Monthly Stock Count: Do It Fast, Find Where Stock Goes
The book says 120 packs of cigarettes; the shelf has 112. The drinking water is short by exactly one carton. And the lemon shower gel is 3 bottles over, while the mint one is 3 bottles under. If you have never counted your stock, you don't know any of this — and you keep reordering and calculating profit from a stock "on paper" that is far from the real one.
A monthly stock count doesn't need a whole day or a closed shop. This article shows how to do it quickly, count accurately and — most importantly — read the discrepancies to find out where stock is going, instead of just changing numbers until they match.
Why count every month
The stock number in your notebook or software is only right if every item coming in and going out is recorded. In practice there are always gaps: a cashier picks the wrong item, 10 cartons received get recorded as 12, broken goods are thrown away without a note, a few items go to another branch "I'll record it later" and nobody does, or goods are simply taken.
Each gap is small, but after a few months:
- You reorder wrong: the record says 40 boxes left so you don't order, while the shelf is already empty.
- Your profit is wrong: lost stock is lost capital, but it never shows up in the sales report.
- Theft goes on: if nobody counts, nobody notices, and whoever takes goods feels safe.
Counting every month keeps differences small, while people still remember what happened that month and causes are easy to trace.
Prepare before count day
Most of the time you save comes from preparation.
- Pick a time with no sales: the evening of the last day of the month after closing, or early on the 1st before opening. If you sell while counting, the numbers will never match.
- Close every open document: goods the supplier already delivered — record the receipt; transfers between branches that have arrived — confirm receiving; online orders packed but not yet delivered — set them aside with a note. Stock that is "half in, half out" is the most common source of false differences.
- Split the shop into zones: shelf 1, shelf 2, the fridge, the back store, the cashier counter… Each zone gets its own count sheet.
- Tidy the shelves the day before: put the same items in one place, opened cartons in front. Items spread over three places get missed or counted twice.
- Set aside damaged and expired goods in a labelled box — count them separately, don't mix them with sellable stock.
How to count accurately
Two people per zone: one counts, one writes
One person counting and writing easily reads the wrong line. With two, the counter calls out "water 500ml: 9 cartons, 0 loose" and the writer records it on that zone's sheet. A small shop with only two people can do one zone at a time — still faster than one person counting everything twice.
Count "blind" — don't look at the recorded number
The count sheet has only item names and empty boxes, not the recorded quantity. A counter who knows "there should be 120" will unconsciously count to 120. Count blind first, compare after.
Agree on units
Write clearly whether you count cartons or bottles, packs or sleeves. Convert to one unit when comparing (1 carton = 24 bottles). Many "strange" differences are just one person writing 9 (cartons) and another reading 9 (bottles).
Mark what is done
Stick a note or clip on each shelf you've finished. At the end, one look tells you which zone was missed.
No need to count everything weekly: cycle-count high-value items
A full count once a month is enough for most items. But small, expensive, easy-to-lose goods — cigarettes, formula milk, cosmetics, batteries, phone accessories, liquor — deserve an extra count every week:
- Split this group into 4 parts and count one part each week. Every item gets counted at least once between two monthly counts.
- It takes only 10–15 minutes at the start of the morning shift.
- You find shortages days earlier instead of at month end — while camera footage is still there and people remember who was at the counter.
Compare with records and read the differences
After counting, write the real number next to the recorded one, calculate the difference and multiply by cost price to see how much money it is. Example from a mini mart:
| Item | Recorded | Counted | Difference | Cost price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water 500ml | 240 bottles | 216 bottles | −24 | 0.15 USD | −3.60 USD |
| Cigarettes (pack) | 120 | 112 | −8 | 1.50 USD | −12.00 USD |
| Shower gel, lemon | 30 | 33 | +3 | 3.00 USD | +9.00 USD |
| Shower gel, mint | 25 | 22 | −3 | 3.00 USD | −9.00 USD |
| AA batteries (card) | 60 | 54 | −6 | 1.20 USD | −7.20 USD |
Total short 31.80 USD, total over 9.00 USD, net difference −22.80 USD (about 91,200 Riel at a rate of 4,000). But don't look only at the total — each line tells a different story:
| Sign | Common cause | Where to check |
|---|---|---|
| Off by exactly one carton/pack (water −24) | Receipt recorded with the wrong number of cartons, or supplier delivered short and it was signed anyway | Purchase receipt, supplier invoice |
| One item over, a similar item under by the same amount (shower gel +3/−3) | Cashier picked the wrong item at sale (same price, different scent/size/colour) | Not lost stock — remind staff to scan the barcode instead of picking by hand |
| Small shortages in small, expensive items (cigarettes, batteries) | Theft, or sales not recorded | Weekly cycle counts, cameras, cashier shift checks |
| Branch A short, branch B over — same item, same quantity | Goods moved between branches without a transfer | Ask both managers; from now on a transfer document is required |
| Extra stock with no clear reason | Customer returns or receipts not recorded | Return history, purchase receipts |
The shower gel pair shows why reading each line matters more than the total: +9 USD and −9 USD cancel out, but they are a sign that staff are picking the wrong item — and if it continues, best-seller reports and reorder levels for both scents will be wrong.
Adjust the records — always with a reason
Once you've looked into the cause, set the recorded stock to the counted number. Two rules:
- Set the absolute counted number, don't add or subtract in your head — that avoids a second mistake.
- Write a reason for every adjustment: "supplier short 1 carton – receipt 12 Oct", "mixed up with mint scent", "unknown – suspected loss". At year end, the most frequent reason is exactly where your process needs fixing.
If the cause is an unrecorded purchase or transfer, record that purchase or transfer instead of only adjusting, so the history of where stock came from stays correct.
In LeangPos, the Stock by branch page shows the quantity of every product, with quick search by name or SKU. Click Adjust stock, enter the new counted quantity and a reason — the system calculates the difference and saves it in the movement history as an "Adjustment", next to the sales, receipts and transfers of that same item. Details in Viewing stock & making adjustments.
Track your shrinkage rate month by month
One number is enough to tell whether your stock control is getting better or worse:
Shrinkage rate = net value of missing stock (at cost) ÷ monthly sales
For example, the whole shop is net short 48 USD at cost this month, with monthly sales of 8,000 USD → shrinkage 0.6%. The absolute number matters less than the trend: 0.3% last month and 0.6% this month means something changed — a new employee, a new supplier, or a shelf out of camera view.
With several branches, calculate it for each one. A branch with an unusually high rate is where you should go and count in person — see also Opening a second branch on moving goods between branches with proper transfers.
A stock count in five steps
- Close open receipts, transfers and online orders before the count.
- Count outside selling hours, by zone, two people per zone, blind, with agreed units.
- Compare with records, multiply differences by cost price, read each line using the table of signs.
- Adjust to the counted number, with a reason every time.
- Note the monthly shrinkage rate to compare next month; cycle-count expensive items weekly.
Regular stock counts plus closing cashier shifts are the two most effective ways a shop stops losses: one protects the goods, the other protects the cash. If you want stock that goes down automatically when you sell, up when you receive, with a full history ready for every count, try LeangPos for free.
