# Perform an inventory adjustment

Record an opening stock count or correct a discrepancy between physical and system quantities.

Source: https://support.toolingmetrics.com/en/inventory/guides/perform-inventory-adjustment/
Updated: 2026-10-29

**Prerequisites:** The Storage Device or Warehouse Access Point you're counting exists and is not locked by another in-progress operation.

**Required permission:** Inventory → Adjustments — User or above. Admins can validate any adjustment; Managers and Users only the adjustments they created.

Use an Inventory Adjustment both to load opening stock into a newly set-up location and to reconcile an already-stocked location against a physical count (shrinkage, miscounts, or found stock). Both situations go through the same screen.

## Create the adjustment

1. In the sidebar, click **Inventory → Inventory Adjustments** → **+ Create**.
1. Select the **Storage Type** — **Storage Device** for a single cabinet or **Warehouse Access Point** to count everything under one access point.
1. Select the **Storage Name** — the specific source. Storage Type and Storage Name cannot be changed after the adjustment is created.
1. Click **Save as Draft**.

## Fill in the count

What happens next depends on whether the location already has recorded stock:

- **Opening stock (new location):** The Move Lines table starts empty. Click **⊕** to add a line for every item present, selecting the **Item**, the **Storage Location**, and the **Counted Quantity**.
- **Loss/found (existing location):** The table auto-populates one row per item-and-location combination currently on record, each showing a read-only **Expected Quantity** and a **Counted Quantity** pre-filled to match it (no change, by default). Edit the Counted Quantity on any row that doesn't match your physical count.

For each line, **Quantity to Adjust** is computed automatically as Counted minus Expected:

- Positive (found/increase) — **Unit Cost** is editable, defaulting to the item's current cost.
- Negative (lost/decrease) — Cost is disabled; the system uses the item's existing cost.
- Zero — the line has no effect and Cost stays disabled.

Note that the Expected Quantity shown while you're filling in the form is a snapshot taken when the form loaded — it is not re-checked live until you mark the adjustment as todo.

## Mark as todo and validate

1. Click **Mark as Todo** once counting is done. The system re-checks availability at this point: increases have no cap, but decreases are checked against what the system currently thinks is at that location.
1. If every line resolves, the adjustment moves to **Ready**. If any decrease exceeds current availability, it moves to **Waiting**. Correct the line, or wait until the location's recorded stock changes, then click **Check Availability**.
1. Review the **Move Lines** tab, correcting any line if needed.
1. Click **Validate**. On-hand quantities and cost update immediately and the adjustment is locked in permanently — it cannot be edited or deleted afterward.

## Notes

- An adjustment with no lines cannot be saved.
- Decreasing a line to exactly zero on-hand resets that item's cost to zero; the next receipt restarts its costing from scratch.
- An increase can silently move a Draft or Released item to Active; a decrease to exactly zero can silently move an item already flagged Will obsolete to Obsolete. Neither transition raises a warning — check the item's status if this matters to you.
- While an adjustment is Waiting or Ready, its source is locked: the Storage Device or Warehouse Access Point is not offered for new adjustments, and no other adjustment for that source, its Warehouse Access Point, or its Storage Devices can be moved to Waiting/Ready until the first one is validated or cancelled. Drafts are not locked, so two people can still start counts of the same source — coordinate counts before you start.