The Inventory Offset account is a liability account created by QuickBooks when you use the Enhanced Inventory Receiving (EIR) feature (available in QuickBooks Enterprise only).
This account functions as a clearing account between Item Receipts and Bills. Once Bill and Item Receipt are both entered, the amount for those transactions are cleared from the Offset account.
Sometimes this account shows a balance that appears to be too high or too low and needs to be reviewed.
To fix the problem, create a report to help reconcile the Inventory Offset account.
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- From the Reports menu, select Custom Reports and click Transaction Detail.
- Go to the Filters tab.
- From the Filter list, select Account and set it to Inventory Offset.
- Go to the Display tab and set the Date Range to All.
- Under columns, put a check mark on Item.
- From the Total By drop-down, select Vendor.
- From the Sort By drop-down, select Item.
- Click OK.
This report shows All Inventory Offset transactions and you can use it as a reconciliation report. Look for a Vendor that does not end in a zero balance. When you find one that does not have a zero balance, review the transactions for any items that display an odd number of times. This indicates that there is either no Item Receipt or no Bill for that item.
NOTE: Some users may be surprised at the existence of this account. Even if users enter items on a bill directly, it will still post transactions to the Inventory Offset account. You MUST do the extra step of an Item Receipt, then enter the bill against it to relieve the Inventory Offset account.
