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Use this guide to set up the items you buy and sell, price them in each currency you transact in, and keep them current. An item carries the default description, price, tax code, and GL accounts for a transaction line. For every field, account, and pricing rule, see Items: Reference. Create an item for anything you buy or sell repeatedly. For a one-off purchase, a bill expense line coded straight to a GL account is simpler.

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Prerequisites

  • You need a DualEntry role with permission to create and edit items. See User Roles and Permissions if you’re not sure which roles have it.
  • The Income, Expense, and Deferral accounts the item will post to must already exist in your chart of accounts.

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Create an item

Create an item from the Items list in Accounting Setup. After you save, the item is available on new transaction lines for every company that has access to it.
  1. Navigate to Configuration → Accounting Setup → Items and click New Item.
  2. Select a Type. The type decides which fields and accounts the form shows, so choose it first. Choose Service for work performed and Non Inventory for physical goods. For discounts, apply an order level discount on the invoice or sales order rather than creating a Discount item.
  3. Under Details, enter a Name and a unique SKU. Add a Description if you want it copied onto transaction lines, plus a Category and Default classifications if you report by them.
  4. If this item will be re-billed to customers from expense lines, turn on Use for Billable Expenses.
  5. Under Pricing, enter a List Price for each currency you sell the item in. See Set List Prices in more than one currency below.
  6. Under Tax Details, select the default Product Tax Code.
  7. Under Accounts, map an Income Account if you sell the item and an Expense Account if you buy it. Add a Deferral Account if you recognize revenue for it over time.
  8. Leave Status as Active and click Save.
The item now appears in the item list on new transactions. If you invoice in other languages, open the item and add Translations. See How to Invoice in Another Language.

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Set List Prices in more than one currency

Give an item one List Price per currency when you sell the same product at fixed prices in different currencies, such as 100USDand100 USD and 135 CAD. DualEntry fills the Rate on a new line from the List Price in that transaction’s currency and doesn’t convert between currencies.
  1. Open the item from Configuration → Accounting Setup → Items.
  2. Under Pricing, add a List Price for each currency you sell in, and enter the amount for each.
  3. To stop defaulting a price in a currency, remove that currency’s List Price.
  4. Click Save.
New invoices, sales orders, and other Money-In lines in those currencies now default to the matching List Price. A line in a currency with no List Price has a blank Rate for you to enter. If you use Revenue Recognition, the List Price also fills the SSP on contract obligations in the same currency. Set List Prices at your standalone selling price for each currency, or edit the SSP on the contract. See Configure Allocations and Standalone Selling Price.

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Limit an item to specific companies

Restrict an item when only some companies in your entity structure buy or sell it. By default, every company can use every item.
  1. Open the item and go to Company Access.
  2. Select the companies that can use the item in List View, or pick them from your entity hierarchy in Tree View.
  3. Click Save.
Companies without access can no longer add the item to new transactions. Transactions that already use it don’t change. If two subsidiaries need different GL accounts for the same product, create a separate item for each, since one item shares its accounts across every company.

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Edit or deactivate an item

Edit an item to change its defaults going forward, and deactivate it when you stop selling or buying it. Neither action changes transactions that already use the item. To edit an item, open it from the Items list, change the fields, and click Save. If your organization uses approval workflows for items, the change waits for approval. To move past activity to a new account after changing an account mapping, post a journal entry. To deactivate an item, set Status to Inactive and click Save. Deactivate rather than delete, so the item stays on past transactions and in reports. Set it back to Active at any time. To find an item, search, filter, or sort the Items list by Name, SKU, Type, Status, or Income, Expense, or Deferral Account.

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Troubleshooting

These are the most common problems when adding items to transactions, and how to fix each:
  • The item doesn’t appear on an invoice or sales order: check that the item is Active, that it has an Income Account, and that the transaction’s company has access to it.
  • The item doesn’t appear on a purchase order or bill: add an Expense Account. Money-Out records require one.
  • The Rate is blank on a new line: the item has no List Price in the transaction’s currency. Enter the Rate on the line, or add a List Price for that currency to the item.
  • Old transactions still post to the previous account: account mapping changes apply to new transactions only. Post a journal entry to reclassify past activity.
  • “SKU already exists” on save: SKUs are unique across your organization. Search the Items list by SKU with inactive items included.
  • Synced items post to the wrong accounts: items created by Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho Books, or Bill.com take their accounts from the integration settings. Check them before posting. See Integrations that create or update items.
Last modified on October 20, 2026