How to Use Physical Inventory Worksheet in QuickBooks Desktop & POS?

Physical inventory is a method of connecting or verifying the on-hand item quantities in the inventory by performing a physical count. The process is recommended if you are entering the inventory for the first time. To make the procedure easier, you can use a Physical Inventory Worksheet in QuickBooks. In addition, QuickBooks allows you to use QuickBooks-approved Physical Inventory Scanner. This will help you to count the inventory stock accurately. Continue reading this guide to get into more details.

In this detailed guide, you will learn to use the QuickBooks physical inventory scanner and physical inventory worksheet in QuickBooks Point of Sale and Desktop for Mac.

How to Enter Physical Inventory in QuickBooks?

Although QuickBooks counts the inventory stock smartly, it is suggested to perform the physical inventory throughout the year rather than depending on the QuickBooks inventory count. The advantage of counting the inventory physically helps you to be aware of the actual availability of items for sales. When the company is willing to perform the physical inventory, you can use the QuickBooks physical inventory worksheet. This will help you to keep track of your inventory count.

There are users who perform physical inventory on QuickBooks Point of Sale or QuickBooks Desktop for Mac. Here, we will show you the complete procedure for both versions. This will also help you to use QuickBooks physical inventory scanner along with the physical inventory worksheet in QuickBooks.

How to Use QuickBooks Physical Inventory Worksheet on Mac?

If you use QuickBooks for Mac and want to perform the physical inventory using the worksheet, we will guide you with the important steps one has to perform. Along with this, we will show you to adjust the inventory value or quantity and quantity on hand. First, let’s just understand how you should use the physical inventory worksheet in QuickBooks.

• Launch QuickBooks for Mac” on your computer.
• Click on the “Reports” menu.
• Then, select the “Inventory” option.
• Click on the “Physical Inventory Worksheet” option.
• Choose the “Customize” option to view the “Format” tab.
• Now, you can modify the width of the columns and the whole appearance of your worksheet.
• Once done, use the “Command + P” keys on your keyboard to take a print.

As you check the stock, you can enter the quantity for each of your items in the column of the physical inventory worksheet.

Adjust the Inventory Value or Quantity

QuickBooks adjust the inventory quantities automatically after each purchase and sale. However, if required you can adjust the inventory value or quantity yourself. To do so, you can perform the following steps:

• Click on the “Vendors” menu.
• Then, click on the “Inventory Activities” option.
• After this, click on the “Adjust Quantity/Value on Hand” option.
• Now, move to the “Adjustment Account” field and enter the name of your expense account where the inventory loss and shortages are tracked. Please note that if you want to assign the expense to one more account then you can add a separate adjustment for each account. To continue with the additional adjustments, you can select the “Next” button.
• At this point, you can enter your new quantity of every inventory item. You can even add the new quantity by adding the difference in the column of “QTY Difference ”. To add the difference (that decreases the quantity), you can enter the minus sign before digits, e.g., -20.
• If required, you can edit the inventory value after adjusting its quantity. Then, QuickBooks will automatically recalculate the value depending on the average cost. Please note that when you edit the value, you modify the average costs of your items in stock. To update the value, you can click the checkmark for the “Value Adjustment” checkbox. Then, go to the “New Value” column, add the value for every inventory item you want to change the value of.

Quantity on Hand

On-hand quantity is basically the number of items you are having in your stock. QuickBooks keeps track of this number automatically for all your invoice items on the Item list. The following fields will help you to understand what you should enter in these columns:

• Adjustment Account: This is the account where you keep track of adjustments to inventory. Also, this account is the expense account for losses and shortages. If you have no idea that the account has inventory, you can use the income account. Make sure you enter the account name to record your adjustment.
• Class: This option can be used when you wish to assign to the adjustment transaction. But, remember, you will see this field only if you have chosen the “Use Class Tracking” feature in the “Transaction Preferences” window.
• Current QTY: It will tell you the current quantity on your hand for every inventory item. You will not be able to enter the details in the column.
• Current Value: This shows the current value of inventory items. You won’t be able to add any details in this column. This column displays only when you choose the “Value Adjustment” option.
• Customer Job: You can use this field when you are selling the inventory item to the customer. However, you should not include this item on the invoice.
• Date: This field shows the adjustment transaction date. QuickBooks enters today’s date automatically into the field.
• Description: It shows the sales description for your inventory item. You won’t be able to add any details in this column.
• Item: This field shows the item codes for your inventory items. Remember that you will not be able to add any information in this field.
• New QTY: This can be used for new inventory quantities. As you add the number, QuickBooks shows the quantity difference automatically in the “QTY Difference” field. You can add the quantity difference in the place of the total quantity.
• New Value: This column is for the inventory. As you enter the new value, it modifies the average cost of your items in stock. Please note that this column only displays when you choose the “Value Adjustment” checkbox.
• Qty Difference: In this column, you will see the quantity differences. To add the difference (that decreases the quantity), make sure you type the minus sign before the digits. Also, add the total quantity in the place of quantity difference.
• Total Value of Adjustment: Here, you will find the value of the inventory adjustment. If you want to calculate the value, QuickBooks will help you. It automatically multiplies the cost of your item by using the quantity difference.
• Value Adjustment: If you wish to modify the value of inventory after adjusting the quantity, choose this checkbox.

