Set up inventory valuation and costing
To make sure that inventory costs are recorded correctly, you must set up various fields and pages before you begin to make item transactions. Typically, businesses choose a specific costing method and apply that to inventory items, for example, to help them track the value of items on stock.
Tip
For an introduction to costing in Business Central, see About Inventory Costing.
The following table describes a sequence of tasks, with links to the articles that describe them.
| To | See |
|---|---|
| Specify a default costing method for the company to govern how incoming cost is used to assess inventory value and the cost of goods sold. | Set Up General Inventory Information |
| Specify a costing method on individual items if they require a different costing method. | Register New Items |
| Ensure that the cost is automatically posted to the general ledger whenever an inventory transaction is posted. | Automatic Cost Posting field on the Inventory Setup page |
| Ensure that expected costs are posted to the general ledger to see from the interim G/L accounts an estimate of the amounts due and the cost of the traded items before they're invoiced. | Expected Cost Posting to G/L field on the Inventory Setup page |
| Set the system up to adjust for any cost changes automatically every time you post inventory transactions. | Adjust Item Costs |
| Define if the average cost is to be calculated per item only or per item for each stockkeeping unit and for each variant of the item. | Average Cost Calc. Type field on the Inventory Setup page |
| Select the period of time you would like application to use for calculating the weighted average cost of items that use the average costing method. | Average Cost Period field on the Inventory Setup page |
| Define inventory periods to control inventory value over time by disallowing transaction posting in closed inventory periods. | Work with Inventory Periods |
| Ensure that sales returns are applied to the original outbound transaction to preserve inventory value. | Exact Cost Reversing Mandatory field on the Sales & Receivables page |
| Ensure that purchase returns are applied to the original inbound transaction to preserve inventory value. | Exact Cost Reversing Mandatory field on the Purchases & Payables page |
| Set up the rounding rules to apply when adjusting or suggesting item prices and when adjusting or suggesting standard costs. | Rounding Method page |
See also
Managing Inventory Costs
Set Up General Inventory Information
Reconcile Inventory Costs with the General Ledger
Setup Best Practices: Costing Method
Design Details: Inventory Costing
Design Details: Change the Costing Method for Items
Work with Business Central
Finance