Performing Inventory Checks or Stock Takes

All the steps you need to take when carrying out an Inventory Check or Rolling Stock Take.

Written By Grainne Reidy (Super Administrator)

Updated at December 14th, 2023

Introduction

The Inventory system operates in conjunction with the following systems:

  • Purchase Order Processing
  • Sales Order Processing  

In this case, the Inventory movements take place at Delivery In or Delivery Out stage.


Alternatively, you can operate the Inventory system without the Order system and use it solely in conjunction with the following:

  • Purchase Ledger
  • Sales Ledger

In this case, the Goods are received into Stock when a Purchase Item Invoice is processed and out of Stock when a Sales Item Invoice is processed.

Currency Considerations

The Inventory Management System operates in Base Currency only as this is what Inventory is valued in regardless of the Currency of the Supplier (Vendor) or Customer. When a Sales Order or Invoice is processed, the Base Currency Price is converted to the Currency of the Customer and presented as the default Price. Similarly, when a Purchase Order or Invoice is processed, the Last Cost is presented in the Currency of the Supplier (Vendor) as the default.


You can still process Orders and Item Invoices from foreign currency Suppliers (Vendors) and sell to foreign currency Customers. For example, you can purchase the same Product in several different Currencies from different Suppliers (Vendors) and then process Sales in multiple Currencies.

Inventory Checks

Inventory Checks can be carried out at any time. The system is always up to date by way of its Transaction orientation focus, with little or no necessity for cumulative roll-ups or summarisations. However, if Inventory has been physically moved into or shipped out of Stock without the requisite Receipt, or Issue system transactions, being fully processed, then you will encounter mismatches between the system versus the physical count.

For Purchases, Inventory is added to the On Hand Quantity:

  • When Goods are received by way of Received Orders. 
  • When the Purchase Invoice is processed for directly purchased Items that are not the subject of Purchase Orders. 

For Sales, Inventory is deducted from the On Hand Quantity:

  • When Order Deliveries are processed.
  • When a Customer Invoice is raised for Items that do not go through the Sales Order Processing system.

Therefore, before carrying out an Inventory Check, you should ensure that such transactions are completed or, at the very least fully understood so that proper account of them can be taken when reviewing the Stock Count.

See:

How do I carry out an Inventory Check or Stock Take?‍ 

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Preparing the Inventory Checklist

How Inventory Counting works

Because the system is entirely transaction-based, the Inventory Count facilitates Stock checking on a rolling basis.  

Inventory Check Prerequisites:

  • All inward and outward-bound Inventory Movements system transactions are cleared.
  • Physical movements from location to location have been fully recorded. If any such location movements are outstanding, make these Location Transfers in the Stock Adjustments program.

How to Create a Stock Count

  1. Go to Items > Product Items > New Stock Take to open the Stock Count screen.

  2. In the Export Stock List tab, use the dropdown filters to select your parameters.


     
  3. In the Stock will be counted by field, enter the Name of the Stock Checker. You can use several Stock Checkers and allocate them specific Locations and/or Item Groups for future use.   
  4. Click Export.
  5. When the file is ready, click Save to save it to your Desktop.

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The Stock List Excel file

Each Export consists of a single Excel Workbook Sheet with detailed information about the selected Products. You can record any:

  • Differences between the Counted Stock and the System held quantity.
  • Revisions you might want to make to the Average Cost. 
  • Notes here which will be subsequently saved in the system, for example, Damages, or Perished Stock.  

Create a Printable Stock List

You can hide any unwanted columns for a printable version you can give to each Stock Checker for manual counting:

 


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Warning

Ensure you do not:

  • Delete any Columns.
  • Change any data in the columns, otherwise, the subsequent Import will not function. The exceptions are Counted Quantity, New Average Cost, or Notes which are already filled in for Import purposes. If you have modifications, overwrite these values on the spreadsheet for subsequent re-importing.
  • Do not add new Rows to the spreadsheet. If you discover Inventory, use the Stock Adjustments Program to rectify this.
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 Importing the Stock Count

When the printed Stock Count Sheets have been returned, any variances in Quantity, Average Cost, and Notes need to be recorded on the previously saved Spreadsheet and then uploaded back into the system.

  1. In the Import Stock Count tab, enter a unique Reference number for the Stock Count and change the Stock Count Date if necessary.  
  2. Click browse and select the Stock List file, then click Upload.  Repeat this action for as many Stock Count sheets as you want.

Correcting Errors

If there are errors in the uploaded file, you will get an Upload Status of Failed. 

  1. Click on the status symbol to get a detailed explanation.


  2. Correct any errors in the saved spreadsheet.
  3. Delete the spreadsheet with errors from the uploads and upload your corrected version. You will receive a message if the file has been successfully processed. 
  4. Click Outstanding Deliveries and Invoices to download these two reports, and print them. If there are Outstanding Deliveries and Invoices, deal with them now before posting the imported file into the System. 



Outstanding Deliveries and Invoices

If you are using Sales and/or Purchase Order Processing:

Inventory movements take place because of Delivery processing. Otherwise, they take place during Invoice processing. 


Consequently, the Outstanding Order Delivery Item list reminds you that:

  • If the Items are delivered before the Stock Count date, the Stock Count Import Posting will overwrite the previously created Inventory Movements. Best practice is to amend the expected Delivery Dates on these Items.

For Invoice Items Not Posted:

If invoice items are processed with a transaction date before the Stock Count Date, the subsequent Stock Count Import Posting will overwrite these Inventory movements. 


You can do any of the following:

  • Change the Transaction Date on these Items to be after the Stock Count Date.
  • Adjust the relevant Stock Items afterwards using the Stock Adjustments program. 
  • Process some or all these Items. Delete the relevant Imported Stock Count Sheets, using the Delete function under Actions. Make the necessary alterations to the saved Stock Count Worksheets and then re-import them.
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Stock Count Import Posting

  1. Examine the Stock Count Summary Report. This is a List of the items to be adjusted and the consequent new Valuation of those Items. You can save it on your Desktop.
     
  2. Click Post. You will see a progress bar.


Stock Count History

  1. In the View History tab, you can call up the Stock Count History and select any previous Stock Count from the Select Previous Stock Count dropdown.  
  2. This will then display all the Imported Stock Count Sheets associated with that Stock Count which you can examine, print, or save.  

These items will not be shown on these reports if you have:

  • Processed some items from the Outstanding Deliveries & Items Reports.
  • Manually adjusted the Stock Levels afterward using the Stock Adjustments Programs.

It is best to adjust the Transaction Dates (which defaults to today’s date) and process these outstanding Orders and Invoices afterward.

 

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