For every stock issue, ABRA Flexi records which specific receipt the issued goods came from. This link between a receipt item and an issue item is called a FIFO link. This article explains when links are created, how they relate to the price on the issue note, and what to do when they are missing.
ℹ️ FIFO links are always created, regardless of which inventory valuation method the company has set up. The chosen method only affects which price gets applied on the issue note. The difference between the methods is described in the article on inventory valuation methods.
What is a FIFO link
The name comes from the "first in, first out" principle. Stock is written off in the order in which it arrived in the warehouse, so Flexi attaches to each issue item the receipt item it is drawn from. The link carries two pieces of information: how many units are being issued from the given receipt, and at what acquisition price the goods were purchased.
A single issue item can have multiple links at the same time. This happens whenever the requested quantity exceeds the remainder of the oldest receipt and it becomes necessary to draw from the next one in sequence.
In the diagram above, there are two receipts in stock: 10 units at CZK 200 and 10 units at CZK 300. An issue note for 15 units will therefore be created with two links. The first 10 units are written off from the older receipt, the remaining 5 units from the newer one, leaving 5 units in stock, which will be linked to only by the next issue. With the FIFO method, the value of the issue note is also derived from these links, i.e., CZK 3,500.
When the link is created
The link is created automatically when the item of an outgoing document is saved. It doesn't matter whether you create the warehouse document manually, or whether it is generated from an invoice, order, or e-shop. The user has no influence over the choice of receipt, and the price on the issue note cannot be manually overwritten — this is precisely why the issued goods are always valued in a way that matches the configured method.
Which price is used from the link
This is where the two valuation methods differ:
The FIFO method applies the acquisition price from the specific linked receipt to the issue note. You can therefore only find out the resulting price directly on a specific issue note after inserting the relevant item — Flexi does not display it in advance on the card.
The weighted average method applies the average price of the stock card valid at the moment of issue. Links to individual receipts are still created in the same way.
On the stock card, watch out for two fields that are often confused with the issue price:
Average price is calculated always, even with the FIFO method. However, with FIFO it is not used on the issue note, so the value in this field says nothing about the price at which the goods will be issued.
Last price is the price at which the item was most recently purchased. This also does not correspond to the price of the next issue, if older stock is still available in the warehouse.
What the link blocks and what it doesn't
As long as an issue is linked to a receipt, Flexi will not allow the receipt or its item to be deleted. This is a safeguard against a negative balance on the stock card. What to do in such a situation is described in the guide covering cases where an incorrectly created receipt cannot be deleted.
It is essential to distinguish what is blocked and what is not:
You can no longer change the quantity on the receipt. The goods have already been issued, and changing the quantity would break the linked issues.
You can change the price on the receipt, even retroactively. This is exactly what the links are for. The new price is automatically propagated through them to all linked issue notes, which is handled by stock recalculation.
ℹ️ A typical case: the supplier has only delivered the goods, they are received into Flexi at CZK 0, and the actual price is only added once the invoice is received. Simply correct the price on the receipt, and all issue notes created in the meantime will be revalued automatically.
What disrupts the links and how to restore them
Links are based on the chronology of movements. They are therefore disrupted by actions that retroactively change that chronology:
bulk retroactive corrections of already issued documents,
deleting and recreating receipts that already have linked issues,
retroactively entered movements combined with straightening dates.
The solution is always stock recalculation. It goes through all movements chronologically and restores the links. By default it runs automatically, but it can also be run manually if needed.
⚠️ Run the manual recalculation at a time when no users are working in Flexi — typically over the weekend or at night. The warehouse cannot be worked with while it is running, and with a large volume of data it can take hours, or in exceptional cases even days.