About
Applies to: InventoryIQ
Units with missing costs in InventoryIQ, Finaloop's inventory management product, are units that were sold, used in an assembly, or transferred to another warehouse before Finaloop had any record of where they came from.
If you see a mission (a task in My missions where we ask you for information we need) or a banner letting you know you have units with missing costs while reviewing your InventoryIQ, it means Finaloop is missing key cost details from you. This is usually due to:
Missing or inaccurate purchase orders (POs)
Missing assemblies
Missing warehouse transfers
Incorrect opening balances
If you see IQ Health Center under Inventory in your sidebar, start there: it flags the products causing units with missing costs, fixes many of them automatically, and walks you through the rest. The steps in this article work with or without the Health Center.
Don't worry! We'll walk you through exactly how to identify and fix these issues.
1. Why do I have units with missing costs?
Finaloop calculates your cost of goods sold (COGS) using a first-in, first-out (FIFO) method. If cost data is missing for a product you sold, Finaloop assumes a cost of $0, which leads to inaccurate COGS. Those units are also left out of your Average cost / unit and On-hand cost.
Units with missing costs can occur when:
Products are sold before their costs are recorded
Warehouse transfers are missing
Opening balances weren't entered correctly
Assemblies weren't recorded for bundled or manufactured items
2. Reviewing your units with missing costs
Go to the Products page.
Toggle on Show products with missing cost units.
Review the columns, which show On-hand units, Units with missing costs, Average cost / unit and On-hand cost.
You can also view this by warehouse by clicking the > sign next to each SKU, or by clicking Expand warehouses at the top of the product list.
Once you've identified the affected products, use the following fixes to resolve the issue.
3. How to fix units with missing costs
The Quick Fix option
Sometimes, you may have units with missing costs that have an immaterial impact on your COGS, for example if you have a product with just a few units with missing costs. In this case, you may want to consider a Quick Fix to get your numbers in order without doing the deep dive to identify the root cause of the issue.
We created our Quick Fix feature to adjust your inventory balance by adding the missing units with a cost. Think of it as a "theoretical purchase" happening just before the product is depleted (fulfilled, transferred to another warehouse, used in an assembly, and so on).
To use it:
On the Products page, click the product name.
Click the FIFO tab.
Scroll to the relevant warehouse and click the > sign to expand it.
On the Units with missing costs row, click the wrench icon.
In the Quick Fix drawer, enter the number of Units and the Average cost/unit.
Click Save.
In your P&L report, this adjustment appears as Other inventory adjustments and, when those units are sold, their cost appears as Other direct costs, both as part of your COGS.
Important: The Quick Fix is meant to fix one-off, immaterial units with missing costs. It acts as a bandaid, so if this happens often or the adjustment is more than 10 units, we recommend checking your inventory records to identify the root cause and keep your inventory and COGS numbers completely accurate.
Using the IQ Health Center
If IQ Health Center appears under Inventory in your sidebar, the InventoryIQ agent resolves many of these gaps automatically and lists the ones that need you. Open IQ Health Center and select Add missing inventory entries. For each item, you can click Add entry to add the missing record, click Remind me later, or click I don't have this info. When you don't have the records, select Approve adjustments and Finaloop adds the units and records the difference as reconciliation discrepancies on your P&L.
Let's dive in to some of the most common use cases that can cause units with missing costs.
In the Health Center, these items match the causes in this article:
Add missing inventory entries: units were sold or moved with no matching record. From Add entry, you can add a Purchase order, Receipt, Stock transfer, Unit restocks, Manual assembly or Physical count adjustment.
New product: Add missing details: new products with no vendor or cost. Add a cost per unit, even an estimate, and Finaloop adjusts your books in the meantime.
Reconcile WMS/3PL shipments: shipments your warehouse or third-party logistics (3PL) provider received with no matching PO.
Merge duplicate products: products that appear more than once in your InventoryIQ product list.
Duplicate SKUs for the same product
If the same product is purchased and sold under different SKUs, Finaloop may track purchases under one SKU while tracking sales under another. This leads to missing costs because the system doesn't recognize them as the same item.
How to fix it:
Check if the SKU showing missing costs has a duplicate SKU (for example, are you selling any of these Shopify products on Amazon as well? Maybe you have 2 different Shopify or Amazon accounts?).
If they are the same product, merge them: toggle off Show products with missing cost units to view the full product list, then click Actions → Merge products.
After merging, check if warehouse transfers need to be recorded.
For more details, check out Merging multiple products.
Tip: If you have the same products but the specifications are somewhat different, for example the same sweater but one is a size small and one is a large, these are not considered identical products and shouldn't be merged.
If merging doesn't apply or you still see units with missing costs, let's move on to the next case.
With IQ Health Center, this shows as Merge duplicate products.
