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Our VAR, a large, well established and very reputable Acumatica VAR, is telling me that Acumatica has all but shut off VARs from technical assistance. They indicated that as Acumatica has grown they have experienced diminishing support to VARs and essentially can not get direct questions on Acumatica functionality answered by Acumatica now. They are very frustrated since Acumatica previously was one of the best in their view.
Has anyone else experienced this situation?
Can you share any more information about how they are shutting off VARs from technical assistance? This has not been our experience at all, but maybe I am not understanding specifically the context in which this was presented to you through your VAR.
Thanks,
Happy to share. I don't want to name the VAR since I am the one asking the question, not them.
The specific issue relates to the other recent post/question of mine. Our VAR is trying to figure out if Acumatica can handle stock inventory with a negative or credit value. I asked if they could simply ask Acumatica if any clients have this use case, to quickly determine if trying to figure it out was "a fools errand". (perhaps Acumatica does not allow credit balances in inventory as a built in control since it is unusual). Our VAR has been working for about 10 days to see if they can make Acumatica work, but it seems like Acumatica could tell them in 30 seconds if it is even possible.
The VAR told me that they can no longer get answers to questions like this from Acumatica. As mention in my original post, they informed me that Acumatica in the past would assist VARs in these types of questions, but no longer as Acumatica's customer base has grown significantly.
@edolan I see, I think the context i was looking for was "questions like this". Although I have to say in my experience, Acumatica will promptly answer with the information provided by Mr. Johan in most cases. I have been directed to the Acumatica help, Knowledge Base, Known Issues, and occasionally the Community Forums.
I am glad there was an answer to your question so promptly!
I jumped in immediately because it would be quite discouraging if Acumatica was to start shutting off VARs from technical assistance.
I am concerned as well about the lack of support from Acumatica. Our VAR was clear that Acumatica's level of support was diminished and that they could not get an answer from Acumatica concerning adding positive quality inventory transactions with a negative(credit) dollar values.
I think a response from Acumatica in the vein of "Yes, Acumatica can do that, please see "XX" resources for the details" would be perfectly acceptable.
Hi Ed - here is the answer - it is available in the Help file in Acumatica.
- Item Class Setting: Negative inventory can be permitted at the item class level for specific items.
- Warehousing: You can allow negative inventory in a specific location or warehouse while ensuring the total company stock remains positive.
- Costing: If an item is over-issued, Acumatica uses the last historical cost. Once the receipt is processed, the system reconciles the cost difference.
- Process Requirements: To use this for Lot/Serial items, you must set the assignment method to "When Used" and configure order types to allow negative shipments.
- Risks: If "Allow Negative Quantity" is unchecked, the system will prevent the release of transactions that would result in negative stock.
Acumatica Community +3
Acumatica primarily allows negative inventory for stock items when the "Allow Negative Quantity" option is enabled in Item Classes. For non-stock items, which are generally not tracked by quantity in inventory, the concept of negative inventory does not apply; they are typically treated as having zero quantity, allowing them to be invoiced regardless of availability
Johan,
Thanks for the rely and I hope you are well.
The particular issue/question in this case is we'll have positive inventory quantities, but the value ($) will have a credit balance.
We are being paid to take in material to be recycled. ( Debit: Cash/AR; Credit: Inventory)
Hi Ed - the principle is embedded in standard functionality - all about how you configure the system. The key question is - What are the business processes and transaction flows, end-to-end?
One will need to have a bit of a discussion to understand and figure out how to account for this within your current business process, but in summary, with proper standard configuration, this is possible. During the discussion, it will become apparent if there are unforeseen quirks. Catering to said quirks will be a small no-code customization, if any.
Acumatica can have positive units in stock but a negative inventory value, a situation that typically arises from timing discrepancies in inventory transactions, such as shipping an item before receiving it, or from specific cost adjustment processes. While "negative inventory" often implies a negative quantity, it can also manifest as a negative value (valuation) while the physical quantity remains positive
@jjbotes Thank you for the feedback. I will discuss with our current VAR tomorrow. I realize that it is unusual for a company to have a constant positive inventory quantity but also a constant negative $ value for that inventory.
The question is "when" in the business process does the negative inventory value change again to a positive?"
It makes no sense to always have a negative inventory value for reporting purposes - I suggest you change your business process to provide the correct "substance over form," financial, real-time, accurate numbers and control you desire.
By having negative stock values, you can effectively manipulate the Income Statement Profit and Tax liability. US GAAP does not allow that.