Optimize Guide
Transfers, stocktakes, adjustments, waste and loss, expenses, income, and donations
How to keep books and inventory accurate in Ardent Seller
Use Transfers to move stock between locations, Stocktakes to reconcile physical counts and auto-generate adjustments for variances, Adjustments to correct one-off errors, Waste & Loss to record shrinkage, Expenses and Income to record non-sales transactions, and Donations to track charitable give-aways. Together these keep on-hand quantities, COGS, and Schedule C totals reconcilable to reality.
Transfers
Navigate to Optimize → Transfers to move inventory between locations.
How Transfers Work
A transfer moves inventory from one location to another. When you create a transfer, you choose the counterpart location (where the stock is going or coming from), then add the items and quantities to move. The system creates paired "send" and "receive" records — one at each location.
Fields
Type
Send (stock leaving the selected location) or Receive (stock arriving). The system records the matching half at the other location.
Destination / Source
The counterpart location — the destination for a send, the source for a receive. Your currently selected location is the other side.
Date
The date of the transfer.
Items
One or more inventory items with quantities and units to transfer.
Shipping
Optional shipping cost for the transfer.
Notes
Optional notes about this transfer.
Transfers update inventory quantities at both locations when saved — the send deducts from the source and the receive adds at the destination. The easiest way to create one is the Inventory Transfer guided workflow — see Guided Workflows for the full list of wizards, and How Stock Moves for exactly how each transaction type changes your quantities.
Stocktakes
Navigate to Optimize → Stocktakes to reconcile physical inventory counts.
What is a Stocktake?
A stocktake is a physical inventory count that you compare against the system's recorded quantities. Any differences (variances) are recorded as adjustments to bring the system in line with reality.
How to Perform a Stocktake
- Create a new stocktake transaction or use the Guided Stocktake workflow
- Add inventory items and enter the physical count for each item
- The system shows the variance (physical count minus system quantity)
- Positive variances are shown in green (more stock than expected), negative in red (less stock)
- Complete the stocktake to apply the adjustments to inventory
The Guided Stocktake workflow provides a streamlined experience: it lets you filter by category or bin location, mark items as matching, and automatically generates the adjustment transaction. See Guided Workflows for all the wizards, and How Stock Moves for how stocktake adjustments affect quantities and cost.
Adjustments
Navigate to Optimize → Adjustments to record inventory corrections.
Categories
- Initial — use when setting up your starting inventory for the first time. This establishes your baseline quantities without implying a purchase.
- Adjustment — use for general corrections: damaged goods, shrinkage, corrections to miscounts, or any quantity change that isn't a purchase, sale, or transfer.
Fields
Each adjustment records the inventory item, the quantity change (positive to add, negative to remove), the unit, and optional notes explaining the reason. Adjustments apply to inventory quantities as soon as they are saved — there is no separate status step.
All adjustments are logged to the audit trail with full before/after values for accountability.
Waste & Loss
Navigate to Optimize → Waste & Loss to track inventory lost to waste, spoilage, or other losses.
Waste & loss transactions record inventory that left your business without being sold — spoiled ingredients, damaged goods, theft, or expired stock. Each entry has a loss type (Waste or Loss) and deducts the recorded quantities from inventory, keeping your shrinkage separate from ordinary adjustments.
The Waste & Loss Rate dashboard widget tracks your shrinkage (waste, loss, and donations) as a percentage of purchases so you can spot problems early.
Expenses
Navigate to Optimize → Expenses to track business costs.
Fields
Transaction Number
Reference number for this expense (receipt number, check number, etc.).
Entity
The vendor or payee for this expense.
Status
Transaction status (Initiated, In Progress, Completed, Canceled, or Returned). Only completed expenses count in reports.
Date
When the expense was incurred.
Tax Category
IRS Schedule C expense category (e.g., "Office Expenses", "Advertising", "Repairs"). Assigns the expense to the correct line on your Schedule C report.
Items
One or more line items with descriptions and amounts.
Payment Methods
How this expense was paid. Fees are auto-calculated from method configuration.
Tax / Shipping / Fees
Additional cost components beyond the item amounts.
Expenses are non-inventory costs like rent, utilities, subscriptions, or advertising. Assigning a Tax Category ensures they are correctly categorized on the Schedule C report. Expenses appear in the Expense Breakdown dashboard widget and in financial reports.
Import Receipt (AI Capture)
Instead of typing a receipt in by hand, click Import receipt on the Expenses page to photograph or upload a receipt — AI extracts the payee, date, and line items into a draft expense for your review. Pending drafts live under Optimize → Document Imports. See the AI Invoice & Receipt Import guide for details and credit costs.
Income
Navigate to Optimize → Income to record non-sales revenue.
Income transactions capture revenue that doesn't come from selling inventory — things like interest income, refunds received, grants, or other miscellaneous revenue. They share the same fields as expenses (date, amount, status, tax category, payment methods) and appear in your Income Statement and Profit & Loss reports.
Charities & Donations
Navigate to Optimize → Charities to manage donation recipients.
Charities are organizations or individuals who receive donations from your business. They use the same entity fields as vendors and customers: Name, State, Contact information, Address, Email, Phone, and Website.
Record the give-aways themselves under Optimize → Donations — each donation links a charity and deducts the donated items from inventory. The Donations report tracks all charitable contributions for tax deduction documentation.
Common Transaction Features
All transaction lists in the Optimize section share these features:
- Search & filter — filter by entity, date range, status, or category
- Column visibility — toggle columns on/off (saved to your browser)
- Sorting — click column headers to sort ascending or descending
- Bulk actions — select multiple transactions to change status or delete
- Duplicate — create a copy of any transaction as a starting point
- Audit trail — view the full change history for any transaction
- Export — export transaction data to CSV