Stock Settings

Stock Settings holds the global rules ERPNext applies to all stock movements — defaults, validations, valuation behaviour.

Where to find it

Stock Settings in the Awesome Bar. Single-record settings page.

Key fields

Field	What it does
Default Item Group	Group new items fall into if you don't pick one
Default Stock UOM	Default unit of measure for new items (usually "Nos")
Default Warehouse	Where new stock movements default to
Valuation Method	FIFO / Moving Average / Standard — applied site-wide unless overridden per item
Allow Negative Stock	If Yes, you can ship more than you have (creating negative stock)
Show Barcode Field	If Yes, items have a Barcode field
Auto-create Material Request from Re-order Level	If Yes, ERPNext auto-creates Material Requests when stock drops below the re-order level
Auto-create Purchase Order from Material Request	If Yes, an MR becomes a PO automatically (use with care)
Backflush Raw Materials for Subcontracting	For subcontract — auto-consume materials when finished item received
Set Posting Time	If Yes, users can edit the posting time on stock entries (otherwise it's now)
Update Item Price on Each Purchase	If Yes, item's standard purchase rate auto-updates after each Purchase Invoice

When to change these

Situation	Setting
Strict inventory accuracy required	Allow Negative Stock = No
Backdated stock entries allowed	Allow Negative Stock = Yes (sometimes inevitable during migration)
Standardise FIFO across all items	Valuation Method = FIFO
Per-item flexibility (FIFO for goods, Moving Avg for spare parts)	Set per Item, leave site-wide as preferred default
Aggressive automation of re-ordering	Enable Auto-create Material Request + tune reorder levels per item

Reorder levels

For each Item, set:

Re-order Level — quantity that triggers a Material Request
Re-order Quantity — how much to order
Re-order Period — minimum days between re-orders (avoids duplicate MRs)

ERPNext's reorder system (with Stock Settings auto-create enabled) keeps stock topped up without manual checking.

Effect on existing data

Settings apply to new transactions. Existing Stock Entries, Material Receipts, etc. keep their original rules. Changing Valuation Method site-wide doesn't retroactively re-cost existing transactions — run Repost Item Valuation if needed.

UOMs — units of measure setup
Item Groups — categorising your catalogue