BooksPOS never lets anyone type a new stock total. Every change of stock is a movement with a reason, a person and a time: a sale, a purchase, a return, a transfer, or an adjustment. This keeps the shelf, the stock report and the books in agreement, and it means every difference can be explained later. This guide covers the Stock page and the four kinds of adjustment.
The Stock page
Open Stock (under Stock in the menu). "Quantities and values come from the movement ledger, across every place of this branch."
- Filter by title or SKU and press Enter to find items.
- Each row shows the Item, Where it is (shop floor, godown…), its State (sellable or damaged), On hand, Avg cost and Value. Copies on consignment appear on their own rows, marked Consigned ("On sale or return: the supplier's until sold or kept").
- At cost at the top is the value of the shop's own stock.
- Choose a row to see its Movement ledger: every movement with When / what, Qty and the running Balance.
Stock. On hand, reorder level, average cost and value per item and place; consigned copies shown apart. Screenshot of the current build (28 Sep 2026), synthetic demo data.
Every movement: Stock movements
Stock movements (under Stock) lists every movement of every item, newest first: when it happened, the item, the kind of movement (sale, customer return, purchase, returned to supplier, adjustment, opening stock, stock count, damaged, moved out or in, consignment), the document it came from, the place, the quantity in or out, its value at cost, and who posted the document. It starts on this month; choose other dates with From and To, or Today, Last month, Year or All.
Narrow it by kind, by place (shop floor, godown…), by item (type a title, ISBN or SKU and choose it; the cross clears it), and, for owners, by the person who made it. It shows 100 movements at a time. Excel, CSV, PDF and Print give up to 2,000 movements matching the filters. Movements made before this page existed show who posted their document, where the document names someone.
The four kinds of adjustment
Choose Adjust (or Opening stock) on the Stock page. In What happened, pick one:
| Kind | When to use it | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Opening stock | Stock already on the shelf when BooksPOS started. | At the cost you enter. Credits opening-balance equity, not a purchase. |
| Found stock (increase) | A count found more than the books show. | At the average cost, unless you enter a cost. |
| Lost or written off (decrease) | A count found less, or copies were stolen or thrown away. | Taken out at the average cost. |
| Mark as damaged | Sellable copies are damaged (water, torn covers). | Moved to damaged stock at the same cost. They can no longer be sold. |
How to post an adjustment
- On Stock, choose Adjust (or New adjustment on Stock adjustments) and pick What happened.
- Add each item (Add an item: title, ISBN or SKU). The line shows what is in stock.
- Set the Unit and Qty. For opening stock or found stock, you may type a Cost / unit; otherwise the average is used.
- For damaged copies being thrown away, choose Lost or written off and tick From damaged ("Write off damaged copies").
- Type the Reason, for example counted 2 short on 26 Sep, water damage in store room. It is required for every kind except opening stock.
- Choose Post adjustment. "MAIN-ADJ000005 posted · value Rs 1,350.00."
Not ready to post? Save draft keeps the adjustment on the store server with its kind, lines and reason, and moves no stock. It is listed on Stock adjustments › Drafts with who saved it and when; Open it to finish and post it, or Delete it. See Drafts and same-day voids.
Finding an adjustment later
Stock adjustments (under Stock) lists every adjustment with its date, number, reason, kind, number of lines, who posted it and its value, and the total value at the top. Filter by kind (Opening stock, Found (increase), Lost (decrease), Marked damaged), by Posted and voided or Voided, and by dates; it starts on the financial year. Choose one to see each item with its unit, quantity, base quantity, cost and value. Excel, CSV, PDF and Print export the list or the adjustment shown.
Voiding an adjustment the same day
On the day it was posted, an owner or manager can open an adjustment and choose Void this adjustment, with a reason. Every copy it moved goes back as it was, at the same value: copies it took out come back, copies it marked damaged are sellable again, and copies it added (opening stock or found stock) go back out, which is only allowed while all of them are still there and none of that title has gone out since. Its entry in the books is reversed. The adjustment stays on the list marked Voided, with who voided it, when and why, and counts for nothing in the total.
What the books see
- Losses and write-offs go to the Stock adjustments expense account (5100), so they show in Profit and loss.
- Found stock is credited to the same account, reducing the loss.
- Marking copies damaged moves value between sellable and damaged stock; it is not a loss until they are written off.
- Opening stock goes to opening-balance equity, so the first day's profit is not inflated.
Rules worth knowing
- Adjustments work on the shop floor. To correct copies kept in the godown, move them to the shop floor first with Move stock. See The godown and the shop floor.
- Stock can never go below zero. A decrease larger than what is on hand is refused: "Not enough stock of … available, … needed."
- Only the shop's own copies are adjusted. Consigned copies are the supplier's; see Consignment (sale or return).
- Many differences at once: use a count instead of typing adjustments one by one. See Stock counts while the shop stays open.
- Posted adjustments are never edited. The same day, an owner or manager can void one; after that, a wrong adjustment is corrected by another one, with its own reason.
- Who can adjust: owners, managers and warehouse staff. Everyone can see stock.
Common questions
I entered opening stock twice by mistake. How do I fix it?
If it was today and no copy of those titles has been sold or moved since, an owner or manager can void the second one. Otherwise post a Lost or written off adjustment for the extra quantity, with a reason such as opening stock entered twice. The ledger keeps both entries and the correction.
Why is the value of found stock not what I paid?
Found stock is valued at the item's current average cost, because nobody knows what the found copies cost. Type a Cost / unit if you do know.
Where do damaged copies go?
To damaged stock of the same item and place. The till does not sell them. Send them back to the publisher (Publisher returns and credit notes) or write them off.
Can a cashier adjust stock?
No. Cashiers can see stock but not change it.
Related guides
Last updated 28 September 2026. Still stuck? Contact us.