I have tried to upgrade my business to a new version of manager.
A common practice, and usually I only check the summary screen to check the numbers.
This time however there was a difference in inventory numbers. So I ran a report “Inventory Value Movement” over the period of 1/1/2015 until 31/12/2015. This is what it sayed between versions.
Opening Product. Cost of Closing Version
Balance Purchases Orders Sales Adjustments Balance Manager
0,00 6.808,92 3.883,65 2.925,27 version 16.3.54
0,00 6.370,79 0,00 − 3.621,65 − 254,94 2.918,98 version 16.9.28
It looks like there is only a small difference on the closing balance, but I can see strange things like
It is not clear what you are actually trying to show.
In your first panel do the values represent total Inventory or a single inventory item - also the mathematics in the second line don’t add up.
If they are total inventory values, what happens on the individual inventory lines - do any have matching (correct) values between the versions or are they all affect ?
In your 2nd panel, what or where are these ? I think it would be of assistance if you posted actual screenshots of the reports.
The quantity report has been fixed in the latest version (16.9.44)
As for why closing balance is different between versions, I’d need to check the whole accounting file. The first thing that I would concentrate on is why Purchases figure is different between versions.
If you like you can send me your accounting file (from previous version) to lubos@manager.io.
@Brucanna. The first panel represents the bottomline totals of the “Inventory Value Movement” report, shown from 2 different versions of manager. The second panel shows individual lines of that newest version where the closing balance doesn’t seem to add up.
@lubos. I have re-done the import in manager, but don’t see mucht difference.
What might be an issue is that in the older version, the “opening balance”, where mine happens to be 1/1/2015 which is one of the selection criteria, is included in purchases column. In the newer version it seems left out all together. So I tried creating a report from period 31/12/2014 and even before, but the result stays the same. Thanks.
As both reports have the same opening balance (0.00) then the changes would seem to occur with in the subsequent transactions.
Can you clarify what you mean by “the opening balance … is included in purchases column”.
Did you actually have opening stock (stock owned prior to 1/1/2015) ?
If yes, then they shouldn’t have been entered as part of purchases.
Why don’t you try and reconcile individual inventory items based on the below.
an inventory with matching Purchase values but differing Closing Balances
an inventory item that wasn’t list on the first list but is now included.
This will help identify the source of the transactions causing the differences.
Have you use Production Orders or Inventory Write offs or Journals with regards to any inventory movements ?
The report didn’t show proper opening balance. In my old version it was incorporated in purchases column. In the latest version of manager (16.9.48) the opening balance is properly displayed on the report.
Yes. We were already in business but at a smaller scale. When we aquired our current practice we went from excel to manager. We had inventory bought and payed for, inventory bought but not yet payed, sales invoices met but not yet payed, money in the bank, petty cash and some assests. That all together created our opening balance for 2015.
No production orders, but we have used Write offs and the end of the year, due to differences in inventory or expired inventory etcetera.
Thank you for the quick response. The report looks excellent in latest version.
Unfortunately I still have 2 rows that don’t add up, but I think that might be something else.
I’ll have figured out one of them.
Below are two screenshot of a transaction of inventory item with a purchase invoice (Dutch: Aankoopfactuur) and debit note:
@Hans, it’s better if you send me the latest backup of your accounting file to lubos@manager.io and where should I look at.
All lines on those inventory reports must be adding up. If they don’t, it’s a bug. It’s usually a case of report not picking up all transactions it should and that’s easy to fix.
@lubos, Thank you for the offer.
If the following doesn’t help, I will send you a backup. For now I’ll try to explain my findings.
What has happened to create the above 2 images. Same situation but different version of Manager.
I bought one product for testing at the cost of € 13,35.
Some time later the supplier bought it back for the amount of € 7,06 (hence the debitnote)
Leaving me with 0 product but a loss of € 6,29.
The latest version seems to think this balance has to go somewhere, because there are no products left and creates these transactions.
