The 'end of the month' issues there have more to do with physical
logistics than with being 'proper' or 'legit'.
Computers can do all of it. (especially with RFID or other automated
movement tracking) Pen and paper is a lot more work. Some methods
therefore were done as a batch, at the end of month or end of year
rather than continuously. Modern (last 20 years) textbooks point this
out and note continuous inventory is possible with computers where it
was tedious if not impossible without. (the difference between tedious
and impossible being the quantity and complexity of the inventory)
One of my clients used QB for inventory for about 5 years. It was such a
pain, they had me source an industry specific solution for them. They've
used it for the last 13 and are in the process of moving on to a more
modern system.
From personal experience in two different industries having to manage
inventory, I don't recommend trying to shoehorn GnuCash. Either design a
spreadsheet to meet your needs, or find an inventory specific solution,
ideally one designed for your particular industry. There are nuances to
inventory items that you won't appreciate till you try to use the wrong
software.
GnuCash can of course import the resulting monetary transactions that
are inventory related. You can track the total value of inventory, Cost
of Goods Sold, Allowance for Damages, etc. Just don't try to track the
physical item counts with it. And certainly don't use it for point of
sale, managing stock levels, open to buy, order management, at al.
Anyone of course is free to do so, I just would advise against it and
hazard the guess that even creating your own custom fancy spreadsheet
with macros and all (even if you don't know what a macro is, much less
how to write one) will in the long run, be faster and a better solution
than trying to use GnuCash to do so. (unless you're going to write an
actual inventory *module* for it, but still...)
I close with, "No two businesses are the same." So indeed one of the QB
packages might work for you. And indeed, your inventory might be so
simple, that even GnuCash might suffice if you abuse a feature or two
like Stock accounts. It is certainly better to *try* to stay on top of
your inventory than to not do so, as you won't be in business long
otherwise. And better even to use something not ideal so you appreciate
what is one day. But if you can avoid a headache, most people would
prefer doing so. Inventory is enough of headache *with* perfect software.
Regards,
Adrien
On 10/2/20 7:16 PM, doncram wrote:
A bit unfair i think. I was referring to GnuCash + a spreadsheet, not just
GnuCash. It takes some words to explicitly state how inventory accounting
works anywhere, especially if mentioning alternative approaches. And I am
trying to put forward a workable solution for a potential GnuCash user
rather than pushing them away.
But i did try Quickbooks Desktop Pro for how they do inventory, and I still
pretty much dislike it though I just had a tiny bit more success. Seems
one can change incoming and outgoing prices of an inventory item at any
time, then the new price(s) stick. The software apparently applies average
costing to reprice all items currently in inventory immediately upon
purchase of any new item at a different price. I think that's not actually
an option taught in accounting courses/textbooks so maybe it is not
strictly legit; in textbooks I think average costing is applied only at
the end of an accounting period in valuing ending inventory and
transactions during the period. The Quickbooks help system says go buy or
subscribe to higher level Desktop Pro Enterprise if you want to apply
FIFO. I think LIFO (also to be done at end of month) and Specific
Identification are not supported at all in Q, while I think they could be
done straightforwardly in a spreadsheet.
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