Acctivate allows you to process a sales invoice that results in a negative quantity on hand. This often occurs because there's a rush to process the customer transactions (e.g., sales invoice) and the inventory receipt and vendor bill may be delayed.
The best way to handle this situation is to ensure that the Transaction Dates for the inventory transactions are adjusted to properly reflect the actual physical movement of goods, regardless of the data entry sequence.
Failing to backdate the inventory receipt may prompt the following message:
Recent Transactions
In most cases, this is simply a few days and we strongly recommend that you backdate the inventory receipt to cover the negative inventory situation.
Backdating the inventory receipt allows Acctivate to properly refresh subsequent inventory transaction such as Cost of Goods Sold from a Sales Invoice.
Click Yes to backdate the transaction to cover the negative inventory.
Older Transactions
Sometimes, the warning may suggest a really old date, possibly in a closed accounting period. This is usually a problem with an old transaction that was never resolved. Your asset account balance is understated because of this negative inventory. You'll see a message like the following.
You cannot adjust the Inventory Receipt transaction date because it would fall before the QuickBooks Closing Date.
You'll need to enter the Inventory Balance Adjustment with a date after the Closing Date, but before today's Inventory Receipt. If it's from a prior year, maybe January 1st of the current year.
Leave the Inventory Receipt open, then open a new Inventory Balance Adjustment window to correct the quantity on hand prior to this receipt (usually zero) for the product(s) before attempting to post the Receipt again.