Move stock between warehouses with a stock transfer

Q: "Insufficient stock balance."

The From warehouse holds less than the quantity, counting the other lines of this transfer. Check Stock summary for that warehouse, or receive the goods first ( Negative stock: where Penahak checks it ).

Q: Can I move stock to a business unit instead of a warehouse?

Yes: choose the Project/Business Unit . The line then needs the unit it goes to ("You have to select a business project/business unit to which you are going to transfer item.").

A stock transfer takes goods out of one warehouse and brings them into another on the same day. It changes where the goods are, not what you own: no ledger entry is made. The rate on the line decides the value that comes into the receiving warehouse.

Accounting Stock movements
6 min read
Updated October 20, 2026

For Store keeper Owner or manager Accountant

On this page

What a transfer does
Make a transfer
The rate decides the value that arrives
After saving
Common questions

What a transfer does

Use a Stock Transfer when goods move from one warehouse to another inside the same branch: shop floor to back store, main store to the vehicle. It:

takes the quantity out of the From warehouse;
brings the same quantity in to the To warehouse of each line;
makes no entry in the ledgers: you own the same goods as before.

To send stock to another branch use the branch transfer types (Send stock to another branch).

Make a transfer

Open Stock Transfer and choose Add
Who
Store keeper
Where
Stock Transfer (menu Stock Management Entries › Transfer, usual label) > Add. With more than one series, choose the series first.
What changes
The form opens. The Transfer no shows NEW: the number is given when you save. No Add button means no numbering series (Set up stock: a checklist).
Choose the type and the date
What changes
Transfer type is Godown Transfer With In Branch (the name the list uses for a transfer between warehouses of one branch). Check the Date: it must be inside the active fiscal year.
Choose the From warehouse
What changes
The warehouse the goods leave. It is needed before you can add a line: "Please select a warehouse or business project/business unit to transfer stock."
Add a line for each product
What changes
Choose the Product, the To warehouse (and the Project/Business Unit if you use them), the Qty and check the Rate. The line shows what the From warehouse holds ("Instock") and works out the Amount.
Needs
A quantity above 0 and not more than the From warehouse holds: "Insufficient stock balance". A product that is tracked adds serial numbers or batch details (Batch, expiry date and serial number tracking). A rate of 0 asks you to confirm.
Add notes, a reference, and save
What changes
Reference Voucher and Notes are optional. Save: "Stock transfer saved successfully." The goods are out of one warehouse and in to the other.

What happens when you save a transfer

Area	Change
From warehouse	Each line's quantity leaves it on the transfer date
To warehouse	The same quantity arrives on the same date, valued at the line's Rate
Total stock	The same quantity; the value changes only when the rate is not the cost of what left (below)
Ledgers and profit	Nothing: you own the same goods. Profit changes only through a value difference
Approval	Where approval is on, the transfer waits to be marked approved, but the goods have already moved
Number	The next number of the series you chose

The stock the lines of one transfer take from the same product in the same warehouse is added up, so two lines of one product cannot together take more than is there.

The rate decides the value that arrives

Goods leave the From warehouse at their first-in-first-out cost (How stock is valued and what a sale costs), but they come into the To warehouse at the Rate on the line. When you pick the product, Penahak proposes the average cost of what the From warehouse holds on the transfer date (its value divided by its quantity), or the product's Buy rate when that warehouse has no value.

Worked example: why even the proposed rate can move the value a little

The Main store holds a product bought twice: 10 units at 100, then 10 at 120. When you pick it on a transfer line, the proposed Rate is the average, (1,000 + 1,200) ÷ 20 = 110.

You move 5 units to the Shop floor at 110:

	Quantity	Value
Leaves the Main store (the oldest units first)	5	5 × 100 = 500
Arrives on the Shop floor (the line's rate)	5	5 × 110 = 550
Total stock value before the transfer	20	2,200
Total stock value after it	20	1,700 + 550 = 2,250

The 50 is the gap between the average and the cost of the oldest units. Had you moved all 20, the 2,200 that left would equal the 2,200 that arrived. A typed rate such as the selling price makes the gap far larger: keep the proposed rate.

After saving

Open a transfer from the list to see it. It offers Edit, Delete, Print, Approve (where approval is on) and Goods delivery (Edit, delete and approve a transfer or an adjustment). The list shows the Transfer no, Date, Status, Transfer type, Product, Notes and, for branch transfers, Transferred from and Transferred to.

Common questions

"Insufficient stock balance."

The From warehouse holds less than the quantity, counting the other lines of this transfer. Check Stock summary for that warehouse, or receive the goods first (Negative stock: where Penahak checks it).

I cannot save: the date is not allowed.

A transfer cannot be dated earlier than a transfer already made in the branch, or before the fiscal year starts (Edit, delete and approve a transfer or an adjustment).

The transfer changed the value of my stock.

The rate on the line was not the cost of the goods that left (a typed rate, or the average of a warehouse that holds goods bought at different costs). See above.

Can I move stock to a business unit instead of a warehouse?

Yes: choose the Project/Business Unit. The line then needs the unit it goes to ("You have to select a business project/business unit to which you are going to transfer item.").