An issue note takes stock out of a location for a reason that is not a sale: consumption, internal use, a write-off, damage, or loss. You pick the location the goods leave, the items, and how much of each goes out. A storekeeper or manager raises one whenever stock leaves inventory without being sold to a customer.
Unlike a Stock Transfer, which only moves stock between your own locations and touches nothing in your accounts, an issue note posts to the ledger. It removes the stock and books its cost as an expense: the value of the goods leaves your Inventory asset and lands in your cost of sales. This is the first inventory document that hits your accounts. Its opposite is an Issue Return, which puts previously issued stock back and reverses the cost.
Find issue notes under Inventory → Issue Note.
An issue note removes stock and records its cost
Saving an issue note lowers on-hand quantity at the issue location and posts a ledger entry for the cost of the goods: it debits your cost of sales and credits Inventory. There is no revenue, no customer, and no tax, because nothing has been sold. Use it when stock leaves for any reason other than a sale.
Before you start
- The Location the stock leaves from must exist in Warehouses & Locations.
- Each line issues a product. Only Inventory-type products can be issued. Service and Non-Inventory items are rejected on save, because they hold no stock to remove. At least one product line is required.
- Every product you issue needs an Expense Account and an Inventory Account set on its product record. These are where the cost posts. Both are required when the product is created, so a properly set-up Inventory product already has them.
- You need the Create Issue Notes permission, granted per user under Permissions. List Issue Notes lets you open the screen, and Edit, View, Delete, and Print Issue Notes cover the rest. See Users, seats & permissions.
Raise an issue note
Open a new issue note
Go to Inventory → Issue Note and select New Issue Note. The form opens full screen.
Check the template
The Template picker sits in the toolbar at the top of the form. ZyncLedger pre-selects your default issue note template, so you can usually leave it. The template decides which fields the form shows and how the printed note looks; switch it here if you keep more than one layout. See Print templates for how these are set up.
Choose the Location
Select the Location (required). This is the location the stock leaves from. Each line issues from this location by default, and each product's cost is taken from your current stock valuation.
Set the issue date
Enter the Issue date (required). This is the date the stock leaves and the date the cost posts to your accounts.
Set the transaction number
The Txn number identifies the issue note. How you fill it depends on the number mode for issue notes:
- Automatic (the default): the field shows Auto-generated and ZyncLedger assigns the next number when you save. Leave it alone.
- Manual: you type the number yourself. It is required and must be unique across all transactions.
See Document numbering to change the mode or set up a multi-series numbering scheme.
Add the header details (optional)
Fill any of these if your template shows them:
Field What it does Name Who or what the stock is issued to, chosen from your names list. Optional; use it to record the recipient (a department, a job, a person). Reference Your own reference for the issue, such as a request or job number. Branch The branch this issue belongs to, for reporting. Add the issue lines
For each item you are issuing, fill a row in the items table:
Column What it does Product (required) The item to issue. Must be an Inventory-type product. Selecting it fills the description and sets the quantity to 1. Description The line text, prefilled from the product. Edit it for this issue if needed. Location The location this line issues from. It defaults to the header Location; change it to issue a single line from a different location. Quantity (required) How many units to issue. Must be greater than zero. Unit cost The cost per unit, shown for reference. You do not type it: ZyncLedger fills it from the product's current average cost. Total The line cost, the quantity times the unit cost. Calculated for you. A blank row waits at the bottom of the table, so a new line appears as you start filling the last one. To remove a line, select the trash icon at the end of its row. The Summary on the right totals the Line items, Total qty, and Total (cost) as you type. There is no price or tax on an issue note; the amounts are costs, not a sale value.
Add a reason and notes (optional)
Use the Reason box to record why the stock is being issued, and the Notes box for any other message, if your template shows them. For notes you keep as standard wording, pick one from the note selector to autofill; a note marked default fills in on its own for a new issue note.
Save
Select Save & New to save and start another issue note, or Save & Print to save and print this one. Use Print to print without saving and Reset to clear the form. The stock leaves and the cost posts the moment you save, and the issue note is saved with a status of Open.
What it posts
Saving an issue note does two things: it removes the stock, and it books the cost of that stock as an expense.
Stock. On-hand quantity decreases at each line's location (the header Location, or a line's own location if you changed it) by the quantity on the line. Each unit is valued at the product's current average cost at the issue date, the same moving-average cost an invoice uses when it issues stock. The change shows in your inventory reports, where the location's balance drops.
Ledger. For each line, ZyncLedger posts the cost of the goods issued:
| Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| The product's Expense Account (its cost of sales account) | Line cost | |
| The product's Inventory Account | Line cost |
In plain terms, the value of the goods leaves your Inventory asset and lands in your cost of sales. The amount is the quantity times the average cost. There is no revenue, no receivable, no customer balance, and no tax, because an issue note is not a sale. The entry balances on its own and flows through to the Trial Balance, the General Ledger, and the Profit & Loss (the cost is an expense), and it lowers the Inventory line on the Balance Sheet.
Which accounts the cost posts to comes from the product
You do not pick the accounts on the issue note. The cost debits each product's Expense Account and credits its Inventory Account, both set on the product record. To change where a product's cost posts, edit the product, not the issue note.
Issue note status
An issue note carries a status. You never set it by hand; ZyncLedger moves it as stock is returned against the note by an Issue Return.
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Open | The issue note is posted and nothing has been returned against it. This is the status of every new issue note. |
| Partial | Some of the issued quantity has been returned by an Issue Return, but not all of it. |
| Returned | Every line has been fully returned. The issue is completely reversed. |
| Deleted | The issue note has been deleted (see below). It is kept for the record, and its amounts are zeroed. |
Tips & gotchas
An issue note does not check available stock
ZyncLedger does not stop you issuing more than a location holds. The issue still saves if you exceed the on-hand quantity, which can drive that location's stock negative. Check the stock before you issue.
A product with no cost yet issues at zero cost
The cost posted is the product's average cost at the issue date. If a product has no cost history yet (no goods have ever been received into stock for it through a GRN or an opening balance), it issues at a cost of zero, so no cost of goods is posted for that line. Record the stock in first, then issue it.
Only inventory products can be issued
An issue note removes physical stock, so its lines accept Inventory-type products only. Service and Non-Inventory items are rejected on save. See Products & Items for how the inventory type is set.
An issue note with returns is locked
Once an Issue Return has been recorded against an issue note, you cannot edit or delete that issue note. Reverse or delete the return first, then change the issue note.
Deleting an issue note reverses the stock and the cost
Deleting an issue note sets its status to Deleted and unwinds it: the quantity goes back into stock at each line's location, and the cost entry is removed, so your Inventory asset and cost of sales return to where they were. The record is kept so its number and history stay intact. You cannot delete an issue note that has returns against it, whose date falls in a period closed by the Ledger close date, or whose ledger entries have been reconciled on a bank reconciliation.
Related
- Issue Return puts previously issued stock back and reverses the cost. It is what moves an issue note to Partial or Returned.
- Products & Items hold the Expense Account and Inventory Account the cost posts to. Only Inventory-type products can be issued.
- Warehouses & Locations are the locations stock is issued from.
- Stock Transfer moves stock between locations without posting to the ledger. Use it when goods relocate rather than leave inventory.
- Inventory reports show the on-hand balance and the movement an issue note creates.
- Document numbering controls the issue note's transaction number.
