On-hand inventory at landed cost in Business Central. The working-capital line on the balance sheet.
At a glance
Total dollar value of on-hand inventory across every BC Location, valued at the configured Costing Method (typically FIFO, Average, or Standard). The working-capital line on the balance sheet.
| What it counts | SUM(Item Ledger Entry.Quantity × Item.Unit Cost) for entries where Open = TRUE and Quantity > 0, summed across every Location and Item. Effectively the live general-ledger Inventory account balance, validated against the Item Card’s calculated Inventory and Cost Amount FlowFields. |
| Costing Method | Whatever each Item is configured for: FIFO, LIFO, Average, Standard, or Specific. The card respects the per-Item method. Average-cost items use the Item.Unit Cost (rolling average); FIFO items use the layer-by-layer Item Application Entries. |
| Locations | All Locations included by default (Warehouse, Retail Store, Drop-Ship). Filterable by Location Code. Items in Transfer Orders show in the From-Location until receipt. |
| Reservations | Reserved stock is still on-hand; it counts. The reservation flags it as committed but does not reduce Inventory until shipment. |
| In-Transit | Items in Location = "IN-TRANSIT" (BC’s standard transfer-pending location) are included. Some merchants exclude them via field map. |
| Currency | Multi-Company tenants: each Company’s inventory translated to Reporting Currency at current Currency Exchange Rate. |
| Power BI complementarity | Power BI’s “Inventory Performance” content pack shows the same total per Company. This card consolidates across Companies and Reporting Currency. |
| Time window | RT (real-time snapshot) |
| Alert trigger | - (no default alert; pair with Inventory Aging for actionable triggers) |
| Roles | owner, finance, operations |
Calculation
Calculated automatically from your Microsoft Dynamics 365 data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading.Worked example
An AU electronics manufacturer running Business Central with the Manufacturing module. Three Locations (Sydney warehouse, Melbourne retail, Drop-Ship from China). Snapshot 14 Apr 26.| Location | On-hand qty (units) | Avg landed cost / unit | Inventory value (AUD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney Warehouse | 184,200 | $14.20 | $2,615,640 |
| Melbourne Retail | 28,400 | $16.80 | $477,120 |
| In-Transit (Sydney inbound) | 24,000 | $11.40 | $273,600 |
| Total Inventory Value (this card) | $3,366,360 |
- Sydney Warehouse holds 78% of the value. Standard pattern for a centralised distribution model. Pair with Inventory Aging to see how aged the Sydney stock is, and Top SKUs by Inventory Value to see which SKUs concentrate the value.
- Melbourne Retail has higher avg unit cost (14.20). Because the high-end consumer-grade SKUs are stocked in retail; bulk wholesale SKUs sit in Sydney. The Item.Costing Method = Average rolls these into a single Unit Cost which can mask the Location-level reality.
- In-Transit ($273K) is real working capital. The merchant has paid Chinese suppliers; the goods are on a vessel; until they land at Sydney they are not sellable but the cash has left. The Vortex IQ field map can split this out as its own row if Treasury wants visibility.
- **The BC Inventory Valuation report run for 14 Apr 26 shows 40 difference is rounding on the Adjust Cost batch, run earlier that morning. Acceptable variance.
- Manufacturing nuance: WIP (Work-in-Progress) is NOT in this card. WIP lives in
WIP InventoryG/L accounts, not Item Inventory. If the merchant wants to track total inventory + WIP for cash-conversion analysis, ask for the WIP-extended variant via the field map.
