stock value shows, per item, the quantity on hand, unit cost, What it cost you, What it could sell for and the margin, with totals and the average profit margin. Export CSV downloads the table.