Inventory Options: Depending on your amount of inventory depends on the options that you have for counting.
If you have a lower amount of items and it is something that 2 people could count in one day, then it would be beneficial to count and reconcile monthly. By being able to reconcile on a monthly basis, it makes the year end one much easier.
If, however, you have a large amount of inventory – what are the options for adding more counts into your cycle? Having a large amount of inventory, you will more than likely have quite a few employees. This helps! However, people are busy.
Doing an annual count and reconciliation can be daunting and very time consuming.
There are some options however to doing regular counts.
- Divide into smaller sized sections and assign people a section or two that they are responsible for counting and reconciling on a regular basis.
- Make a list of the items that are always out and are harder to reconcile annually and count these on a monthly basis to be able to keep more on top of things.
- Run a weekly, biweekly or monthly report and have random counts to see if certain items are good.
There are many different ways to stay on top of inventory issues and breaking them down into bite size portions on a more regular basis assists in keeping things more manageable.
The above are just a few examples of ways that you could break down the sections or inventory items. If you are wanting some more ideas or assistance, please visit www.customizedbusinessessentials.com or contact support@customizedbusinessessentials.com for more customized services.
Questions to Ponder:
Would more regular, structured, smaller inventory counts assist in keeping the inventory more manageable?
Would giving ownership of areas help to manage the inventory better?
Allow the ideas to flow as to what would work best in your environment and make the annual inventory less of a nightmare for everyone involved!
