---
title: "Stock Entries"
space: "ERPNext"
url: "https://www.prilk.com/docs/erpnext/stock-entries"
updated: "2026-05-15"
---

## Stock Entries

A Stock Entry records any movement of stock that isn't a sale or purchase — internal transfers, manufacturing, adjustments, opening balances.

### When you need a Stock Entry

| Purpose | Stock Entry Type |
|---|---|
| Move stock between your warehouses | **Material Transfer** |
| Convert raw materials into finished goods | **Manufacture** |
| Sample given to a customer | **Material Issue** (no value posted; or set rate to write off) |
| Stock damaged / written off | **Material Issue** |
| Stock found during physical count | **Material Receipt** |
| Initial stock when starting with ERPNext | **Material Receipt** with the Opening Stock account |

### Create a Stock Entry

**Stock Entry → New**:

| Field | What |
|---|---|
| **Stock Entry Type** | One of the above |
| **Source Warehouse** | Where stock is leaving (blank for Material Receipt) |
| **Target Warehouse** | Where stock is arriving (blank for Material Issue) |
| **Items** | Pick item, quantity. Rate auto-fills from valuation. |
| **Posting Date / Time** | When the movement actually happened |

### What happens on submit

- A **Stock Ledger Entry** posts: quantity and value change at the warehouse
- A **General Ledger Entry** posts: debit / credit the stock accounts in your books
- The Item's valuation may update (FIFO / Moving Average / Standard depending on Item setup)

### Valuation method

Each Item has a Valuation Method:
- **FIFO** — first-in, first-out. Each movement uses the cost of the oldest batch. Standard for most businesses.
- **Moving Average** — recalculates an average cost on each receipt. Simpler reporting, sometimes less accurate.
- **Standard** — uses a fixed cost set on the Item.

You don't typically pick this per-Stock-Entry; it's set on the Item once.

### Stock reconciliation vs Stock Entry

For physical inventory counts, the dedicated **Stock Reconciliation** tool is better than Material Receipt/Issue Stock Entries — see [Stock Count](/docs/erpnext/stock-count).

### Common situations

- **Found an extra 10 units in the warehouse** — Stock Reconciliation, set quantity to actual; or a Material Receipt of 10 units with reason "Stock Found"
- **5 units broken** — Material Issue of 5 units; the value is written off to a "Stock Adjustment" expense account
- **Move 50 units from Warehouse A to Warehouse B** — Material Transfer; both warehouses' Stock Ledger updates atomically
- **Manufactured 10 finished items using 10 of each of 3 raw materials** — Manufacture entry with raw materials as inputs and finished goods as output; if you use Work Orders, the Stock Entry is generated from the Work Order