Preparing the Balance List Before a Count: What to Export

A day or two before the counting team enters the warehouse, it needs one document more than any other: the balance list. It is the yardstick against which everything counted will be measured, and any flaw in it turns into false differences in the report. It is often pulled in a hurry from the accounting system with columns missing, with filters nobody remembers, or on an unclear date, and then edited by hand afterwards. What follows is how to prepare the list so that it helps the count and does not confuse it.

Why it is the yardstick

A count compares what is on the shelves with what is on the list. If the list was taken yesterday and the count is today, or it merges two warehouses into one, or it gives quantities in pieces while the shelves are counted in cartons, you will not know whether the difference lies in the goods or in the list. So the list is treated like any important document: a date and time, a known source and an owner responsible for it.

The columns to export

A balance report comes out of the accounting program, such as 1C or another, or out of a spreadsheet you keep. Ask for the following columns, or their equivalents in your system:

• Item code and name as written in the system, with the name on the label if it differs.
• Unit of measure and the conversion factor, for example one carton equals 12 pieces.
• Batch and expiry date where relevant.
• Location in the warehouse.
• Quantity at the stated moment.
• Owner: the company's goods, or goods held for someone else.
• Status: available, on hold or damaged.
• Date of last movement, which helps to spot slow stock.
• Barcode, if there is one.
• Cost price, if you decide to include value; otherwise leave it out of the copy the counters see.

Freeze a copy before the visit

Ask the accountant three questions before the export: which warehouse or warehouse code does the report include? Is reserved or shipped stock counted in the balance? Is the date used the document date or the posting date? A different answer to any one of them changes the balance. Once you are sure of the list, save it as a copy that is not edited. Export it as a spreadsheet and in a second fixed format, give the file a name that includes the date and the hour, and send it to the parties concerned at the same time. Write at the top of the file: the name of the warehouse, the date and time of the export, the filters used, the number of rows and the total of the quantities. If a figure changes later, you will know that someone tampered with it. Any movement after the freeze is recorded in a separate list and is not entered in the frozen copy.

Clean up before the count

Do not repair the balances in the frozen copy, but examine them and record your remarks on a side sheet. These are the problems that recur in lists:

• Duplicate items under different names or codes.
• Negative balances, which usually mean that a dispatch was posted before the receipt that matches it.
• Zero balances for items that have had recent movement.
• Mixed units within one item.

A conditional example: a list of 3,200 lines holds 40 duplicate lines, 12 negative balances and 85 items with a zero balance and movement in the last week. If these remarks are dealt with before the visit, they will not appear later in the report as differences that consume days of tracing.

Blind count or open count

Decide in advance whether the counter sees the book balance. In a blind count the counter sees only items and locations, and writes what is found without being influenced by the expected figure. This reduces bias, since counters tend to see what they expect. After the count the figures are compared, and only the differing lines are recounted with the balance in view. An open count is quicker but less neutral. The owner chooses according to the importance of the decision, and the choice is recorded in the scope agreement.

In short

Prepare the balance list with complete columns, freeze it with a date and time, deal with its flaws before the visit, and decide beforehand whether the counters see it. WarehouseDepo takes the list from your accounting system or spreadsheets, sets it against the physical count and explains the differences by item and batch.