MYOB Batch Tracking: How MYOB Acumatica Handles Lot Numbers, Expiry Dates and Recall Traces

MYOB batch tracking is a MYOB Acumatica feature called Lot and Serial Tracking. Each stock item gets a lot or serial class that sets the tracking method, whether an expiry date must be entered on receipt, and one of five issue methods, including Expiration, which picks the earliest-dated lot first. As at 6 October 2026, MYOB Business’s published inventory feature list does not include batch tracking.

At a glance

• Who it is for: Australian wholesalers and distributors of food, beverages, chemicals, health products and serialised equipment who run MYOB Business or AccountRight today, or who are evaluating MYOB Acumatica
• Problem it solves: knowing which batch went to which customer, picking the earliest expiry first, and producing a recall list in minutes instead of days
• Platforms: MYOB Acumatica (formerly MYOB Advanced) with the Lot and Serial Tracking feature enabled
• Typical cost: AUD 30,000 to 50,000 ex GST for a finance, distribution and inventory implementation of MYOB Acumatica, plus named-user licences (our MYOB Acumatica cost guide)
• Typical timeline: 3 to 4 months for finance, distribution and inventory; 12 weeks on the fixed-scope FastStart program for wholesale distributors
• Last verified: 6 October 2026 (MYOB Acumatica Lot/Serial Classes help, FSANZ food recall requirements)

Australians say batch. MYOB Acumatica says lot. They are the same thing: one code shared by every unit that was made or received together. If you sell anything with a use-by date or a safety obligation, that code is the difference between recalling 40 cartons and recalling everything you shipped last month. This post covers how MYOB batch tracking works in MYOB Acumatica, what an Australian recall asks of a wholesaler, and the setup decisions that are hard to undo.

What is batch tracking in MYOB, and which MYOB product has it?

Batch tracking means stock is held and sold by lot number, with an expiry date where one applies, so every receipt and every sale records which lot moved. Serial tracking is the same idea at the level of a single unit.

MYOB’s own help describes who needs which. Its general information on lot and serial numbers says food products and chemical compounds are tracked by lot because they expire, while electronics and appliances are tracked one by one with serial numbers for safety and warranty reasons.

In the MYOB range, that capability sits in MYOB Acumatica. The MYOB Business inventory features page lists creating items, buying and selling from stock on hand, quantity adjustments and reorder reports, with no mention of batch, lot or serial numbers as at 6 October 2026. Our post on MYOB inventory management across MYOB Business, AccountRight and MYOB Acumatica compares the three side by side.

How does MYOB Acumatica track lot numbers and expiry dates?

Everything hangs off one record: the lot or serial class. You define classes once, assign them to item classes or individual stock items, and the class tells the system how those items behave.

Lot and serial classes

MYOB’s tracking settings documentation sets out three choices per class:

• Tracking method. Not Tracked, Track Lot Numbers or Track Serial Numbers. Dry goods with no date can stay untracked while chilled lines are tracked by lot.
• Assignment method. When Received assigns the number as stock enters the warehouse. When Used assigns it only at issue or shipment.
• Expiry tracking. Tick Track Expiration Date and nobody can enter a receipt for that item without an expiry date.

For a food or chemical distributor, When Received is almost always the right call. You want the supplier’s batch code captured at the dock, because that is the code the supplier will quote when something goes wrong.

Expiry dates and the five issue methods

With When Received selected, the class also sets the order in which lots are issued. There are five issue methods: FIFO, LIFO, Sequential, Expiration and User-Enterable. Expiration is what warehouse people call FEFO, first expired first out. The system picks the lot with the earliest expiry date in the location, and MYOB’s worked example of buying and selling lot-numbered items that expire uses a fruit wholesaler doing exactly that.

FIFO by receipt date is not the same thing. A supplier can deliver a shorter-dated batch after a longer-dated one, and FIFO will happily leave the short-dated stock on the shelf.

Lot numbering and supplier batch codes

You can type the supplier’s lot number at receipt, or have the system generate one. The numbering settings allow a number built from constants, date parts and an auto-incrementing segment, which suits repacked or relabelled goods.

