Reading and interpreting the Stock Ledger report

What the Stock Ledger shows

The Stock Ledger is a running journal of every movement of a product. Each row represents one transaction that changed the quantity on hand. Unlike a simple stock snapshot, the ledger shows why and when the quantity changed.

Key columns explained

Date: The day the transaction occurred (receipt, sale, transfer, or adjustment).

Transaction Type: What caused the change—Purchase Receipt (goods came in), Sales (goods went out), Transfer (moved between warehouses), Adjustment (manual correction), or Return (customer return or supplier return).

Quantity: The number of units affected by this transaction. Receipts and returns add to stock; sales and transfers remove from stock.

Unit Cost: The purchase or standard cost per unit (used to value inventory on your balance sheet).

Running Balance: The quantity on hand after this transaction. This is critical: if the balance jumps unexpectedly or goes negative before recovering, you've spotted a potential issue.

How to read the flow

Imagine you start with 100 units of Paracetamol. The first line shows:

• Date: Jan 1 | Type: Purchase Receipt | Qty: +100 | Running Balance: 100

When you sell 30 units:

• Date: Jan 5 | Type: Sales | Qty: −30 | Running Balance: 70

When you receive 50 more:

• Date: Jan 10 | Type: Purchase Receipt | Qty: +50 | Running Balance: 120

Why it matters

Inventory accuracy: The ledger proves that your recorded balance matches the sum of all transactions. If your physical count differs, the ledger shows where the discrepancy likely occurred.

Cost tracking: By tracking unit cost per transaction, you can see if you've been paying different prices from different suppliers—useful for negotiations.

Audit trail: Every transaction is timestamped and linked to the document that created it. This transparency is essential for compliance and dispute resolution.

Common patterns to watch for

• Negative balance: If the running balance goes below zero at any point, an item was sold or transferred before it was received. This usually signals a data entry error or a receipt that was never recorded.
• Sudden jumps: A large change without an obvious transaction might be an unrecorded adjustment or a data correction.
• Frequent small adjustments: If you see many manual adjustments, it may indicate a counting or data-entry problem in your sales or receiving process.

Where to use it

Go to Reports → Inventory → Stock Ledger Open in Usystems to generate the report for any item and date range.