Step-by-step guide
Items and services setup
Set up products, services, and cost metadata so margins and inventory reports remain reliable over time.
How to do this in CashyNest
Use the Items module as a single source of truth for pricing, tax behavior, and posting defaults before teams start transaction entry.
Create item/service master records
Menu path: Sidebar > Settings > Items
Route:/:organizationId/settings/items
- Create item name/SKU with clear category conventions.
- Set sales price, purchase cost, and tax treatment.
- Assign the correct revenue/expense ledger account for each item type; free plans can use the seeded accounts.
Expected result: Reusable, consistent line items are available across sales and expense forms.
Validate on sales documents
Menu path: Sidebar > Sales > Invoices
Route:/:organizationId/sales/invoices/new
- Create a test invoice using the new item.
- Verify line totals, tax amount, and customer receivable behavior.
- Confirm print view matches expected item details.
Expected result: Item settings behave correctly in customer billing.
Validate on purchase documents
Menu path: Sidebar > Expenses > Bills
Route:/:organizationId/expenses/bills/new
- Create a test bill using mapped purchase items.
- Validate tax and payable behavior in report outputs.
- Correct mapping before enabling broad team usage.
Expected result: Item behavior is consistent across both sales and purchase workflows.
Outcome to achieve
- Create an item catalog that supports clean invoicing, billing, and profitability analysis.
- Standardize units, SKUs, and price lists across teams.
- Keep tax and revenue recognition mapping consistent by item type.
Step-by-step setup
Design SKU and naming conventions
Use a durable SKU pattern that reflects category and sequence without encoding volatile information.
- Create category prefixes for products, services, and bundles.
- Store public name and internal short code separately.
- Avoid duplicates by enforcing SKU uniqueness.
Define commercial and accounting attributes
Set sale price, cost basis, tax behavior, and linked ledger mapping before first transaction.
- Map revenue and expense accounts per item class.
- Set default tax code and exemption rules; printed documents hide GST sections when the organization has no GST registration.
- Use seeded ledger accounts on free plans so item creation does not block estimate or invoice creation.
- Define reorder thresholds for stocked products.
Set lifecycle states and controls
Use active, inactive, and archived states to avoid accidental reuse of retired items.
- Deactivate items instead of deleting used records.
- Require review before changing price or account mapping.
- Track effective dates for price updates.
Validate with test documents
Create one sales and one purchase transaction for each item class to verify posting behavior.
- Check document line totals, tax totals, and account postings.
- Confirm margin reports show expected gross profit.
- Fix mapping issues before live use.
Best practices
- Use item classes to drive defaults instead of setting every field manually.
- Review top 20 items monthly for price, margin, and demand trends.
- Archive rarely used items to keep user selection lists clean.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Changing account mapping for active items without effective dates.
- Using free-text line items for recurring products.
- Mixing inventory and non-inventory items without clear labels.
- Showing zero GST as a tax rate on customer documents when the organization itself is not GST registered.
Reports to watch
- Item Profitability: track margin by product and service line.
- Inventory Valuation and Movement: detect slow-moving stock.
- Sales by Item: align pricing strategy to actual demand.