Now everything is fine. Furthermore the “Inventory Value Movement” report seems perfect.
I hope this helps!
The second issue I found appears to be a difference in selection for the report.
In my previous version, creditnotes were added to the “Purchases” column, but also to the “Cost of sales”, leaving the balance the same.
@Hans, OK I see what you mean now. If you end up with zero quantity but value on hand is not zero, Manager will automatically make an adjusting entry and move the value to “cost of goods sold” so if quantity on hand is zero, then value on hand is zero too.
The only issue is that transaction line looks empty and doesn’t explain why. That will be resolved soon.
I also have a similar problem, after upgrade. I had inventory entries with empty quantity to account for fixed costs. Now, if the date is prior to the first item purchase, the automatic adjusting entry is present. If the date is the same day as the first item purchase, then the costs combine as before, but I don’t want to edit the dates.
For now, I have created some production orders with same date as first item purchase, to accumulate the fixed costs separately from actual inventory purchases. Production orders don’t let me use suppliers and goods receipts, so I don’t include the actual inventory purchase in the production order.
I think I understand what you are saying but could you put some numbers to an example to demonstrate. Also when you say fixed costs, what are these. Thanks
This does not sound like a good approach at all. Inventory items should only be used for actual countable items. When an inventory item is generated via a production order, you can include non-inventory costs in the production, but not fixed costs. Only the cost of the goods should be reflected in inventory costs.
Production orders are only for producing finished inventory goods from raw inventory goods, plus non-inventory costs that are directly attributable to the finished goods. You cannot purchase items via a production order.
I should have said “one-time” rather than fixed cost. Example: To produce a book, $100 to license a font + $1000 advance to author + $1000 advance to illustrator + $3000 in installments to manufacturer + $200 for freight + $100 misc. shipping (proofs etc). All amounts are paid out to different entities on different dates. Future orders of that item would generally involve only the manufacturer and freight costs.
I had entered those as empty-quantity based on the below threads:
Switching to production orders seems like a better solution, except I’m not actually manufacturing the product here, so I can’t enter the manufacturing line item into the production order (since it is on a purchase invoice). Leaving the production order with zero quantity to add in the other costs works for now, but it seems like it could also break in future upgrades.
The additional explanation makes everything clear. I think you are doing most things correctly, adding to inventory average cost using zero-quantity additions. There are a couple of things that could be worked out better, though.
The first is how you are differentiating things like author payments, installments to manufacturers, etc. I think you ought to consider whether some of these items are truly costs of goods. I personally would not consider a payment to an author as such, regardless of when it occurs. That is a payment under a contract. An accountant could help you decide whether you are acquiring an asset that must be capitalized and depreciated or amortized or just incurring an expense. But I personally think cost of goods ought to be restricted to the repeatable costs of manufacturing and/or purchasing the inventory item sold.
Second, you have the question of advances. How to treat these properly will be tied up with your contracts with the authors, illustrators, and printers. But they should perhaps go into liability accounts, or at least be handled through Accounts payable to build a supplier credit until actual invoices are recorded.
Regardless of how you sort those things out, I would not worry about the zero-quantity approach being broken in future updates. What you are doing is absolutely mainstream in the Manager universe, not a workaround. The questions are not with whether your process is correct, but with which costs are being put through it.
While the current process maybe working, I am not sure about the collection of “one time” costs against an Inventory Item with a zero quantity. For example, if the process from start to actual Inventory takes 9 months, that means for 8 months you have an inventory item “Book A” sitting there with zero quantity but with a value built up of various costs (say 3200). This is an abnormal use of Inventory system as zero quantity should equal zero value.
As an alternative, in fact preferred, is that those “one time” costs get accumulated in a BS Asset account called “Work-in-progress - Book A”. then when the actual inventory is create, transfer the WIP to the Inventory item so that it gets proportioned over the inventory units
