Lost Items

What to do when equipment doesn't come back: the Lost flag closes the rental obligation, optionally charges the customer for the lost asset via a one-off Sales Line, marks the Rental Item as Lost, and (if the item is FA-linked, and you confirm) queues a Fixed Asset disposal journal line.

How it fits in

Equipment goes missing. The customer reports it lost, damaged beyond repair, stolen, or simply never returned. The rental can't close via a normal Return because there's no physical item coming back. The Lost flag handles this end-to-end in one action: it closes the rental obligation, generates a charge to the customer for the lost asset, takes the Rental Item out of the available fleet, and records the financial impact against the linked Fixed Asset.

The Lost handling sits between Setup (which configures the G/L account and behaviour), the Rental Order or Return Order (where the Lost flag is ticked), and the Rental Item record (whose status moves to Lost).

Only Rental Item lines and returnable Item lines can be marked as Lost. The Lost flag errors out on any other Type (Rental Item Type, Kit, Resource, Comment). A Rental Item line takes the full fleet-asset path (status, scrap ledger entry, optional Fixed Asset disposal). A returnable stock Item line takes a lighter path: the recharge line plus an optional inventory write-off via an item journal. Rental Item Type lines can't be marked Lost directly because the specific serial isn't resolved until allocation; allocate the line first.

Setup prerequisites

Before using the Lost flag, configure two fields on the Rental Setup Lost Lines sub-section:

Setup fields used by Lost handling

Lost Sales G/L Accountrequired

The G/L Account that the auto-generated Sales Line for the lost equipment posts to. Must be set; the Lost flow errors out (TestField) if it's blank when you try to mark a line as Lost.

Lost Lines Gen. Sales Lines

Controls whether marking a line as Lost auto-generates the recharge Sales Line. When ticked, the Lost flow appends the lost-asset charge to the order; when off, the item is still marked Lost (status, scrap entry, asset disposition) but no recharge line is created. The status changes below run regardless of this flag.

Where the Lost flag lives

The Lost flag appears in two places that both feed the same lifecycle handler:

On a Rental Order line (Lines subpage of the Rental Order): tick to mark the line as Lost directly while the order is open.

On a Return Order line: tick when preparing a Return for an item that you know isn't coming back. Posting the Return then closes the obligation as Lost rather than as a normal receipt.

In both cases, the same back-end handler runs and produces the same lifecycle changes (described below). Pick whichever path matches the operational moment when the loss is recognised.

What happens when a line is marked as Lost

Marking a Rental Item line as Lost triggers the following changes in sequence. Some are unconditional; some are gated by setup or asked with a Yes/No prompt, so you stay in control of the financial postings.

A recharge Sales Line is appended (if the toggle is on)

If Lost Lines Gen. Sales Lines is ticked on Rental Setup, a new line is added to the same Rental Order with Type = G/L Account, No. = the Lost Sales G/L Account from Setup, Bill Once = true, Quantity = the lost quantity, Description = "[Lost Sale] " + the original line's Description. This is the line that bills the customer for the asset they've lost; it appears on the next invoice generated against the order, on the One-time Invoice Lines subpage. If the toggle is off, no recharge line is created and the remaining steps still run.

The Rental Item's status moves to Lost

The Rental Item record's Status field is set to Lost. From this point the item won't be allocated to new rental orders (the available pool excludes Lost items) and the status flag remains as a permanent record on the master. If the unit has an open or in-progress maintenance order, that order is cancelled automatically: a lost unit can't be maintained.

If FA-linked, you're asked whether to create a disposal journal line

For Rental Items linked to a Fixed Asset (Fixed Asset Integration ticked + Linked to Fixed Asset set), a Yes/No prompt asks whether to generate a disposal journal line for it. Answer Yes and the system queues a disposal line on the journal Business Central will post it from, decided by the depreciation book's G/L Integration - Disposal setting: the FA G/L journal, in the Disposals FA G/L Journal Batch, when it is on, and the FA journal, in the Disposals FA Journal Batch, when it is off. If that journal is not set up, the loss is not recorded: you get a message naming the fields to fill in on Rental Setup. If the fixed asset has already been disposed of, nothing is queued. Answer No and no FA line is created. The line is created not posted; review and post it from that journal as part of your normal posting workflow.

