Inventory Quantity Adjustment in QuickBooks Online Plus

by

I LOVE Batch-action Tools, and now we have a new one in QuickBooks Online Plus. Intuit has been focusing on improvements to Inventory in QuickBooks Online and this update is a Big Win for those of us needing inventory. This Inventory quantity adjustment feature is a super tool for both accountant and client users. This tool allows users to batch adjust quantities in one screen cutting down on the amount and difficulties of making adjustments. Now you can edit the inventory quantity easily thus allowing users to know the quantity available for sale and for more accurate reporting of inventory assets.

You must be using 'QBO Plus' with inventory turned on and using an inventory type item in order to use inventory and the features attached to it.  

  • The most common reason to use this feature is adjusting multiple items after a physical count. What the process looks like is: Company Gear > Lists > Products and Service
  • Select Items to adjust > Batch actions > Adjust quantity
  • Select Adjustment date > Inventory adjustment account (QBO auto creates an Inventory Shrinkage account) > Change quantity. For this step you have two choices either enter the current quantity in the New QTY column or enter the difference in quality in the Change in QTY column by using the + or - keys.

Real world scenarios for using Adjusting Inventory Quantity:

When setting up a new QBO and adding inventory for the first time there is often a change in inventory between the setup date and when the QBO file is actually put in service by the client. What if instead of adding a quantity at the time of setup – quantity is added at time of service? For example a retail store which sales shirts, all the shirt types are added but NO quantities are added so when the store is ready to use the QBO they add all the real world quantities through the Batch Inventory adjustment tool. What this accomplishes is preventing a mass of quantities being changed.

Let’s walk through a situation where the inventory is added through an excel import. The client has provided all the names of the items but no quantities on hand. (If you have not used this feature it’s fast and there is an example format for the excel file on the import screen in QBO.)

Steps to import inventory and add quantities through the Batch Adjusting Inventory Quantity feature:

Step 1 - Company Gear > Products and Services > New > Import

Step 2 - Choose Excel or CVS file (format the file first using the sample)

Step 3 - Import your formatted data.

Step 4 - At this point the actions are the same as before: Company Gear > Lists > Products and Service > Select items to adjust > Batch actions > Adjust quantity > Select Adjustment date > Inventory adjustment account.

As you can see there are many ways to use this new tool and I am happy every time I can enter or adjust data in a batch.

Editor's Note: We typically don't 'amend articles' but respond to replies via the comment section; however, Liz chose to include some specifics including illustrations that could not be included in a comment (due to limitations of the 'Metro site' functionality), se here are those additions....

Kelly,

I am not sure what created your error, is it possible you entered the adjustment twice? I have attached a Balance sheet, P & L and Inventory reports for both before and after the inventory adjustment. I do not get the same errors you received and instead get the expected reduction in inventory quantity, reduction in inventory asset and loss of inventory (shrinkage) at cost.

For my example I started with 10 inventory items at a cost of 1000.00 per item and 1500.00 retail per item. Using the inventory adjustment I stated we had 1 shrinkage, resulting in 9 inventory items, 1000.00 recorded for inventory shrinkage (cost) and a reduction of 1000.00 for in inventory assets.     

Hope this helps,

Liz