Sage 50: "This account is used in inventory items so it can not be moved
Sage 50 blocks moving, merging, or renumbering this account because inventory items still link to it; clear the item links first.
The message “This account is used in inventory items so it can not be moved.” appears when you try to renumber, merge, or otherwise move a general ledger account in the chart of accounts and Sage 50 stops you. Despite the wording, nothing is being physically relocated: Sage is telling you that one or more inventory item records still name this account in their linked GL account fields, and it will not change the account’s identity while those links exist.
Why Sage 50 refuses
Every inventory item in Sage 50 carries its own account links, normally an inventory asset account, a cost-of-goods account, and a sales account. Those links live on the item records (or on the item class each item belongs to), not on the chart of accounts. While any item, class, or default still points at the account, renumbering, merging, and moving are all blocked.
Find every item that uses the account
In Sage 50 US (Peachtree), open the item records from the Maintain menu, Inventory Items; the linked accounts sit on the item window alongside cost and price, or flow from the item’s class. In Sage 50 Canada (Simply Accounting), the same fields are on the records in the inventory and services list. Rather than opening items one at a time, pull the item list report: Reports & Forms, Inventory, Item List. If the standard list does not include the account columns, export the items (covered below) and filter the spreadsheet on the account number; that gives you the exact set of records to fix. Menu wording shifts slightly between releases, but these are the standard locations.
Repoint the items, then retry
Back up the company file first. Edit each item that references the account, select the replacement account, and save. Existing transactions stay posted where they posted; the change only affects new activity. Once no item references the old account, return to the chart of accounts and repeat the move. It should go through.
Do not forget the defaults
Inventory defaults can hold the same link. In Sage 50 US, check Maintain, Default Information, Inventory Items, plus your item classes if you use them; in Sage 50 Canada, check the inventory settings. Clear those too, or the next item you create will quietly rebuild the block.
Many items: export, edit, import
For dozens or hundreds of items, skip the typing. US releases offer File, Import/Export: export the inventory item list, change the account column in the spreadsheet, and import the records back. Import a small test batch before committing the full set. If the import rejects the records, or the account fields on the items turn out to be locked, the links have to be rewritten inside the data itself. That is routine work for our engineers, and a free evaluation of your file will show exactly which records are involved and what clearing them takes.
If you are cleaning up for a conversion
Readers hitting this while tidying the books before a move to QuickBooks can stop tidying: a proper Sage 50 to QuickBooks conversion maps the old accounts across whether or not they are still linked to items, so this block does not need to be solved first.
Next step
If the account still refuses to move after every item, class, and default has been cleared, something else is holding the link, and that is worth diagnosing before you force anything. Send the file for a free evaluation and we will list every record referencing the account, then confirm the fix with you before any work starts. You will know the full scope before deciding anything.