Understand assembled product costs

An assembled product's cost has two parts: the cost of the stock its components consume and any additional costs you add by hand. While the product is not complete, the component cost is an estimate calculated as if you completed it today.

At completion, the component cost is fixed at what the components cost on the completion date. The assembly page, finished unit and inventory valuation all use that figure.

Find the cost

1. Open Catalog in the top navigation bar.
2. Open Assembly.
3. Select All Assembled Products.
4. Open the assembled product.
5. Read the summary panel to the left of the component list for the number of components and the cost.
6. Look at the Cost column in the component list to see each component's contribution.

While the product is not complete, the figure is labelled Est. Cost and has a ~ in front of it. Once complete, it is labelled Total Cost, with no ~.

If the product has additional costs, the panel shows three lines instead of one: Components, Additional with a + in front of it, and Est. Cost or Total Cost.

How component costs are calculated

At completion, each component is costed on the quantity taken out of stock. This is its assigned quantity, which must equal the quantity required by completion.

The cost uses your organisation's Inventory Method, set in Settings, then Organization, in the Main Settings section. The options are FIFO (First In, First Out), LIFO (Last In, First Out) and Average Cost.

A component is costed as your inventory valuation values its stock on that date. This includes quantities delivered against a purchase order at the purchase order's unit cost, including any landed cost per unit; initial stock entries at their given unit cost; and the output of an earlier assembly at that assembly's cost. Units put back by an adjustment or by found inventory use the cost the valuation gives them, not zero.

A component that is itself an assembled product is costed at its own assembly cost, so the cost of one assembly carries through into the next.

When the cost changes

While the product is not complete, the estimate moves with your stock. A new delivery or stock-out of a component changes it, and a component has an estimate even before any stock is assigned to it.

Once the product is complete, its cost no longer moves with later component activity. Purchases, sales and other component movements dated after the completion date do not change it, so the assembly page keeps the figure used to value the finished unit.

Only a component movement dated on or before the completion date can still change the cost, both on the assembly page and in your inventory valuation. For example, a delivery recorded later but backdated to before completion can change it.

Add additional costs

Additional costs are amounts you add for anything that is not stock, such as labour, overhead or shipping. They are entered for the whole assembled product, not per unit.

The Additional Costs button is shown only while the product is in progress and only to people with the Manage Assembling Project permission. It is not shown on a draft, completed or cancelled product, or to anyone without that permission. The cost breakdown remains visible in the summary panel at every status.

1. Open Catalog, then Assembly.
2. Open the assembled product.
3. Select Additional Costs in the summary panel on the left, below the cost figures. It is under the Edit button, not above the component list.
4. Select Add Cost in the Additional Costs window to open the form.
5. Choose a Cost Type: Labor, Overhead, Shipping or Other.
6. Enter a Description if you want one. If you leave it blank, the cost is listed under its cost type.
7. Enter the Amount in your organisation's currency. It must be greater than zero.
8. Select Add Cost to save it.

The cost appears under Current Costs, with a Total Additional Costs line beneath it.

The undo is also refused if any component product has since been deleted, the year the product was completed in has been locked, or its project is Complete. Restore the deleted products, unlock the year or reopen the project before trying again.

Finished product valuation

If the assembled product is set to be added to inventory and has a finished product selected, completing it adds exactly one unit of that finished product to stock. Its unit cost is the total component cost plus the total additional costs. This carries costs such as labour and overhead into the value of the finished goods you hold.

Zero costs and dashes

A zero cost, or a mark in place of a cost, is almost always one of three things.

The component's product has Count/Show in inventory turned off. An amber warning triangle appears instead of an amount, and the cost is intentionally excluded from the total.

The component's stock never had a price attached to it.

The product has no components at all. This is the one case where the summary panel itself shows a dash. If it has components but nothing has been costed, the panel shows a formatted zero instead.

Costs also show as a dash for anyone without the View Inventory Value permission.