Sibling cards merchants should reference together
| Card | Why pair it with Total Inventory Value |
|---|---|
| Inventory Aging | What is the age curve of this $X? Aged inventory needs markdown or write-off. |
| Dead Stock Value | The zero-velocity subset; the most painful slice of this number. |
| Top SKUs by Inventory Value | Concentration. Often 5% of SKUs hold 60% of the value. |
| Inventory Carrying Cost | The annual cost of holding this number on the balance sheet. |
| Inventory Turnover Ratio | Velocity ratio: COGS divided by avg inventory. |
| Low Stock Alerts | The under-stocked side; pair to balance the inventory book. |
| Dead Stock with Active Ad Spend | Cross-connector: dead inventory you are still paying to advertise. |
Reconciling against the vendor’s own dashboard
Where to look in Business Central:Reports > Inventory > Inventory Valuation (the audit-grade definitive report) Item List > Calculate Inventory (real-time per-Item view) Chart of Accounts > Inventory G/L Account (balance, must reconcile to Inventory Valuation report) Power BI > Inventory Performance content pack > Inventory Value tileThe Inventory Valuation report run for the same date should match this card to within a few dollars. Differences > 0.1% indicate the Adjust Cost batch has not been run recently; the card uses the pre-Adjust-Cost rolling Unit Cost. Why our number may legitimately differ from BC’s reports:
| Reason | Direction | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Adjust Cost batch timing | Small | BC’s Adjust Cost - Item Entries batch updates inventory values from FIFO/LIFO/Average reconciliation. The card uses the snapshot at last sync; if Adjust Cost runs hourly the difference is sub-1%. |
| In-Transit handling | Either | Some merchants exclude In-Transit; the card includes by default. Configurable. |
| Reservations | None | Reservations are committed but not depleted; both card and BC count them as on-hand. |
| WIP (Manufacturing) | Card lower | WIP G/L balance is separate; card excludes. |
| Multi-Company aggregation | Card materially higher | Single-Company BC view shows one Company; card consolidates. |
| OData freshness | Card up to 15 min behind | Item Ledger Entries appear via OData within 15 minutes of posting. |
| Card | Direction | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| shopify.inventory_value | Different definition | Shopify reports inventory at retail price, not cost. Direct comparison invalid; ratio (markup) is interesting. |
| bigcommerce.inventory_count | Quantity match | The unit count should match BC on-hand for SKUs synced to BigCommerce. Differences indicate sync drift, surfaced on Inventory Sync Drift. |
Known limitations / merchant FAQs
Why does my Inventory G/L balance not match this card? The G/L Inventory account is updated by the Adjust Cost - Item Entries batch, which most BC tenants run nightly. Between batch runs there is a small drift between the Item Ledger (real-time) and the G/L (post-batch). The card uses the Item Ledger view for freshness. To align, run Adjust Cost on demand and re-check. FIFO vs Average: which gives the more accurate “true” value? FIFO is closer to economic value during inflation (older, cheaper layers consumed first leaves higher-cost layers on hand). Average smooths volatility. The card respects whichever method each Item is configured for. If the merchant is changing methods, expect a one-time Inventory Valuation reset. Manufacturing tenants: where is WIP? WIP Inventory sits in dedicated G/L accounts (typically 1340 series) and is excluded from this card. Ask Vortex IQ for the WIP-extended variant if your finance team needs combined Inventory + WIP visibility. Does the card include items at vendor consignment? No. Consigned inventory is not owned by the merchant; it sits in the vendor’s books. BC’sItem Charge.Type = 'Consignment' flags it. The card excludes it.
Multi-Location: can I see per-Location breakdown?
Yes via the Top SKUs by Inventory Value sibling, which can be sliced by Location. The headline card aggregates.
How does this compare to NetSuite’s Total Inventory Value?
Mathematically equivalent. NetSuite uses Item Costing (FIFO / Average / LIFO / Standard) just like BC. The result for a merchant migrating from NetSuite to BC should be within rounding once Costing Methods align.
Does Power BI’s Inventory Performance content pack show the same number?
For one Company, yes. The Power BI tile uses the same Inventory Valuation report under the hood. Multi-Company tenants need to either build a custom Power BI roll-up or use this card.
FX impact on multi-Company total?
Each Company’s local-currency value is translated at current Currency Exchange Rate. Daily FX movement causes 0.5 to 2% intra-month wobble even with no inventory change. Some Treasurers prefer the period-end rate for a stable balance-sheet number; configurable.
Does this include Returns Inventory (RTV pending)?
Yes if the returned items are back in stock at a Location. If the items are flagged for write-off (no Location, marked for disposal), they are excluded.
AL Extension custom item attributes: do they affect the value?
No. Extensions can add fields and validations but the standard Costing Method engine governs valuation. As long as the extension does not override Item.Unit Cost, the card matches BC.