Delivery notes and stock
You will be able to: Say what submitting a delivery note does to stock and to the ledger, and what it does not do; Calculate cost of goods sold for a delivery; Explain how a later invoice avoids moving the stock twice.
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A delivery note records goods leaving your warehouse for a customer. It is the first step in the sales cycle that has accounting consequences, but only half of them. Submitting a delivery note takes the stock out and books its cost. It does not book the sale, the VAT or anything the customer owes. The invoice does that later.
Making a delivery note
- Open Sales, then Delivery Note and press + New Delivery Note.
- Set Create Against to Sales Order and pick the order in Source Doc, then press Pull Lines. Lower a Qty to deliver only part of the order.
- Fill in Driver Name if you use it.
- Press Submit. The stock goes out and the printout opens for the receiver to sign.
The printout shows quantities, not prices, with a place for the receiver to sign. Driver Name, Vehicle No, Gate Pass No and Received By are saved on the delivery note for your records.
What posting does
- Stock: every stock item line leaves its warehouse at the item's cost. Service and non-stock items move nothing.
- Accounts: that cost moves from Inventory to Cost of Goods Sold (COGS). Debit COGS, credit Inventory.
- Not booked: sales, VAT and the customer's balance. The Posting Trail will show a stock ledger line and two general ledger lines, and no VAT lines.
Why post cost at delivery?
Goods have physically left, so your stock records and your cost must fall now, even if the invoice is sent next week. Posting the cost on the delivery note keeps the stock and the profit figures in step with reality.
Invoicing a delivery
Open the submitted delivery note, then More and Convert, and choose Sales Invoice. Or start a new invoice, set Create Against to Delivery Note, pick the customer and tick one or more delivery notes. The invoice records the sale and VAT but does not move the stock again, because the delivery note already did. The Flow column of the delivery note shows Partially Invoiced or Invoiced.
Stock rules and mistakes
- If Negative Stock in Settings, Costing is Block and the warehouse does not allow negative stock, Zeyto refuses to deliver more than is on hand. With Warn or Ignore it posts anyway.
- Serial-tracked items need serial numbers, one per unit. Zeyto checks each number against the Serial / IMEI Register when you submit and marks it Sold to the customer.
- To undo a delivery made by mistake, open the submitted delivery note, then More and Cancel. The stock goes back and the cost is reversed. If an invoice was made from it, cancel the invoice first.
Try it in the demo
- Open https://demo.zeyto.app/demo-app/ and sign in (user admin, password demoAdmin123). This is a public demo with sample data, so nothing you do there affects a real business.
- Open Sales, then Delivery Note. Click a submitted delivery note and look at its lines and Flow.
- Open More, then Postings to see the Posting Trail. Find the stock ledger line (quantity out) and the general ledger lines (Cost of Goods Sold and Inventory). Confirm there is no VAT line.
- Compare the cost you see with the item's average cost in Inventory, then Items.
Public demo company, sign in as admin / demoAdmin123. Data refreshes nightly.
- A delivery note moves stock out and posts Dr Cost of Goods Sold, Cr Inventory at cost.
- It books no sale, no VAT and no customer balance; the invoice does.
- An invoice made from a delivery note does not move the stock a second time.
Check yourself
3 questions on this lesson. Not timed, not the exam, and you can try again. Score 60% or more, and read the lesson, to complete it.