Item Class

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Item classes define what type of inventory item you are setting up. These are selected on the General tab of the Maintain Inventory Items window. Item classes determine how an item's costing information is recorded. Once an item class is established (saved) for an inventory item, it cannot be changed. For help selecting the right classes for your business, Help me select the right classes for my business.

You can select from the following classes of inventory items:

Non-stock:Use this class for items, such as service contracts and office supplies, that you buy or sell but do not put into your inventory. Quantities, descriptions, and unit prices are printed on invoices and purchase orders, but quantities on hand are not tracked. You can assign a cost of goods General Ledger account to non-stock items, but it is not affected by a costing method.

Stock: Use this item class for traditional inventory items that are tracked for quantities, average costs, vendors, low stock points, and so on. Once an item is assigned this class, it cannot be changed.

Master Stock Item: Use this item class when you want to set up a group of related stock items that have similar characteristics or attributes. A master stock item is a special item that does not represent inventory you stock but rather contains information (item attributes ) shared with a number of substock items generated from it. Tell me more about setting up master and substock items. (Sage 50 Premium Accounting and higher)

Substock Item: This item class represents the substock items generated from a master stock item. You can only display a substock item and its characteristics in the Maintain Inventory Items window; you cannot directly set up a substock item. Similarly, you cannot delete a substock item in Maintain Inventory Items. The only way to delete a substock item is by deleting the master stock attributes from which the substock item is created. Tell me more about setting up master and substock items. (Sage 50 Premium Accounting and higher)

Serialized Stock Item: Use this class for stock items that will have a serial number associated with them. Serial numbers are typically used for expensive items, items that are under warranty, and items that by law require you to record serial numbers. Serialized items cannot be included as part of an assembly or serialized assembly. (Sage 50 Premium Accounting and higher)In addition, serialized inventory items cannot be used to create Item Multi-Packs. (Sage 50 Quantum Accounting)

Description only: Use this item class when nothing is tracked except the description. For example, "comments" that can be added to sales or purchase transactions are description-only items.

Assembly: Use this class for items that consist of components that can be built or dismantled. For each assembly item, select the Bill of Materials tab, and define the components of the assembly before you click the Save button on the Maintain Inventory Items window. Once a transaction uses an assembly, it cannot be changed. You can make revisions to it, though. Tell me more about revisions.

Serialized Assembly Item: Use this class for assembly items that will have a serial number associated with them. Serial numbers are typically used for expensive items, items that are under warranty, and items that by law require you to record serial numbers. (Sage 50 Premium Accounting and higher)In addition, serialized inventory items cannot be used to create Item Multi-Packs. (Sage 50 Quantum Accounting)

Service: Use this item class for services you perform and sell, such as monthly maintenance work. You can enter a cost for the service, which would include your employee's wage, overhead, materials, and such used in the course of performing the service.

Labor: Use this item class for labor that is part of an assembly item or for outside labor that you use for projects; you can enter a cost for the service. In the case of assembly items, this labor will become part of the cost of goods for the assembled item.

Activity: Use this item class for different types of work that are performed for a customer or job. These are very useful for professional businesses, such as law firms, that want to track employee time for a customer an job and then bill the customer. Activity items are used in Time & Billing and are recorded on employee or vendor time tickets. (Sage 50 Premium Accounting and higher)

Charge : Use this item class to identify items that are expenses recorded by an employee or vendor when various services are performed for a customer or job. Charge items are used in Time & Billing and are recorded on employee or vendor expense tickets. Use charge items when you plan on billing customers for reimbursable expenses, such as parking fees, mileage, and so on. (Sage 50 Premium Accounting and higher)

Related topics

Creative uses for inventory items

Item costing methods

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