Manual Inventory Adjustment

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When To Use a Manual Adjustment

Use a manual adjustment when:

• You know the exact correction to make right now.
• A damage event, scrap event, or loss event needs to leave inventory before period close.
• A picker reports a small discrepancy on one product and you have already counted it.
• A vendor swap or one-off relabeling moved units between SKUs and you need to true it up.

Use Cycle Counts instead when:

• You need to count more than a couple of products.
• The count requires approval before stock changes.
• A separate counter and approver should sign off.
• The change is part of a scheduled accuracy program.

Use Receive Inventory instead when stock is arriving from a vendor. Use Inventory Transfer instead when stock is moving between locations. Use a return workflow instead when stock is coming back from a customer.

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Decision Tree

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Steps

1. Open Inventory, then Adjustments.
2. Select the product.
3. Select the location.
4. Review the On Hand value Arcus shows.
5. Enter the Counted quantity (the physical quantity you saw).
6. Select an adjustment Reason. Reason is required and shows in the journal entry.
7. Add notes that explain what happened. Notes are searchable from the recent adjustments list.
8. Select Adjust Inventory.

Arcus calculates the difference and posts the adjustment. The on-hand balance refreshes immediately on the form.

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Reason Codes

The reason code is required for every adjustment. It drives the GL contra account and the audit trail. Common reasons:

• Cycle Count Correction. A counted-vs-system difference applied outside the cycle count workflow.
• Damaged Stock. Units removed because they cannot be sold.
• Shrinkage. Units lost to theft, misplacement, or process error.
• Scrap. Units intentionally destroyed.
• Found Stock. Units physically present but missing from the system.
• Vendor Issue. Adjustment to fix a receiving error that cannot be fixed by reopening the PO.

If none of the listed reasons fit, your admin can add new reasons in Settings. Use the closest match and put detail in the notes rather than picking the wrong reason.

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GL Impact

Every manual adjustment posts a balanced journal entry:

• A positive adjustment (found stock) debits Inventory and credits the contra account assigned to the reason.
• A negative adjustment (damage, shrinkage, scrap) credits Inventory and debits the contra account assigned to the reason.

The contra account depends on the reason. Shrinkage typically maps to a shrinkage expense account. Damage maps to an inventory writeoff or damaged-goods expense. Found stock maps to an inventory adjustment income or other-income account. Confirm the contra mapping in Settings > Accounting Automation if a reason posts to an unexpected account. The journal entry stamps the entity, the period, the product, the location, the reason, and the operator. It is reversible by posting an offsetting adjustment with the opposite sign; Arcus does not delete adjustment history.

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Negative-Stock Behavior

If a negative adjustment would drive the location’s on-hand below zero, Arcus shows a warning. Your entity’s inventory settings decide whether negative on-hand is allowed:

• Allow Negative Stock = on. The adjustment posts and the location goes negative. Use only when your process expects to true up later via receive.
• Allow Negative Stock = off. The adjustment is blocked. Receive the missing stock first or pick a different correction.

See Inventory Overview for the on-hand health view.

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Common Blocks

• Reason is required. Pick the closest match and add detail in notes.
• Counted equals on hand. Nothing to post. Cancel the form.
• Closed period. Adjustments inside a closed period are blocked. Pick the adjustment date inside an open period or have an admin reopen the period.
• Permission denied. Adjustments require the inventory.adjust permission. Contact your admin.

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