How to Use QuickBooks Point of Sale Physical Inventory Scanner?

Physical Inventory can also be performed in QuickBooks Points of Sale. For this, you can use the worksheet as well as the QuickBooks approved physical inventory scanner. In the following discussion, we will show the ways to perform the physical inventory in QuickBooks POS.

• Go to the “Inventory” menu.
• Then, click on the “Start Physical Inventory” option.

Note: If you use a multi-store edition, you will get options to select which store you want to enter the counts.

• After this, you can count the quantity of items on hand. For that, you can use any or both the following methods:
  • QuickBooks Physical Inventory Worksheet: You can print a worksheet and take it along with you to record the counts physically. For this, you can do the following:
    • Click on the “I want to..” drop-down menu.
    • Then, click the “Run a Report”.
    • After this, select the “PI Worksheet” option.
    • Here, you can edit the report as per the requirement to display and group the items in an organized manner.
  • QuickBooks Approved Physical Inventory Scanner: This is another way to count the items physically. All you have to do is go through the store, scan item barcodes and enter the counts.

Note: Since the QuickBooks POS physical inventory scanner is portable so you can move around freely and scan hundreds of items in just one session.

• Once done, you can transfer the counts to your QuickBooks Desktop Point of Sale. This can be done in three ways:
  • Add Count by Hand: This is the manual and fast way to enter counts. All you just have to do is add the item identifier, count, and press the “Enter” key after every entry. QB POS consolidates several entries and transfers the count to the QuickBooks Physical Inventory screen.
  • Enter Counts in the Counted Column: This method is convenient when you have items in a group or a small number of items. However, it may consume more time especially if the same items are occurring in the store. To keep it organized and count faster, you can use the filter and sort the list.
  • Upload the Counts from the Portable Scanner: To perform this method, you need to perform the following steps:
    • To get started, place the QuickBooks POS physical inventory scanner into the cradle. Also, make sure that the adapter is plugged into the correct USB port on the workstation. After that, you can power on the scanner.
    • If the “Physical Inventory” window does not open, you can press the “Start Physical Inventory from Inventory” option.
    • Then, click on the “Add Counts from Scanner” from the “I Want To..” drop-down menu.
    • After this, follow the instructions given on your screen. This will upload the scans from your scanner unit.
    • When the process is completed, you get prompts to clear your scanner memory. You can either do this or wait until you finish reviewing and storing the scans. However, you should clear the scanner so that you don’t upload the same scans again in the next batch.
    • As you close the upload window, you will see the scans in review on the “Get Scans” screen. Please note the scans will only be added to the “Physical Inventory” screen until you press the “Save” button located at the bottom of the window.
• After performing these steps, you can review the total summary and counts shown on your screen. If it is applicable, click on the “Set all items not counted to zero” option. When you update the inventory, these settings make sure that the inventory items were zeroed out (for which physical count was not entered).
• Press the “Apply Changes to Inventory” option to update the inventory on-hand quantities along with counted quantities.

By implementing these steps, you can easily perform the physical inventory in QuickBooks Desktop Point of Sale.

Final Words!

There are numerous ways to count the inventory items manually. Be it QuickBooks for Mac or QuickBooks Point of Sale, if you want to perform the physical inventory, you can do this either by using the physical inventory worksheet or physical inventory scanner. In this guide, we have explained both ways with detailed instructions. We hope you have understood how to perform the physical inventory in QuickBooks.

Do you want to explore more about QuickBooks? Check out the following guides to search for a company ID and pay bills:

• How to Find Company ID QuickBooks Online?
• How to Pay Bills in QuickBooks Online?