Incorrect warehouse settings
If sales are being deducted from the wrong warehouse, it could cause units with missing costs.
InventoryIQ automatically syncs your order details from Shopify, Amazon (FBA and FBM), TikTok Shop, Walmart, and any wholesale invoices created through Finaloop. We then reduce the quantity sold from the relevant warehouse based on the warehouse settings you set for each sales channel on your Inventory settings → Warehouses tab.
If it looks like the unit count in multiple warehouses is incorrect, your warehouse settings could be the issue. Here's how to fix it for each sales channel.
Warehouse settings for Shopify
On any Inventory page, click Inventory settings (top right), then Warehouses. Sometimes, when we sync warehouse data from Shopify, you may have the same warehouse under multiple names. If you see multiple instances of the same warehouse, click Merge/Split to combine them, or just let us know and we can merge these warehouses for you.
Go to Customers → Orders, then Settings and Revenue recognition, and check your revenue recognition setting. If it says: - Order date: We reduce your on-hand units at the time of the order from the warehouse that is set as your default Shopify warehouse in Finaloop. To set up your default warehouses, check out InventoryIQ: Everything you need to know. - Fulfillment date: Sales are recorded when fulfilled, based on the warehouses synced directly from Shopify. If something looks wrong, check your Shopify settings to ensure all fulfillment data is accurate. If there are one-off errors, fix them manually by clicking into the product on your Products page, clicking the small COGS tab, and selecting the edit icon to adjust units fulfilled by the incorrect warehouse, reallocating them to the correct warehouse.
Warehouse settings for Amazon
FBA: The default will always be a virtual warehouse we call Amazon FBA. This is set up automatically by our team.
FBM: As part of your initial InventoryIQ setup, you should have set the default warehouse in Finaloop that we use for all fulfillment data from Amazon FBM. If you haven't done this yet, check out InventoryIQ: Everything you need to know on how to set up your warehouses.
Warehouse settings for wholesale invoices
When you create an invoice in Finaloop, you set a P&L category for the type of income it relates to.
To choose where those units come from, go to Inventory settings → Warehouses and click Edit defaults in the Default warehouse card. The Edit default warehouses drawer lists a Default warehouse for each Sales channel. It also has a general Default row, which we use for any order that has no other associated warehouse, including invoices categorized as Wholesale or Other.
This should clear up any units with missing costs related to warehouse mismatches.
Incorrect or missing opening balances
Missing or incorrect opening balances can cause units to appear with missing costs. Opening balances should reflect the correct starting inventory and cost per unit when you first set up InventoryIQ.
How to fix it:
On the Products page, toggle on More details (it's at the right end of the row under the Actions button).
In the Opening balance column, check the opening balance for each of the products that have units with missing costs.
You can also view the opening balance by warehouse by clicking the > sign next to each SKU, or by clicking Expand warehouses at the top of the product list.
① The > sign to expand a product, ② the Opening balance column.
If you spot an opening balance that's off, click the product name to open its details.
From the individual product page, click the small FIFO tab.
Scroll to the warehouse with the missing opening balance and expand it.
On the Opening balance row, click the edit icon and enter the correct Units and Average cost/unit on your InventoryIQ start date. If your opening balances need updating for many products, you can also upload the opening balances in bulk in Inventory settings → Opening balance, following the instructions in Step-by-step guide to setting up InventoryIQ.
Click Save.
If you're still seeing units with missing costs, let's go to the next option!
Incorrect shipping status on POs
If a PO was received but not marked as received in Finaloop, units from that PO may not be counted properly, leading to missing costs. This may also happen if you marked the PO as received at a later date than it was actually received in your warehouse (to check receipt dates, use the steps under Missing POs or warehouse transfers).
How to fix it:
Go to your Products page and toggle on More details (it's right under the Actions button).
① Expand warehouses, ② More details.
Check the In-transit units column. Do you see any items that have already arrived but still show as in-transit?
If yes, let's update their status. Click into the product and click the FIFO tab. Then scroll down to the relevant warehouse and click the > sign to expand the details.
Find the PO that shows In-transit under Received on.
Click the PO name and scroll down to Shipment groups, then open the shipment linked to that group.
Click Mark as received.
Enter the actual receipt date in Received date and save.
If you're still seeing units with missing costs, let's try the next step!
With IQ Health Center, add the missing receipt from Add missing inventory entries → Add entry → Receipt.
Missing POs or warehouse transfers
If a PO or warehouse transfer was never recorded, Finaloop won't have cost data for those units.
How to fix it:
Go to your Products page.
Toggle More details on.
Take a look at the Purchased column, which shows all units received in a warehouse from POs, transfers from other warehouses, or assemblies. Are any POs or transfers missing here? Are the quantities of the relevant POs accurate? To learn more about adding POs, check out Managing your POs in Finaloop.
