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Is there any module to handle FIFO costing method?

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EDIT: This funtionality will soon be available in 7.0.

For details, please see https://accounts.openerp.com/forum/Help-1/question/25372/


Original response:

The answer is no. There is no FIFO module for OpenERP.

There are a lot of community efforts to build a FIFO module, but none of them is complete enough to be used out-of-the-box.

To implement FIFO/LIFO, we need to:

  1. clean the current inventory system to support missing features
  2. clean the current costing system
  3. Implement FIFO/LIFO that rely on this
  4. Develop 2 required reports
  5. Full set of tests scenario

You can not do a clean FIFO/LIFO if you did not cleaned the current average price/costing system before. Some community members started basic implementations of FIFO/LIFO but, as they don't rely on strong costing foundations, this will not work in all situations (lots of side effects).

Just computing a clean average price is not easy at all:

  • Need a better computation of the actual inventory:

    • in multi-company environment (some companies may not have charts of account), each company may have it's own inventory
    • We need to clean things like: "which location belong to which company ? based on warehouse's company or location's company. What do we do with transit locations?
    • this requires also to develop logistic constraints as we need the exact inventory at a specific date and this can not change over the time.
  • Need a clean computation of the average price:

    • computation based on receptions (estimated costs from PO). What do we do with receptions without purchase orders or return to suppliers.
    • adaptation when receiving supplier invoice. We need to be able the inject extra costs splited in each products (border taxes, ...)
    • the current average price is global for all companies, we need to convert this system into a multi-company cost.
    • misc operations like inventory and manufacturing orders that are not handled currently
  • Then, when we have a reliable inventory and average price system, we would be able to implement FIFO/LIFO, which is the easiest part. This includes:

    • a price history for each product and company
    • development of two legal reports (to be defined)
  • Then we will have to develop a full set of automated YAML tests to guarantee it works and this will not be broken in the future evolutions.

None of the community FIFO modules I saw handle these requirements efficiently.

I made an estimation of 40 days to develop this. Unfortunately, we did not found the customer that is ready to pay for it yet, so we did not started the developments.

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Everything you say is true, Fabien. Thanks.

Author

Thank you for the valuable information

"Unfortunately, we did not found the customer that is ready to pay for it yet, so we did not started the developments". Have you think about fund raising for this purpose ? No customer want to pay alone this implementation, but a lot of customers would contribute for this

Contact fhe AT openerp DOT com if you want to partially fund this project.

I would like to know one thing about FIFO module. In some business nature, FIFO costing method must be used. I am not sure why there is no FIFO module in OpenERP.

Fabian , You analysis is absolutely correct. So the fact is that OpnenERP support only standard price as a costing method (average price is implemented , but with lot of missing futures).Support for average and FIFO costing method is a basic requirement for any serious ERP system , what I thing OpenERP intends to be. Your estimation is 40 days ( 1 developer ? ). If that is correct , that is really nothing regarding the benefits of improved usability of OpenERP. We are prepared to take part in funding for this purpose.

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The most complete module for FIFO/LIFO I have seen so far is from VNC...

code.launchpad.net/vnc-stock-flow-control (sorry, not enough karma to insert as link)

If your needs are not too advanced as Fabien explained, it could help you...

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I do not know anything about fifo pragmatic module. But I see in the past a fifo module from almacom thailand, with a logic used also by tryton. That module track stock output transaction with corespondent input transaction by fifo rule and compute price for output transaction according with fifo quantities and prices processed. About accounting, if you have quantities and prices computed correctly on stock move, you can manage fifo stock accounting by inherit accounting rules from core stock module.

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we have made a fifo module in 6.0 (not published since the logic is limited to a specific customer scenario) but this work could be extended to cover the needs of your customer. If you are interested, send me a mail (luc.demeyer@noviat.com)

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Check the pragmatic website, they developed a FIFO valuation module

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I tested a lot of modules, but did not have any accounting needs (for FIFO). If i am wrong please post any link (lp, apps, etc.) to module with FIFO for accounting needs.

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Last post was november/2013. Is this in production already?

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@Ray,

Thanks for sharing.

OpenERP Rocks!

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