Why is my valuation rate or stock value negative or abnormally high?

A negative or very high valuation rate almost always comes from one wrong stock transaction, not from a bug in the valuation method. Find that transaction in the Stock Ledger, correct it, then run Repost Item Valuation so every later entry is recalculated.

You may be seeing one of these symptoms:

Stock Balance shows a negative Balance Value while the quantity is positive.
The valuation rate of an item suddenly jumps to 10x or 1000x its normal cost.
Cost of Goods Sold on a Delivery Note or Sales Invoice is far too high, or negative.
A BOM or Stock Entry picks up an unexpected rate for a raw material.

Common causes

The valuation rate is the balance value divided by the balance quantity. So when a value is booked at the wrong rate, and only a small quantity is left, the rate is pushed far off.

Cause	What goes wrong	What you see in the Stock Ledger
Negative stock	With Allow negative stock on in Stock Settings, stock is issued before it is received. The outgoing entries use a guessed or old rate. When the receipt arrives, its rate is different, and the gap stays in the balance value.	Balance Qty goes below zero, then a receipt is followed by a jump in Avg Rate (Balance Stock) or a negative Balance Value.
Zero-rate receipts	A Purchase Receipt, Material Receipt or Stock Reconciliation is saved with a rate of 0 (often with Allow Zero Valuation Rate ticked). This drags the average down. Later issues at the old rate can take out more value than is left.	Incoming Rate is 0 on a receipt, followed by a falling rate and later a negative Balance Value.
Backdated entries	A transaction posted before existing entries changes the rate of every later entry. If the repost is still queued or has failed, later entries keep their old values.	Entries after the backdated one do not add up. A Repost Item Valuation record for that item shows Queued or Failed.
Serial No items	Each Serial No carries the rate it was received at. If a serial number came in at the wrong rate (or at 0), every transfer and delivery of it moves that wrong rate.	Incoming Rate on a Material Transfer or Delivery Note is very different from the item's usual cost.
Wrong UOM conversion	The item is bought in one UOM (for example Box) but stocked in another (Nos). A wrong UOM Conversion Factor divides the amount over too few or too many units.	In Qty looks wrong for the document, and Incoming Rate is a multiple (for example 12x) of the expected rate.

Find the entry where the rate went wrong

The Stock Ledger report lists every movement of the item in order, so you can see the exact voucher where the rate broke.

Go to Stock > Reports > Stock Ledger.
Set Company, Item and Warehouse. Set From Date far enough back to cover the last time the rate looked normal.
Read these columns from top to bottom:

Incoming Rate — the rate of each receipt. Look for a 0, or a rate far above the normal cost.
Balance Qty — look for any row where it goes below zero.
Avg Rate (Balance Stock) — the valuation rate after each entry. Find the first row where it jumps or turns negative.
Balance Value — this should be close to Balance Qty x Avg Rate. A negative value with a positive quantity marks the problem.

Open the voucher in Voucher # on that first wrong row, and the receipt just before it. One of them is your source entry.

Check one warehouse at a time. Each warehouse has its own valuation rate, so a problem in one can look like a sudden jump in a transfer to another.

To find all affected items at once, use the Stock Ledger Invariant Check and Incorrect Stock Value Report reports. Also check the Repost Item Valuation list for records with status Failed.

Fix the source entry, then repost

Correct the source entry first. Reposting alone runs the same wrong numbers again.

1. Correct the source entry

If the cause is	Do this
Negative stock	Post the missing receipt with a posting date and time before the first issue, so stock never goes below zero.
Zero-rate receipt	Cancel and amend the receipt with the correct rate. For a Stock Reconciliation, amend it with the right Valuation Rate.
Wrong rate on a Purchase Receipt	Cancel and amend it. If only freight or duty is missing, use a Landed Cost Voucher instead.
Wrong UOM conversion	Fix the Conversion Factor in the item's UOM table. Then cancel and amend the affected documents.
Serial No received at the wrong rate	Cancel and amend the original receipt of that Serial No. Later transfers and deliveries pick up the corrected rate after the repost.

2. Run Repost Item Valuation

Cancelling or amending a backdated entry usually creates a repost on its own. Create one by hand if it did not, or if the earlier one failed.

Go to Repost Item Valuation > New.
Set Based On:

Item and Warehouse — enter Item Code, Warehouse, and the Posting Date and Posting Time of the source entry (or slightly earlier).
Transaction — enter the Voucher Type and Voucher No of the source entry.

Save and submit. The repost runs in the background. Its Status moves from Queued to In Progress to Completed.
If the status is Failed, read the Error Log field. It usually names a negative-stock row you still need to fix. Fix it and click Restart.
Run the Stock Ledger again and confirm that Avg Rate (Balance Stock) is now normal.

The repost also updates the General Ledger, so stock and accounts values match again. Reposts can be limited to certain hours in Stock Reposting Settings; if nothing happens, check the timeslot there.

Why the BOM or Sales Invoice rate can differ from the Stock Ledger

The rates in a BOM and on a Sales Invoice are taken at a different time, or from a different place, than the Stock Ledger. A difference is not always an error.

Document	Where its rate comes from	Why it differs
BOM	Rate of Materials based on: Valuation Rate, Last Purchase Rate or Price List. With Valuation Rate, it takes the average across warehouses (or the source warehouse, if set).	The cost is fixed when the BOM is saved. It changes only when you click Update Cost, or when Update BOM Cost Automatically is on in Manufacturing Settings. The Stock Ledger is per warehouse and current.
Sales Invoice	The Rate is the selling price from the Price List or Pricing Rule, not the cost.	Cost of goods sold is booked by the Delivery Note, or by the invoice only when Update Stock is ticked. That uses the valuation rate at its posting date and time.
Delivery Note / Stock Entry	The valuation rate at the posting date and time, in the source warehouse.	A later backdated entry changes this rate after the document is submitted. The repost updates it, but a printed copy keeps the old value.

If the BOM shows a wrong raw material cost, fix the raw material's valuation first (see above). Then open the BOM and click Update Cost.

Prevent it

Most of these problems stop once negative stock is off and every receipt carries a real rate.

Keep negative stock disabled. In Stock Settings, leave Allow negative stock unticked. Users then cannot issue stock before it is received.
Set a valuation rate on every receipt. Do not tick Allow Zero Valuation Rate unless the item is truly free, such as a free sample. Set a Valuation Rate on the Item master for opening stock and free items.
Check UOM conversion factors on the Item master before the first purchase in a new UOM.
Limit backdated entries. Use Role allowed to create/edit back-dated transactions in Stock Settings so only a few users can post them.
Watch the repost queue. Check the Repost Item Valuation list each week for Failed records. Fix each one before more entries pile up on top.

Still need help?

If the rate is still wrong after a completed repost, raise a ticket on support.frappe.io. Include:

The item code and warehouse
A Stock Ledger export covering the period where the rate went wrong
The name of the Repost Item Valuation record, and its Error Log if it failed