Were there any POs or transfers from before your InventoryIQ start date that weren't yet received by your InventoryIQ start date? We call these historical POs or historical transfers, and you'll need to add these manually since they aren't part of your opening balance.
Here's the general rule: add a PO whenever the inventory was received after your InventoryIQ start date. POs issued and received before your start date should already be part of your opening balance.
PO issue date | Inventory received date | Add PO? |
Before InventoryIQ start date | Before InventoryIQ start date | No. These units should already be part of your opening balance |
Before InventoryIQ start date | After InventoryIQ start date | Yes |
After InventoryIQ start date | After InventoryIQ start date | Yes |
1. Have you added all transfers of stock between warehouses (including all transfers to Amazon FBA)? If one warehouse has a lot of on-hand units while another shows units with missing costs, you may be missing a transfer between warehouses.
In this example, it looks like we are missing a transfer of 20 units of Ghost Ember Hot Sauce 5oz from Reno 3PL to Dallas 3PL.
2. Are the inventory receipt dates correct? If the overall purchase numbers look right, confirm that the dates the POs or transfers were marked as received in the warehouse are right as well.
- Click into the product and then click FIFO.
- Scroll down to the relevant warehouse and expand it to view the actual dates of the POs and transfers and the date of the units with missing costs.
- If the received date is off, it could create a date gap that causes units with missing costs.
- If your units with missing costs are just a few days before the PO or transfer is marked as received, it's likely the received date should be earlier.
In this example, PO-1044 was actually received on Oct 9, 2026 instead of Oct 12, 2026.
① Received on date of the PO, ② date of the Units with missing costs.
Once all POs and transfers are confirmed, your Purchased column should be all set!
With IQ Health Center, this shows as Add missing inventory entries, or as Reconcile WMS/3PL shipments when your 3PL received a shipment with no PO.
Missing or incorrect assemblies
For assembled products (bundles or manufactured items), missing assembly records can create missing costs. If components are used in an assembly but the assembly of the product isn't recorded, InventoryIQ won't be able to recognize the finished product, causing your COGS to be incomplete.
How to fix it:
Check if any of the products that have units with missing costs are assembled items.
If you forgot to record a manual assembly, add it from the product's Assemblies tab and ensure the date matches when the product was sold. Check out Managing recipes & assemblies to learn more about how to manage your recipes and assemblies.
When adding an assembly, add the components or recipe needed to create 1 finished product. This gives you an accurate calculation of the costs for each unit of the product created.
For example, if each Trio Gift Set is a bundle of 1 Ghost Ember Hot Sauce, 1 Smoked Habanero Hot Sauce and 1 Reaper Reserve Hot Sauce, and you assembled 1,000 units, this is how the assembly should be added:
Note: To prevent future issues, you can turn on On-demand assembly in the product's Recipes tab, which records assemblies automatically when needed. You can learn more in Managing recipes & assemblies.
With IQ Health Center, add it from Add missing inventory entries → Add entry → Manual assembly.
Missing manual inputs
For certain sales channels, we need some manual updates from you, which could also impact your inventory count. Here's a quick checklist:
Sales and restocks from non-automated channels: Have you updated all sales and restocks related to channels outside of Shopify, Amazon, TikTok Shop, Walmart, or invoices sent from Finaloop? To learn how, check out the section on adding quantities for specific channels in InventoryIQ: Everything you need to know.
Restocks for Shopify: We sync the restock data from Shopify but, in our experience, many customers don't keep the restock data in Shopify updated. If your Shopify restock data isn't correct, open the page for the specific product and head to the small COGS tab. Here you can manually add the restock data for the relevant months by clicking the edit icon. Alternatively, you can do a bulk upload for your restock data across all SKUs at once from Actions → Bulk unit edit on the Products page.
Restocks for Amazon FBM: Add this restock data in the COGS tab to keep your units accurate, since we don't receive it from Amazon.
Other adjustments: Don't forget any Dead inventory, Product giveaways, or Product donations that may impact your numbers.
With IQ Health Center, you can report missing restocks from Add missing inventory entries → Add entry → Unit restocks.
4. Final steps
Still have units with missing costs?
Go to Products and click into the product with the units with missing costs.
Click the small FIFO tab.
Toggle on Show breakdowns on the right-hand side.
① FIFO, ② Show breakdowns.
You'll be able to see if the units with missing costs relate to Fulfilled, Assembled (out), Stock transfers (out), Dead inventory, Inventory lost, Other adjustments or Physical Count Adjustment.
Now that you can pinpoint the exact cause and the relative timing, it'll be easier to identify the missing piece and correct it!
Looking for a quick fix and you only have a small number of units with missing costs? Use the Quick Fix on the FIFO tab to cover them.
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Need help?
If you've checked all these details and still see a problem, don't hesitate to reach out to [email protected]. We're here to help and can schedule a call to walk through it with you!