Stock Entries
A Stock Entry records any movement of stock that isn't a sale or purchase — internal transfers, manufacturing, adjustments, opening balances.
When you need a Stock Entry
| Purpose | Stock Entry Type |
|---|---|
| Move stock between your warehouses | Material Transfer |
| Convert raw materials into finished goods | Manufacture |
| Sample given to a customer | Material Issue (no value posted; or set rate to write off) |
| Stock damaged / written off | Material Issue |
| Stock found during physical count | Material Receipt |
| Initial stock when starting with ERPNext | Material Receipt with the Opening Stock account |
Create a Stock Entry
Stock Entry → New:
| Field | What |
|---|---|
| Stock Entry Type | One of the above |
| Source Warehouse | Where stock is leaving (blank for Material Receipt) |
| Target Warehouse | Where stock is arriving (blank for Material Issue) |
| Items | Pick item, quantity. Rate auto-fills from valuation. |
| Posting Date / Time | When the movement actually happened |
What happens on submit
- A Stock Ledger Entry posts: quantity and value change at the warehouse
- A General Ledger Entry posts: debit / credit the stock accounts in your books
- The Item's valuation may update (FIFO / Moving Average / Standard depending on Item setup)
Valuation method
Each Item has a Valuation Method:
- FIFO — first-in, first-out. Each movement uses the cost of the oldest batch. Standard for most businesses.
- Moving Average — recalculates an average cost on each receipt. Simpler reporting, sometimes less accurate.
- Standard — uses a fixed cost set on the Item.
You don't typically pick this per-Stock-Entry; it's set on the Item once.
Stock reconciliation vs Stock Entry
For physical inventory counts, the dedicated Stock Reconciliation tool is better than Material Receipt/Issue Stock Entries — see Stock Count.
Common situations
- Found an extra 10 units in the warehouse — Stock Reconciliation, set quantity to actual; or a Material Receipt of 10 units with reason "Stock Found"
- 5 units broken — Material Issue of 5 units; the value is written off to a "Stock Adjustment" expense account
- Move 50 units from Warehouse A to Warehouse B — Material Transfer; both warehouses' Stock Ledger updates atomically
- Manufactured 10 finished items using 10 of each of 3 raw materials — Manufacture entry with raw materials as inputs and finished goods as output; if you use Work Orders, the Stock Entry is generated from the Work Order
Last updated 3 days ago
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