Freelancers and consultants
Inventory software for freelancers who sell a few goods
If you only sell your time and skill, you do not need inventory, and SimpleERP never asks you to set it up. If you also sell kits, workbooks or prints, here is how to keep count of them.
In short
SimpleERP is inventory software for freelancers and consultants who sell a few physical goods. Most can skip stock entirely; a trainer with workshop kits or a designer selling prints counts them per location at weighted average cost.
Illustration of stock on hand by warehouse at average cost, with a low-stock row highlighted and a movement ledger.
An inventory day at Maya Lindqvist Studio
Nearly everything Maya Lindqvist Studio sells is design and training time, and that needs no inventory at all. The exception is her workshops: every participant gets a card-sorting kit and a printed UX workbook, and both are bought in batches from a printer in Auckland and sold on the workshop invoice.
The kits sit in two places, a locker at her co-working space and a carton at home. A Wellington company has just booked a workshop for 24 people, and before she confirms she wants to know how many kits are left in each place and what each one has cost her since the printer raised his price.
Do I need inventory at all as a freelancer?
Only if you sell something physical and want to know how much is left. A service has no quantity, so invoices for design, development or consulting never touch stock. Turning on stock for three or four products takes a few minutes and changes nothing else.
- Stock: kits, printed workbooks, posters, branded merchandise you resell.
- Not stock: a software subscription you pay for, which is an expense.
- Not stock: your laptop and camera, which belong in the fixed asset register.
How do I keep count of kits in two places?
Each place where you keep goods is a warehouse with its own quantity of each product. Move twenty kits from home to the co-working locker with a transfer, and both counts change together.
- Reorder level per product: the stock list shows what has fallen below it.
- Counts after a workshop with a reason, when a kit is damaged or given away.
- Opening stock entered once, with its cost, when you start.
| Product | Unit | Kept at | Reorder level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Card-sorting kit | Pcs | Co-working locker | 20 |
| Printed UX workbook | Pcs | Home studio | 30 |
| Sticky-note and marker pack | Packs | Co-working locker | 15 |
| Poster prints, A2 | Pcs | Home studio | 10 |
Illustration of stock on hand by warehouse at average cost, with a low-stock row highlighted and a movement ledger.
What does each kit cost me after the printer raised his price?
SimpleERP values stock at weighted average cost. Maya had 40 kits bought at $15 and buys 30 more at $18, so the 70 kits on hand cost $1,140 together, or about $16.29 each. That average is what leaves stock when a kit is sold.
- The average updates on every purchase bill, with no sums done by hand.
- Cost of goods sold posts on the invoice, so the workshop's margin is real.
- Stock valuation report as of today, by product and by location.
Can one workshop invoice carry the fee and the kits?
Yes. The workshop fee is a service line, and the kits are product lines with their own tax rate. Posting the invoice takes the kits out of the chosen location and leaves the fee untouched by stock.
- 24 kits leave the co-working locker the moment the Wellington invoice posts.
- An advance or deposit from the client applies to the whole invoice, fee and kits together, at handover.
- A returned kit goes back into stock through a credit note.
One system
What it connects to
A purchase bill from the printer adds kits at cost, the workshop invoice removes them and posts cost of goods sold, and the stock value sits in the balance sheet.
Freelancers and consultants
Tax invoices, advances and milestones, tax withheld by clients and expenses for one-person practices.
See howAccounting for freelancers
A ledger that keeps itself from your invoices and expenses, tax withheld by clients as a receivable, and a P&L your accountant can read.
See howPayroll for small consultancies
For the freelancer who has hired one to three people: salary structures, deductions, attendance on the phone and salaries posted to the books.
See howInventory
Stock on hand by warehouse at weighted average cost, with a movement ledger and a low-stock list.
See howInvoicing & tax
Tax invoices with VAT, GST or sales tax on every line, numbered by fiscal year and posted in one step.
See how
Honest limits
What SimpleERP does not do yet
- No batch, lot, serial or expiry tracking, and no barcode scanning
- Weighted average cost only; there is no FIFO
- No automatic reorder suggestions: the reorder level shows what is low, you decide what to buy
- No online store or shipping integration for selling merchandise
- Software licences you resell are billed as service lines; licence keys are not tracked
Getting started
Start with inventory
Sign up with your email
Name, email and a password. No card for the seven-day trial.
Tell us about the business
Pick your country and, if you are registered, type your tax number. Accounts, tax rates, units, roles and numbering are seeded for that country.
Add products and opening stock
Add each kit, workbook or print as a product with its unit and tax rate, and enter the opening quantity in each place you keep it.
Post a bill and an invoice
Stock rises on the purchase bill and falls on the invoice, at weighted average cost, with nothing to count by hand.
FAQ
Questions, answered
Can I use SimpleERP and never open inventory?
Yes. If you only sell services, add them as services and skip stock completely. Nothing in invoicing, payments or accounts depends on it.
Should my laptop be in inventory?
No. A laptop you work on is a fixed asset. Record it from the supplier's bill into the asset register, and SimpleERP depreciates it every month into the books.
I give a few kits away free at each workshop. How do I record that?
Post a stock adjustment from the location with a reason such as samples. The quantity drops, and the cost of those kits goes to an expense account instead of sitting in stock.
What tax rate goes on printed workbooks and kits?
Usually your standard rate, though some countries zero-rate printed books and workbooks. Set the rate on each product once. Rates differ by country and change, so confirm the rate for your goods with your accountant or tax authority before you rely on it.
Related
Keep reading
Freelancers and consultants
Tax invoices, advances and milestones, tax withheld by clients and expenses for one-person practices.
Read moreAccounting for freelancers
A ledger that keeps itself from your invoices and expenses, tax withheld by clients as a receivable, and a P&L your accountant can read.
Read morePayroll for small consultancies
For the freelancer who has hired one to three people: salary structures, deductions, attendance on the phone and salaries posted to the books.
Read more
See how inventory works in SimpleERP for freelancers and consultants
Seven days free. No card. Your first invoice in minutes.