Managing Stock Movements

Track every stock change in Officaid with stock in and stock out movements.

Record and Track Every Stock Change

Every time stock is added or removed from an item, Officaid records it as a stock movement. These movements create a complete history of how your inventory has changed over time, making it easy to trace exactly when stock was received, sold, or adjusted.

Understanding Stock Movement Types

There are two types of stock movements:

  • Stock In adds inventory. Use this when you receive a delivery from a supplier, correct an undercount, or return items back to stock.
  • Stock Out removes inventory. This happens automatically when an invoice is created, or you can record it manually for adjustments like damaged goods or samples given away.

Viewing Stock Movements

To see the movement history for an item:

  1. 1 Go to Sales → Items and click on the item name
  2. 2 Scroll down to the Stock Movements section on the detail page

Each movement entry shows:

  • Date when the movement was recorded
  • Type indicating Stock In or Stock Out
  • Quantity showing the number of units added or removed (displayed as +30.00 or -1.00)
  • After showing the resulting stock level after the movement
  • Note providing context, such as an invoice number or a reason for the adjustment

Movements are listed in reverse chronological order, with the most recent at the top.

Adding a Stock Movement Manually

To record a stock change manually:

  1. 1 Open the item's detail page
  2. 2 Click + Add Stock Movement in the Stock Movements section
  3. 3 Select the Type as Stock In or Stock Out
  4. 4 Enter the Quantity
  5. 5 Optionally enter a Unit Cost and select the Currency
  6. 6 Optionally select a Vendor if this movement is related to a supplier delivery
  7. 7 Optionally add a Note to describe the reason for the movement
  8. 8 Save the movement
When receiving stock from a supplier, include the vendor and unit cost. This helps you track purchasing costs alongside your inventory.

Recording Your Initial Stock

When you first enable inventory tracking on an item, the stock level starts at zero. To set your actual starting quantity, add a Stock In movement:

  1. Open the item's detail page
  2. Click + Add Stock Movement
  3. Select Stock In as the type
  4. Enter your current quantity on hand
  5. Add a note like "Initial stock count" for reference
  6. Save the movement

Your item's stock level will now reflect the quantity you entered.

Editing a Stock Movement

If you need to correct a stock movement, click on the movement entry to open it. You can update the type, quantity, unit cost, vendor, and note. The stock level recalculates automatically based on your changes.

Automatic Stock Movements from Invoices

When you create an invoice containing an item with inventory tracking enabled, Officaid automatically creates a Stock Out movement. The note field records the invoice number (for example, "Invoice #INV-20260200007"), so you can trace exactly which sale caused the stock deduction.

See How Invoices Automatically Update Your Stock for more details on how this works.

Understanding the Stock Movement Fields

Here is what each field on the stock movement form means:

  • Type determines whether this movement adds (Stock In) or removes (Stock Out) inventory
  • Quantity is the number of units being added or removed
  • Unit Cost (optional) records the purchase cost per unit, useful for tracking how much you paid for stock
  • Currency is the currency for the unit cost
  • Vendor (optional) associates this movement with a specific supplier
  • Note (optional) provides a free-text description of why this movement occurred

Frequently Asked Questions

You can edit stock movements to correct errors. If you need to reverse a movement, create a new movement of the opposite type with the same quantity.

Officaid allows stock to go below zero to ensure invoices are not blocked. A negative stock level indicates you have sold more than your recorded inventory, which can happen if stock was received but not yet recorded.

Stock movements are recorded with the date they are created. If you need to note that stock was received on a specific date, include that information in the note field.

What's Next?

Now that you understand stock movements, explore these related guides: