Why is Stocktaking Important?

REASONS FOR HAVING A STOCKTAKE

1) Retailers are advised to undertake regular stocktakes, if their business is managed by staff then we suggest quarterly checks as its common knowledge that the biggest area of stock losses is through internal staff pilferage, having quarterly stock checks acts a strong deterrent as well as accessing which areas stock is going missing.

If the owners run the business then either six monthly or yearly is quite adequate.

2) Taking regular stocktakes enables you to monitor your gross profits and shows up any areas in which these profits are falling short and can therefore be adjusted very quickly minimising any losses.

Security in any business is vital to its success, regular stock checks reduce and in many cases stops internal pilfering, again can save owners a lot of money, if pilferage remains unchecked it will in many cases escalate to levels whereby the business can fail.

Taking an annual stock check is vital in order to enter a correct closing stock figure in your accounts, estimation by accountants or guessing the figure yourselves is no longer acceptable to the Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise, they like to see an independent company providing an accurate evaluation of stock presented on a certificate of valuation, failing to carry this out correctly can lead to investigations from both these departments which in turn could be extremely costly.

Regular stock checks also identify over stocking, under stocking, stock lost through date expiry and damaged or soiled stock.

3) Apart from as mentioned above with regards to the various government departments wanting to see a professional independent valuation, the benefits of using a professional stocktaking company experienced in your trade is that you can be sure of the accuracy, they will be quicker and qualified to access your stock professionally, if you take into consideration that professional stocktakers make a living at this profession, then if they have been in business for some years it assures you that they are competent to perform the task correctly otherwise they would have ceased to trade.