Items Overview

Creating items
Other considerations when creating items
Adding additional details and custom information (optional)
Enter the itemís opening quantity and value
Changing items
Inactivating items
See also Inventory Transfers Overview
See also Inventory Adjustments Overview

In MYOB AccountEdge terms, the word item is used to describe:

  • A physical unit that your company may buy, sell or inventory. Such an item can also be built using other items; if it is, itís known in AccountEdge terms as a finished item. Such an item can also be one of the building blocks for a finished item; if it is, itís known as a component.
  • One of your companyís services that youíd like to include on item sales layouts. Such an item is often referred to as a service item.

In accounting terms, your companyís physical items should usually be considered current assets.

Creating items

You can create many types of item records. Read the following information carefully, so youíre sure youíre creating the item record you need.

An item you buy, sell and inventory

Many, if not all, of your items are probably items that you buy from vendors and sell to customers and store in inventory.

Click below for the step-by-step procedure:

To create a record for an item you buy, sell and inventory

Note: Donít feel pressured to inventory every item. When you mark the I Inventory This Item selection, youíre indicating that you want to track the itemís on-hand quantity and value. If you donít need to track an itemís on-hand quantity and value, you donít need to mark the I Inventory This Item selection.
An item you buy, sell but donít inventory

Your company might have some items that arenít stored in actual inventory, but you buy and sell the items nevertheless. You also might have some items whose inventory quantities you donít need to track. If you track reimbursable expenses for jobs, the items you buy on your customerís behalf are of this type.

An item you buy for office use only

There are probably some items, such as pencils, in your company that you buy for office use only. Unless you keep meticulous records of your office supplies, you probably donít track the exact number of pencils you have in inventory.

Click below for the step-by-step procedure:

To create a record for an item you buy for office use only

An item you build from components

If your company manufactures, combines or assembles items using other physical items you store in your companyís inventory, you can specify which itemsóor components, in AccountEdge termsóyou use to build the items. The term used to describe an item built from components is finished item. Once youíve specified the finished itemís components, or auto-build information, you can use the Auto-Build view of the Item Information window to automatically create, or build, the item in your AccountEdge records.

An item you use only as a component to build other items

Before you create a finished item, youíll need to create the components that are used to build the finished item.

A ìserviceî item

If your business provides services, you can create item records for each service, and then enter the ìservice itemsî on item layouts. This is particularly helpful if you bill your customers for both physical items and services; using this strategy, you can include all your billable costs on the same type of sale.

Click below for the step-by-step procedure:

To create a record for a ìservice itemî

An item whose information you copy from another item

If you want to create an item similar to one youíve already created, you can simply copy the original itemís information into the new item record. All information from the first item record will be copied to the new item record except the item number, item name, item description, vendor item number, auto-build information and item history information.

An ìitemî that serves a special purpose

If you want to include a blank line between line items on an item sales and purchases layout, you can set up a special ìitemî in the Inventory Command Center to give you the space you need.

A special ìplaceholder itemî for tracking reimbursable job expenses

If you want to create a special ìplaceholder itemî for tracking reimbursable job expenses on your item layouts, you can set up a special ìitem.î

Other considerations when creating items

Be careful using the backslash character

The backslash character (\) serves a special purpose in AccountEdgeóany item number that begins with a backslash can be included on sales and purchase forms, but they wonít appear on printed forms. These item numbers can be used to add blank lines to forms, for example.

Choosing linked accounts for items

Many businesses use a single account to track the cost of sales, income and value with their physical items. If youíd like to do this, be sure you enter the same account numbers in the linked account fields for every item you record in the AccountEdge system.

Entering buying and selling units of measure

In the Buying Unit of Measure field, youíll enter the itemís buying unit of measureóthat is, the method by which this item is packaged when you purchase it. The unit of measure can be printed on purchases.

In the Selling Unit of Measure field, enter the itemís selling unit of measureóthat is, the method by which this item is packaged when you sell it. The unit of measure can be printed on sales.

Some typical units of measure are Each, Pair, Case, Gross, Hour and Day. For example, assume one of your items is a lamp set thatís always sold or purchased in pairs; this item could be assigned a unit of measure of Pair.

The primary vendorís item number, not your item number, is set up to print on item purchases

AccountEdge item purchases are currently set up so your vendorsí item numbers appear on the purchases you print using AccountEdge. If you use a different system of numbering your items than your vendor, this might seem confusing to you when you first print your purchases. If you wish to change the way your item purchases printóin other words, if you want to print your own item numbers on the purchasesóyouíll need to customize the item purchase form.

Click below for the step-by-step procedure:

To print your item numbers on an item purchase

To create a record for an ìitemî that serves a special purpose on a sale or purchase.

Adding additional details and custom information (optional)

Entering a description of the item

You can choose to enter a description of the item up to 255 characters in length. Simply enter the description in the Description field located on the Item Details tab. If you want this description instead of the item name to appear on sales forms and other forms, youíll mark the selection Use Item Description on Sales.

Click below for the step-by-step procedure:

To enter a description of an item

Entering Optional Restocking Information for the To Do List

If you want an alert to appear in the To Do List window whenever the itemís quantity on hand falls to a specified level, enter that information in the fields that appear in the lower half of the Buying Details tab.

Entering historical information

You can enter history for up to five years before you began using AccountEdge. You can enter an itemís history up to the current month of your current fiscal year.

Warning: If you change an itemís historyAccountEdge uses the figures displayed in the History view of the Item Information window on some reports. If you change an itemís history in this window, keep in mind that the change you make may not accurately reflect your actual totals.

Use care when making changes to the amounts displayed in this window. If you make a change and then want to use the previous amount, AccountEdge cannot automatically reconstruct the monthly totals.

