Categories and units
Categories group your products (Drinks, Cement, Plumbing) so lists are easier to read and the till shows a button per category. A category can sit inside another one. A category can also fill in the VAT rate, income account and price of new products.
Units are what you sell in: piece, kg, bag, litre, hour, carton, bottle, shot. MannaBooks starts you with the common ones.
Setting them up
- Open Sales > Products and choose Categories and units.
- Add categories and, if you need them, sub-categories.
- Add any unit you are missing, for example Bag (bag).
- On each product, choose its category and unit.
Renaming a unit's short form updates every product that uses it. A unit or category in use can't be deleted; mark it inactive instead.
Category defaults
Open a category to set defaults for new products in it:
| Default | What it does |
|---|---|
| VAT rate | New products take this rate, for example Zero-rated for a category of exempt foods |
| Markup on cost | Suggests the selling price from the cost: a cost of 100 with a 40% markup is 140 |
| Income account | Where the sales of these products are recorded |
A sub-category without its own default uses its parent's, then the workspace's. A value you type on the product always wins. Changing a category's defaults does not change products already in it.
Units with conversions
Many shops buy in one unit and sell in another: cartons of 24 sodas sold one by one, 50 kg bags of sugar sold by the kg, bottles of spirit sold by the shot.
- Give the product its smallest unit, the one you count stock in (piece, kg, ml).
- Under Other units on the product, add each bigger unit and how many of the small unit it holds: Carton holds 24. Give it its own price if it isn't simply 24 times the piece price.
- On orders, bills, invoices and at the till, choose the unit under the quantity.
Stock is always kept in the product's own unit. Receiving 2 cartons adds 48 pieces at the carton cost divided by 24; selling 1 carton takes out 24 pieces. Documents show the unit when it isn't the product's own (2 ctn).
For a bar, keep spirits in ml, buy them by the bottle (holds 750) and sell by the shot (holds 25 or 30). A cocktail made when sold can then use ml in its recipe.
Sales and stock by category
Reports > Sales and stock by category shows, for each category, its sales in the period (before VAT, less credit notes), its share of all sales and the value of the stock you hold now.
The KRA eTIMS unit code is sent to KRA with each line once eTIMS is switched on. Check codes against KRA's code list.