Beginning inventory problem

Typo, should have read "A shortage OR overage never existed"

Bob

It's not clear what you did, but I think you opened the Inventory Asset Register and double-clicked an entry. This doesn't open the register window - which is ALREADY open; it opens the transaction. A Beginning Inventory transaction **IS** an Inventory Adjustment transaction, the "Difference" column is your opening inventory, the difference between zero and your entry - which is why it's called "difference". You did not reduce your quantity by 10, you changed your beginning quantity from +12 to -10 - which is exactly what QuickBooks recorded. You should have changed your quantity from +12 to +2. Try again.

Cryptic my ass. The columns are self explanatory.

The register window opens up with a

No need to try again. As I indicated in my post, I discovered through trial and error that the "difference" is actually the beginning inventory. QB help did not explain that the difference is from zero instead of from where I was the previous time. Your answer tells me what the programmers were thinking. QB seems to assume no one will ever make a mistake and that inventory will never have to be adjusted, or else the programmers simply missed the mark when they designed the help files becausde this issue is not addressed (or hidden so well that the average person can't find it). It is not at all clear how to adjust inventory when an error is made. As to which window was open, who knows? I clicked on accounts > inventory and some sort of register appeared. This is probably as good as it gets.

Bob