Acctivate offers a couple of different ways to handle special items that are not tracked within the system. Both methods have their differences. Check out this article for more information.
Acctivate has two different ways to handle special items that are not normally tracked within the system. One is called "Non-Standard" lines (also known as an 'N' line) and the other is "Non-inventoried" lines. See the individual sections below for more information.
Non-Standard
Acctivate allows you to put “N” Non-standard Items on orders, quotes, service orders and purchase orders. These would be items that you do not stock in inventory and have no need to track in the system. There will be no record of Cost of Goods Sold or record of having the item in inventory – the Product ID will not be saved in Acctivate. The lines will still appear on sales reports however. Non-standard lines are perfect when you need to record a special fee or sell a special item that is not common enough to save in Acctivate and does not need COGS associated.
Non-Inventoried
If you often sell an item that you do not keep in inventory, the recommendation would be to use a Non-Inventoried product. Although with this method you will not create a receipt, it will track the cost associated with the sale of the product. You can use Standard costing on this non-inventoried product in order to track the cost to the sale, and update it each time you sell the product.
Non Inventory lines are perfect for tracking the purchase and usage of Office/Manufacturing equipment.
The difference in the accounting for Non-Inventory and Non-Standard products
Sale of product
Non-Inventoried: Taken care of by entry of the vendor invoice unless using the non-inventoried offset account in Warehouse Setup
Non-Standard: Taken care of by entry of vendor invoice
Purchase of Product
Purchase Invoice for Non-Inventoried Products: Debit: Cost of Goods Sold, Credit: Accounts Payable
Purchase Invoice for Non-Standard Products: Debit: Expense Account entered, Credit: Accounts Payable