A Scrap entry is posted to the Rental Ledger

A new Rental Ledger Entry of Entry Type = Scrap is posted against the Rental Item, with a negative quantity for the lost units. The ledger now shows the loss as part of the item's lifetime activity, alongside Rent / Shipment / Return entries.

For a returnable stock Item line (a non-fleet Item), the path is lighter: the recharge Sales Line (if the toggle is on) is created exactly as above, then a Yes/No prompt asks whether to write off the lost quantity via an item journal. Answer Yes and a negative-adjustment item journal line is queued (created not posted) for you to review and post; answer No and no write-off is created. There's no fleet status, scrap ledger entry, or Fixed Asset disposition for an Item line, because it isn't a tracked rental asset.

Walkthrough: marking a line as Lost from a Return Order

A common case: the customer rings to say a piece of equipment is lost while a Return Order is being prepared.

Open or create the Return Order

Create a Rental Return Order via any of the three creation paths described on the Rental Return doc. Make sure the line for the lost item is on the Return.

Tick Lost on the line

On the Return Order Lines subpage, tick the Lost column for the relevant line. Quantity to Return represents the lost quantity. On the Return Order path the lifecycle described above runs when you post the Return (next step), not the moment you tick the box. (Ticking Lost directly on a Rental Order line, by contrast, runs it there and then.)

Post the Return

Use Post Return as you would for a normal return. The Return Order posts; no physical stock comes back (the item's Status is now Lost rather than Available); the Sales Line on the parent Rental Order is queued for the next invoice run.

Review and post the Fixed Asset disposal journal (if applicable)

If the item was linked to a Fixed Asset and you answered Yes to the disposal prompt, open the disposals batch the line went to (Disposals FA G/L Journal Batch or Disposals FA Journal Batch, both configured on Rental Setup), review the queued disposal entry, and post it as part of your normal FA posting workflow. The Scrapped Items Tasks cue on the Role Centre counts these lines and opens the journal that has them.

Invoice the customer

Run Create Invoice on the Rental Order at the next billing run. The Lost Sales G/L Account line appears on the invoice with the lost-asset charge. The customer sees a clear billable line for the equipment they've lost, separate from the rental period charges.

Marking EXC-8T-002 as lost means that, when this return is posted, the customer is recharged (if Lost Lines Gen. Sales Lines is enabled), the unit is marked Lost, any open maintenance is cancelled, and you are asked whether to dispose of its fixed asset.

Mark this line as lost?

YesNo

Illustration. The real screen can differ in detail. Step 2: ticking Lost on a Rental Item line asks this first. No, the default, leaves the line as it was. For a unit linked to a fixed asset, a second question follows, about a disposal journal line.

Rental Return Order

Return Lines

Line TypeNo.DescriptionQuantityLostQuantity LostQuantity to Return

Rental ItemEXC-8T-0018 tonne excavator11

Rental ItemEXC-8T-0028 tonne excavator11

Illustration. The real screen can differ in detail. The lines after you answer Yes. On the second line Lost is ticked, Quantity Lost has taken the 1 that was due back, and Quantity to Return is empty. The first excavator comes back as normal. The header and the other columns are left out.

After: the Lost Rental Item

Once an item has been marked Lost, several things change about the master record:

Status = Lost: visible on the Rental Item card. The item won't appear as Available in allocation logic; it's effectively retired from the active fleet.

Rental Ledger shows a Scrap entry: open Rental Ledger Entries from the item card to see the loss alongside the historical Rent / Shipment / Return entries.

Linked Fixed Asset is disposed (if you confirmed the prompt and then post the queued disposal line): the Fixed Asset record's lifecycle reflects the disposal.

The Rental Item record itself is not deleted: it stays on the master so the historical references (rental ledger, past rental orders, FA link) remain valid. To return a Lost item to active service if it turns up later, manually flip Status back to Available (and reverse the scrap entries via standard Business Central corrective actions).

Rental Setup: where Lost Sales G/L Account and the FA Journal Template / Disposals batch are configured.
Rental Return: the most common entry point for marking an item as Lost during the return-handling flow.
Rental Order: the alternative entry point when the loss is recognised before a Return Order is even created.
Rental Items: where the Status field shows the post-loss state and where Rental Ledger Entries are accessed.
Rental Invoice: where the Lost Sales G/L Account line is invoiced to the customer.
Scrap Rental Items: use a scrap request rather than Lost when the unit is back in your yard but is beyond repair or at the end of its life. Lost is for equipment that does not come back from a hire.