Year-end stocktake checklist for a small shop
Your year-end inventory value goes into the accounts, so the count has to be done once, carefully, and written down. This checklist covers the days before, the count itself and what to hand your bookkeeper. Check with your accountant for the rules in your country; this is a practical checklist, not tax advice.
Free: count sheet to print or fill in
Blank stock count sheet (PDF, A4) to print and write on, and the sample count sheet with variance (.xlsx) to fill in on a computer. Free, no email asked.
Before the count
- Pick the date (the last trading day of your year, or the nearest quiet day) and tell staff and your accountant.
- Export your stock list with SKU, location, quantity on hand and unit cost, and save a copy that will not change.
- Tidy: put loose items back in their bins, set aside returns and damaged goods, and label them.
- Decide the rules: who counts which area, how to treat stock on consignment or already sold but not collected, and the size of a difference that triggers a recount.
- Print one blank count sheet per area, with the expected quantity left off.
- Receive or book in all deliveries up to the count; hold new orders until it is done.
During the count
- Count one area at a time and mark it done, so nothing is missed or counted twice.
- Count in pairs if you can: one counts, one writes. Write the number, not tick marks.
- Note damaged, expired or obsolete items separately; they are valued differently.
- Record counts with initials and time, and keep the paper.
After the count
- Type the counts next to the system quantities and compute counted minus system for every line.
- Recount every line above your threshold (for example 5% and 2 units) before you accept it.
- Value the differences at cost. This is the shrink figure: loss from theft, breakage, miscounts and receiving errors.
- Adjust the stock record once, from the recounted figures.
- Give your accountant the final stock list with quantities and values, and the shrink total.
- Look at which categories lost most. Those are next year's cycle-count priorities.
Free tool: the year-end inventory valuation page turns counted quantities and unit costs into closing stock value by category.
If you want the whole job done: the Stocktake Kit (12 USD)
The free sheet gives you a place to write counts. The Stocktake Kit for Excel adds an import tab for your inventory export, blind count sheets, variance at cost with a RECOUNT flag, an automatic recount queue, a shrink report by category and a 52-week ABC cycle-count calendar. One payment, no subscription, refund within 14 days if it does not work for your shop.
See the Stocktake Kit (12 USD) or buy it now
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