Stock discrepancies: finding and fixing them
Physical stock never quite matches the book. The usual causes in order of likelihood, the verification discipline that finds them, and the fix for each.
The mismatch is normal. The mystery is optional.
Every live godown drifts from its book — goods move faster than entries, hands are human, and physical stock verification exists precisely because the two records diverge. A mismatch is not a scandal.
A mismatch nobody can explain is the problem, and the difference between the two godowns is discipline, not honesty.
The causes, in their actual order
Chase causes in order of likelihood, and most mysteries dissolve early.
Suspicion is expensive; spend it after the arithmetic.
The discipline: verify where stock changes hands
Annual counting finds discrepancies a year late.
At inward
Counted against what was ordered, the day it arrives.
Before dispatch
Checked physically against what was sold, before anything is packed.
When returns come home
Counted again — each handover verified is a variance caught the day it was born.
Each handover verified is a variance caught the day it was born — and stock reconciliation shrinks from an annual archaeology to a running habit.
When a variance does surface, close it with a dated cause.
A ledger of causes, read quarterly, tells you which of the five is eating your margin — and that is a finding you can act on.
The record that makes questions answerable
The discipline above works on paper with patience.
Software sharpens the one part paper does worst: knowing who touched what, when — so a variance becomes a question with a short list of answers instead of a room of suspects. The physical check before dispatch and the running count both have their pages:
Pull your last unexplained variance — then trace one like it at a demo.
Ask for a demo