My club has spent $500 and purchased 25 of item X. I was going to enter this as Inventory Items. $500 cash out for a $500 asset. No expense at this time. The items have been purchased to be hired to members, not sold. The items cost $20 ea and will be hired now and then for $5. This appears to lead to the recording of a $15 loss. My understanding of Inventory is that the expense is not incurred until items are sold. Item X is purchased in 2020 and hired. It may not be hired again until 2022. I don’t really want to record it as just a purchase expense as this affects the bottom line by -$500 for this year. Future years no expense, hire income only. What is the best way to record this in manager. Hope I’ve explained sufficiently.
Your items for hire should definitely not be recorded as inventory. Inventory refers to goods held for production or sale.
In some situations, you would record rental items as fixed assets and depreciate their cost over their expected economic life, but yours are so inexpensive they probably would not qualify, depending on local regulations. And that would be quite a bit of work over the next several years for a minimal result.
This really isn’t a question about using Manager, but one for your accountant.