There are several ways to correctly account for damaged, wasted, expired, spoiled, stolen, or otherwise "lost" inventory.
Each industry will have a different preferred term, but no matter what you call them, we have a few different ways of handling them.
Option 1 - Using Stocktakes
Stocktakes are a great tool that can be used to reconcile and get your inventory up to date.
We suggest creating a custom Reason by clicking 'New' next to 'Reason' and naming it accordingly as a loss for your records! Examples of new Reasons could be "Expired Goods," "Spoilage," or "Theft," so you can accurately keep tabs.
This method is best tracked on the Stocktake Discrepancy Report. You can also use the Inventory Change Report. Just filter by Stocktake and look under the "Removed" column.
Option 2 - The Manual Adjustment
You also have the option to edit the quantities (via Actions -> Edit on the inventory page) and add a note explaining the loss.
This method will track the losses directly on the Inventory Change Report (check the "Removed" column).
Option 3 - The Discount
To track loss as part of your sales, we recommend running the products through the POS as a "sale" with a 100% discount.
This approach tracks the losses in your Discount Report and the inventory is accurately decremented.