A value entry carries the amount of an inventory movement: expected cost, actual cost, adjustments, item charges and revaluations, linked to an item ledger entry.
A value entry is the cost and value side of an inventory transaction in Business Central. Where an item ledger entry says how many units moved, value entries say what that movement was worth. One item ledger entry can carry several value entries, because the initial expected cost, the invoiced cost, a later cost adjustment, an item charge and a revaluation each create their own record.
Search for Value Entries with Alt+Q to see the list, and open the value entries behind a single movement from the item ledger entry list. The columns that matter most are Value Entry Type, Cost Amount (Expected), Cost Amount (Actual), Cost Posted to G/L and Sales Amount (Actual). The setup that decides when these amounts reach the accounts, expected cost posting and automatic cost posting, is on the Inventory Setup page.
You receive 20 chairs of item 1928-S at CHF 120 on 03.03.2026, before the vendor invoice arrives. The receipt creates a value entry with Cost Amount (Expected) of CHF 2400 and no actual cost. When the purchase invoice is posted on 20.03.2026 at CHF 125 per piece, the expected amount is reversed and a value entry with Cost Amount (Actual) of CHF 2500 takes its place. If freight of CHF 150 is later assigned as an item charge, a third value entry of CHF 150 attaches to the same movement.
Reading only Cost Amount (Actual) too early is the classic mistake: before the purchase invoice is posted the value sits in expected cost, and any report that excludes expected cost shows inventory as too low. The second is the gap to the general ledger: only what appears in Cost Posted to G/L has reached the accounts, and the difference grows when expected cost posting or automatic cost posting is switched off. Comparing an inventory valuation report with the inventory accounts without checking that setup produces a difference nobody can explain afterwards.
Value entries are the right source when someone asks what an item actually cost rather than what it was ordered at, but the data set is wide and awkward to read on screen. Zentriq Agent can query value entries in place and return the actual cost of an item over a period together with the entries it used, without posting anything. Any correction that follows still goes through a journal that a person reviews and approves.
The item ledger entry holds the quantity, the value entry holds the amount. Business Central links them, and one quantity movement can end up with several value entries as costs become known.
The receipt books an expected cost. When the purchase invoice is posted, Business Central reverses that expected amount and books the actual cost, so several entries exist for the same movement.
Zentriq's AI tools automate many of the manual processes around value entry in Business Central. Learn about the Zentriq Agent or try Zentriq PunchOut to see how AI simplifies procurement in BC.