Stocktaking Procedure - The Ultimate Guide

This document provides the essential guide to developing your physical Inventory. In other words, your stocktaking procedure and a training guide bespoke to your business needs.

This guide is 40 pages long with a word count of 6752. 

Objectives of this Stocktaking Procedure:

• Ensure records held for the stock are accurate
• Have an accurate basis for planning and stock control procedures. As this process will enable you to assess the level of stock loss within your business’ sites.

These Aims and Objectives will, therefore, guarantee a high level of accuracy of your inventory returns, lead to better management of stock and therefore lead to a maximizing of profit margins & cash flow.

I have written this stocktaking procedure from a medium-sized company perspective with multiple sites and staff. Thus taking into account as many variants as possible so you can customize to suit your business.

Everyone involved in the procedure should adhere to the steps in this guide to achieve the objectives set out. This will guarantee confidence in the outcome every time. Consequently, the need for repeated physical re-counts (the Reconciliation Process) where inventory returns show discrepancies, with time, should progressively reduce as you conduct stocktake year after year with consistency and efficiency.

At the End of This Guide…..

By the end, you will be able to have a sound understanding and confidence in your ability to answer the following questions. You’ll gain clarity and understanding of how all the different components fit. Moreover, how they follow one another when using this to develop your own stocktaking procedure and training guide:

• How do I prepare and organize a Stocktake?
• Who is involved in carrying out and completing the Stocktake, and how and in what capacity? Defining roles and responsibility
• When do I schedule a stocktake?
• What inventory do I include and exclude in the stocktake counting process
• What do I look for in the item I am counting?
• What Is the Reconciliation Process, why do I need it and how to complete it
• Can I confidently train staff?

To learn more, read my article “Importance of Stocktaking – 7 Proven Advantages Which Defines the Purpose of Stocktaking for Your Business”

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