Maintaining Account Information IV - Simply

Tutorial Simply Accounting, setup Inventory and Service Items
(Available in Home Window)

Use the Inventory and Services window to keep track of the goods and services you sell, and their associated accounts.
Entering your inventory items and services into Simply Accounting offers many advantages. Primarily, it saves time when buying or selling. Instead of typing the details of each item, you can select the item from a list so that Simply Accounting enters the related information automatically.
A well-organized list of inventory and services also makes it easy to keep track of the things you're buying and selling and to focus on areas that may need your attention. Although you can manage without a list, you'll find that you have more useful information and better control if you let Simply Accounting keep track of your inventory for you.

What would you like to do?

Add or change an inventory or service item

1. In the Home window, open Inventory and Services.
2. If you want to add a new item, choose Create from the toolbar or File menu. Otherwise, select the item from the list.
3. Select Inventory or Service as the Type. If you are using Simply Accounting Pro or Premium, you can check the Activity (Time & Billing) option to allow you to use this service on time slips.
4. Fill in the item number (of up to 14 numbers and letters) and a description of the item.
5. Click each tab on the window and fill in the necessary details:
   • Quantities (inventory items only)
     Show Quantities In If you have entered more than one unit of measure on the Unit tab for this item, you can select which one to use to display the quantities in this section.
     Minimum Level Simply Accounting warns you when the amount you have on hand falls below the number you type in this field.
     
   • Units
     Enter the unit of measure for the item. If you are entering an inventory item, you can specify different units of measure for stocking, buying, and selling.
     Note: If you have checked this item as a service activity, the unit of measure is set on the Time & Billing tab.
   • Pricing
     Enter the regular and preferred price for the item.
     Enter a Web price if this item will be sold on your Web store.
     Note: If you have set up a foreign currency, and turned on the option to use a separate price for foreign customers, you can enter foreign prices for the item.
     
   • Linked
     Select the accounts which are associated with this item. The accounts that you must link depend on whether you are adding an inventory item or a service:
     
     • Asset
       Use this account to keep track of the cost of this inventory item when you buy or sell it.
     • Revenue
       Use this account for amounts you receive when you sell this item or service.
       
     • Expense
       Use this account for the amounts you pay when you buy this service.
       Cost of Goods Sold (C.O.G.S.) Use this account to record the cost of the inventory item when originally purchased.
       Variance Use this account for the difference between the average cost and the actual cost of this inventory item when its inventory level drops below zero.
       
   • Build (inventory items only in Simply Accounting Pro and Premium)
     Use this tab to create a Bill of Materials for the item.
     
     • Build ... The number of items you will produce based on the components you will select for the bill of materials.
     • Item No. Select the items used to create the final product you want to build. You can click the magnifying glass to see a list of items.
     • Quantity For each item you select, type the number required to build the final product.

     Additional Costs These costs can include items like labour and setup. You must also select the account into which these additional costs will be tracked. This is usually an expense account.

   • Time & Billing (service activity items only)
     • Unit's Relationship to Time
       Type or select the unit of measure; you can select minute, hour, or other unit. If you choose other unit, type a unit name in the other unit field.
       Then choose whether this item is related to time. For example, if you type "Job" as the unit of measure, and specify that it is related to time, you must also specify how many hours or minutes equal one job.
       If you specify an activity that is repeated many times in one minute or hour (such as wheel revolutions or temperature readings), you could also specify how many revolutions or readings are performed in one minute or one hour.
     • Billing Options
     • The Service Activity Is Choose one of the three billing statuses. If you choose Non-billable or No Charge, you can choose whether you sometimes charge for this item.
     • Charges Are Based On If this activity is billable, you can choose whether you charge according to time or a flat fee. The flat fee is based on the price on the Pricing tab multiplied by the number of units of measure you type in the Flat Fee box. Be sure you have entered a price on the Pricing tab, and that the number in the Flat Fee field multiplied by the price will calculate the flat amount you want to use.
       
   • Statistics
     If you are entering a new item, you can enter the total amount of past transactions that use this item to ensure that your reports are accurate.
   • Taxes
     
     • Sales Taxes Select whether this item is exempt from any sales taxes that you charge. If you make an item tax exempt, all purchases and sales of this item will be tax exempt.
     • Import Duty If you have set up import duties, fill in the duty rate charged on this item.
   • Additional Information
     You can add up to five fields of additional information on this tab. To change the name of the fields, you can click the Set Field Names toolbar button .
   • Detailed/Web Desc.
     Long Description Enter a detailed description of the item. You can choose to print the long description when you print the Inventory and Services List.
   • Picture You can store a picture that you want to associate with this item. The picture must be a bitmap (.BMP) file and should be 120x100. Click the Browse button and select a file.
   • Thumbnail You can store a smaller version of the picture that you associated with this item.
     Note: The information on this tab appears in the Price List With Pictures report, one of the custom reports supplied with Simply Accounting, and if you have set up a Web store, on an item's detail page.
   • Web Store
     If you use Simply Webstore, check the Allow This Item In The Web Store box to add this item to your online store:
     • Web Item Description This description appears on the web site.
     • Item Weight The weight you enter is used to calculate shipping costs.
     • Quantity Decimals The number of decimal places displayed on an online order.
     • Web Price In Home Currency and Foreign Currencies You can enter a price for each foreign currency that you accept. You cannot, however, set the price to change based on the current exchange rate. The number of decimal places displayed on an online order.
       
6. If you no longer buy or sell this item, check the box at the bottom of the window to make it inactive.
7. If this item is a service that you track internally, you can check the box at the bottom of the window.
8. Choose Save from the toolbar of File menu.