If you generate your own numbers, you do not lose the supplier’s. With the Lot/Serial Attributes feature enabled, each lot can carry the manufacturer’s lot number plus attributes you define, such as country of origin or a certificate reference. Attributes are only available on classes that assign numbers When Received.

What does a food or chemical distributor need for an Australian recall?

For food, the rules are specific. Food Standards Australia New Zealand states that under Standard 3.2.2 a food manufacturer, wholesale supplier or importer must be able to recall unsafe food and must hold a written recall plan. That plan needs the contact details of everyone the product was sent to, the product name, date mark and batch code, and a way to record how much was distributed and how much is unaccounted for.

FSANZ’s food traceability guidance adds the records behind it: suppliers and what they supply, customers and what you supply them, transaction and delivery dates, batch numbers or lot identifiers, and quantities.

This is not a rare event. FSANZ coordinated 92 food recalls in 2025, above the 10-year average of 87, and undeclared allergens caused 38% of them. Many of those start with a supplier’s packaging error, which means the wholesaler finds out by phone and has to answer one question fast: who got batch 4471?

Chemicals and other regulated goods carry their own obligations, which vary by product and state, so check yours with your regulator. The record you need is the same shape: lot in, lot out, customer, quantity, date.

How do you trace a batch in MYOB Acumatica?

MYOB lists the standard tools in its lot and serial reports and inquiries help:

• Inventory Lot/Serial History. Enter a lot number and see where that stock is and the documents it moved on.
• Lot/Serial Numbers report. Lists items with their lot and serial numbers by warehouse, location or both, which tells you what is still on your own shelves to quarantine.
• Lot/Serial Details. Shows the class, expiry date and manufacturer’s lot number for a lot, with a History tab of related inventory documents.

In our projects we add one more thing: a saved inquiry that takes a lot number and returns customer, shipment, quantity and date in one list, ready to export. That is our practice, not a standard screen, and it means the recall list is one search away.

Then test it. FSANZ recommends a practice recall, and it is the only way to find out that one product line was set up without tracking.

“The lot class takes ten minutes to configure and years to live with. We sit down with the warehouse lead before the item master is loaded and decide, line by line, what gets tracked and what does not. Changing your mind after go-live is the expensive version.”

Bill Alvarez, Practice Manager, Auboros

Where MYOB batch tracking goes wrong

The feature is sound. The problems we see come from setup decisions that MYOB’s documentation says are locked once stock moves.

• Tracking method is permanent in practice. It cannot be changed after the class has been assigned to an item class or stock item. Plan classes before the item master is imported.
• Assignment method locks too. It cannot be changed while there are historical transactions, unreleased documents or stock on hand for any item of the class.
• Tracking everything. Every tracked line adds a scan or a keystroke at receipt and at pick. Track what has a date or a safety obligation, and leave the rest alone.
• Opening stock without lots. At cutover, on-hand stock must be loaded by lot and expiry, which means a physical count that records them. Budget a weekend for it.
• Serial numbers in base units only. MYOB notes serials are tracked for quantities in base units, so think about how serialised items are bought and sold before choosing units of measure.

Barcode scanning removes most of the keying. MYOB Acumatica’s automated warehouse operations cover receiving, put-away and picking on a scanner or the mobile app.

If you are a wholesaler with a standard flow, lot tracking fits inside the fixed-scope MYOB FastStart for wholesale distribution program, which goes live in 12 weeks. Auboros is an approved Queensland partner for FastStart, and other partners deliver it too. For the wider picture of stock, margins and channels, see our page on ERP for wholesale distribution in Australia.

Goes well with

• MYOB inventory management: where MYOB Business and AccountRight stop
• ERP for food and beverage wholesalers in Australia
• How much MYOB Acumatica costs in Australia

Need MYOB batch tracking that stands up to a real recall?

We are a MYOB Acumatica partner in Brisbane working with distributors across Queensland and the rest of Australia. If you want to talk through lot classes, expiry rules and what a cutover count involves for your range, book a free consultation. No pitch, just a plain conversation about whether it fits.