Stock Journal — why the count is what it is
Every movement in and out with its reason: purchases, sales, returns, damage, theft, transfers and opening stock.
5 min readUpdated 14 Sep 2026
In this guide
Where it is
Stock Journal under Books & Tax in your sidebar. It has two views: By Product (everything that has had a movement, with its current count) and All Movements (the full list — when, which product, the reason, how many, and what it came from). This is different from the stock count you set on a product — for that, see Stock & inventory.
The journal is a record, not the count itself. The number your website sells from is the stock count on the product — that is the one the By Product view shows. Purchases and returns move both at once; an entry you add here is written into the journal for the record, and you change the count itself on the product.
What writes into it on its own
These write themselves as you work — you never type them:
| Movement | When it happens |
|---|---|
| Purchase received | You record a supplier bill with items linked to your catalogue and add it to stock |
| Customer return | A return or RTO you processed and put back into stock |
| Returned to vendor | You sent goods back to a supplier |
| Opening stock | You accept the one-tap prompt that turns the counts you already had into opening entries |
Sales are not written into the journal today.An order takes the item off the product's stock count straight away — that part is exact — but it leaves no line here, so read the journal as the record of goods coming in, going back and being written off, not as a sales ledger. Your sales live on Orders and in Profit & Loss.
What you record yourself
These are the movements no system can know about. Recording them is what keeps the count honest and explains itself later.
Press + Record Adjustment
Top right of the Stock Journal page — or Adjust on any row of the By Product list, which shows everything that has had a movement, newest first.
Pick the product, In or Out, and the reason
Enter how many, choose whether it came In or went Out, pick the reason — Adjustment, Opening stock, Damage, Theft / loss, Internal consumption or Manual — and write a short note. The reason is what you read back on All Movements; the note stays with the entry.
Then set the count on the product
The entry is the record of what happened. The count your website sells from lives on the product, so change it there as well (Stock & inventory) — the journal is what explains that change to anyone who asks six months later.
When the shelf and the screen disagree
Work backwards through the journal. In practice it is nearly always one of four things:
| What you see | Usually means |
|---|---|
| Screen higher than the shelf | A counter or WhatsApp sale that was never recorded as an order — or an order you marked Cancelled after the goods had already gone out (cancelling puts the stock back; you can switch that off in Settings → Advanced → Inventory) |
| Screen lower than the shelf | Goods that arrived but were never added to stock — the supplier bill not entered, or entered with Add these items to my stock unticked and never added later |
| A jump with no movement behind it | Someone edited the count on the product directly without recording why |
| Steady drift on one product | Breakage or shop use nobody has been recording — start recording it |
Keeping it useful
Do this
- Record damage and loss the day it happens, with a note
- Use Opening stock when you start tracking something, not Adjustment
- Record counter sales as orders so the count comes down with the sale, not by itself
- Read the journal before correcting a count — the cause is worth more than the fix
Not this
- Editing the count on the product to “fix” a difference you have not explained
- Using Adjustment for everything — the reasons are what make the page readable
- Recording theft as damage to keep the numbers tidy
- Leaving a month of breakage to record in one go
Example · Anil, a sweet shop in Jaipur
His barfi count ran about four trays short every week and he assumed miscounting. The journal held nothing but his supplier deliveries — nobody had been recording the trays given as tasting samples at the counter. He started recording them as internal consumption; the drift had a name at last, and he found he was giving away about ₹3,000 of barfi a month, which was a business decision rather than a mystery.
Related
| You want to… | Read |
|---|---|
| Set and update stock counts | Stock & inventory |
| Record supplier bills that add stock | Purchases & vendor bills |
| Process returns so stock is handled right | Cancellations, returns & RTO |
| Download a valuation or reorder list | Reports & exports |
| See who changed what | Activity log |
Common questions
Do I have to use this page?
No. If you never have breakage, never move stock between outlets and never take anything for your own use, the journal fills itself from sales, purchases and returns and you can simply read it.
Is this the same as the CRM's stock module?
No. This journal is your website's products — the things you sell. The CRM has its own stock for parts and consumables used doing a job. Keep them apart; see Case files, staff & stock.
Can the count go below zero?
Your website will not sell past it: an order is refused the moment the product's count cannot cover it, so customers never buy stock you do not have. The journal itself takes whatever you record — that is the point of a record — so if the movements add up to less than zero, treat it as the signal that something coming in was never entered.
Can staff record movements?
Anyone with product access can, and the entry is saved with their name behind it. If you would rather only you did it, give staff order access without product access — see Add team members. To see who changed a stock count and when, the Activity log is the page that names people.
Does the journal affect my profit figures?
Indirectly: it keeps your stock true, and your stock value feeds the cost side of Profit & Loss. Damage and loss are real costs — recording them makes your margin honest rather than flattering.
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