Click below for the step-by-step procedure:

To enter historical information about an item

To copy pricing level information from another item record

Entering pricing level information for an item

If you set different selling prices for different types of customers and for sales of greater quantities of an item, you can set up pricing levels for the item using the Selling Details view of the Item Information window. When you create an item layout that includes the item, the selling price that appears automatically on the sale reflects the itemís pricing level for the quantity youíve entered on the sale, as well as for the pricing level of the customer card youíve entered.

Here are some facts about AccountEdgeís pricing levels:

  • You can set a selling price at each level that youíll charge for the same item bought in larger quantities, and you can specify those quantities.
  • You can set a price for each type of customer or at each pricing level.
  • You can set an itemís selling prices for up to six pricing levels.
  • The default labels for pricing levels are ìAî through ìF,î but you can label your pricing levels in any way you like using the Custom Field and List Names window found under the Setup menu. See To label a pricing level for steps for more information.
  • You can assign a pricing level to each of your customer cards using the Credit Terms window. See To assign a pricing level to a customer card for more information.
  • You can copy the pricing levels that youíve entered for another item into the item record youíre creating.

Before you can enter pricing level information for an item, you must enter its selling details using the top part of the Selling Details tab.

For information about entering names for your pricing levels see Using pricing levels.

Note: Be sure not to undercharge when using pricing levels and volume customer discounts
If you enter pricing level information for an item, be sure to take into account your customerís volume discount so you donít inadvertently undercharge for some items. For example, if you assign the ìwholesaleî pricing level to a customer card so prices at that level only will appear on item layouts for that customer, donít enter your companyís wholesale discount in the Volume Discount% field found in the Selling Details view of the Card Information window. Any volume discount you enter for the customer will be subtracted from the itemís ìwholesaleî price.

Click below for the step-by-step procedure:

To label a pricing level

To enter pricing level information for an item

Creating custom lists and fields entries

You can make entries for the custom fields youíve named and choose which custom list you want this item to be displayed on. See Using custom lists and fields for more information.

Linking a picture to an item or card record

You may wish to link a picture -- a bitmap file -- to an item or card record. You can display the picture of an item in the Item Details tab of the Item Information window, and you can link a picture to a card record and display the picture in the Card Details tab of the Card Information window.

The pictures arenít stored in your data file. Theyíre stored in the Graphics folder in the directory where your data file is located. If the picture you link isnít already located in the Graphics folder, a copy of the graphics file you select is placed in the Graphics folder. If you move your data file, you must move the Graphics folder to the same location if you want to display the graphics in the Item Information window.

When you only remove the link between the item or card record and the graphics, the graphics file remains in the Graphics folder, which is located in the same directory as your AccountEdge data file. If you havenít linked the graphics to any other item or card records, you may want to delete the graphics file. For information about deleting files, refer to the documentation for your computerís operating system.

Enter the itemís opening quantity and value

When youíve entered all of your items into AccountEdge, youíll indicate how many items you have in stock and how much each item is worth.

If youíre working with many items and need to know the exact count of your items, consider printing an Inventory Count Sheet report, which you can use to help you count your actual items.

Changing items

Occasionally, you might need to make a change to an item in your AccountEdge records. You can make your changes using windows in the Inventory Command Center.

Changing basic item information

Depending upon whether youíve used an item in a transaction, you can change most of the basic information you originally set up for the item. When you change an itemís number or name, all the information that was recorded using the itemís previous number or name will change to reflect the new information you entered.

You can quickly change the selling prices of manyóor allóof the items that you sell using the Set Item Prices window. See To change the price of many items at one time to learn how to update the base selling price of many items at once.

Idea: Make a backup before you update prices Before changing the price of multiple items, choose Backup from the File menu to make a backup copy of your data file containing your current prices and other data. (We recommend that you give the backup file an easily recognizable name so you can distinguish this backup file from others youíve created.) If you donít want to use the new prices that are calculated during these procedures, you can return to the previous prices by choosing Restore from the File menu. See Backing up and restoring data files for further information about making backups.

You can also use the Pricing Shortcuts window to update multiple item prices at the same time, based on a percentage or other type of change. Itís a great way to re-price your items to reflect changing costs or to prepare for a sale.

Note: You canít use pricing shortcuts for items with a cost of $0.00 If an item in the Set Item Prices window has a cost of $0.00, its selling price canít be updated using the Pricing Shortcuts window. These items must be updated manually because there is no cost basis for the calculation of an updated price.

Inactivating items

If you have items that you create for a one-time sale or purchase, for example, inactivating them after their one-time use will remove them from the selection windows. Your list of items will be shorter, and selecting the item you need will be easier.

If an item is marked inactive, however, you may still use the item in transactions by manually entering the item. Inactive items will still appear in the Items List window. You can also return the status of the item to active so that it will appear again in the selection windows. No matter what the status of an itemóactive or inactive, transactions recorded using the item will still affect all of your financial records.

Two reports, the Items List (Summary) and Items List (Detail) will display and print item information with or without inactive items. Use the Report Filters window to unmark or mark the selection Include Inactive Items.

Click below for the step-by-step procedure:

To inactivate (reactivate) items

Removing items

If you have an item that has no quantities or inventory value and hasnít been assigned to any sales and purchases, you can quickly remove its record from the MYOB system.

You canít delete an item until all sales and purchases that use the item are deleted or purged. Once the sales and purchases are deleted or purged, you can then remove the item. (See Purging information thatís no longer needed to learn how to purge sales and purchases.)

You also canít delete an item that has a current quantity or value. To remove an itemís quantity and value, create an inventory adjustment with negative quantities and values to ìzero outî an itemís quantity and value. (See Determining the type of inventory adjustment you need to learn how to create inventory adjustments.)

Click below for the step-by-step procedure:

To remove items

Items Overview