There are a number of Cost of Sales postings that can can occur in Online that fall outside of the “normal” postings for Cost of Sales (COS) or Cost of Goods Sold (COGS). These transactions only occur in specific circumstances or when you choose to make them (in the case of “Manual” adjustments. Whilst they are not specifically COS postings, and could be expensed most companies tend to place these accounts within their Margin calculation in the GL Profit & Loss Statement as they do reflect trading costs related to COS.
Purchase Price Variances (PPV)
PPV’s occur as a direct result of using the Purchase Accruals ledger when performing Shipment costings as part of the receiving processing in the Purchasing system. For details on PPV’s see the details in Purchase Price Variances (PPV)
Auto Value Adjustments (AVA)
AVA’s are created in Online when any of the three costing mechanism’s below are used:
- Standard Costing
- Replacement Costing
- Average Costing
AVA’s are essential in keeping the Inventory Ledger and General Ledger in sync. For more details on AVSA’s see the write-up on Automatic Value Adjustments.
Stock Value Maintenance (SVM)
Online Advantage provides a function in the Inventory “Processing” section that allows users to adjust the Inventory Value of an item in stock in a nominated Stock Location. When performing such an adjustment, the system will post one side of the adjustment to the appropriate Stock On Hand account for the Inventory item, and it will prompt the user for the GL Posting to be made for the other side. The value posted is simply the different between the “current” Inventory value and the “new” Inventory Value as calculated from the new Average Unit Cost entered.
Manual Stock Issues (MSI)
The Inventory Control system provide as facility for users to manually adjust inventory levels through the use of a Manual Stock Issues function. This function allows a user to issue from stock a specified quantity of an item in inventory. Since this is reducing the total Inventory Value in the Stock Ledger and Balance Sheet, the system will prompt the user with the other side of the entry by requesting a mandatory GL Posting be entered. This essentially writes-off Inventory Value to the GL Posting provided. The Value used is taken from the current Inventory Value of the item. The system will assume the current stock value and not allow the user to specific the value.
Manual Stock Receipts (MSR)
A Manual Stock Receipts function is provided in OA to allow stock to be written-back to the Inventory Ledger. With this function the user can specific one or more items to receive into Stock.
The user gets to enter both the quantity and the value of the items. One side of the posting for this transaction is known, being the appropriate Stock On Hand account. The system will prompt the user for the other side of the posting here. Note that the value of the transaction here is based on the combination of the quantity being received and the unit cost provided. The user has the option of using the existing system “replacement” or “average” unit cost as part of the entry.
Stock Take Adjustments (STA)
When a Stock Take is performed on one or more inventory items, if the Count Quantity entered is different to the Freeze Quantity on the Stock Take run then the system will post a variance for the difference in value based on the current Inventory Value (Stock Unit Cost) of the item. When a stock take is finalised the system will create Stock Take Adjustment (STA) transactions for the items in variance. The Stock On Hand account and the Stock Take Adjustment accounts held on the Product Group for each item with a variance are used to generate both sides of the GL Posting. There is no posting until a Stock Take is finalised so if a stock take run is left open or is cancelled then there are no stock transactions generated and no postings to the GL.
GL Posting Control
It is worth noting that OA provides a control mechanism for the use of GL Accounts throughout the functions that prompt for posting accounts. Essentially OA can be setup with a finite list of available Accounts per function (transaction type).
This allows a Financial Controller to ensure that the only one of a select few accounts can be used for posting for a particular function in the system, thus limiting/preventing erroneous postings to GL Accounts from the subsidiary ledgers. To setup these controls you should use the “Valid Chart of Accounts” function in the General Ledger “Setup” area.