Whatever the activity of your company, you have the legal obligation to carry out an inventory once a year.
Beyond its mandatory nature, the inventory allows you to value your stocks, optimize the storage of your goods and correct any errors.
Requiring the mobilization of resources must be carried out quickly so as not to interfere with the company’s daily activity. For some companies, the inventory period is a simple formality, but for others, it is a tedious and time-consuming operation.
How To Prepare Your Inventory?
Carrying out an inventory cannot be improvised. It is necessary to be well prepared and organized. The elements listed below are common sense, but it is essential not to neglect them:
- Define the scope of the inventory and the type of goods, articles, materials, etc. to be inventoried,
- Determine the tasks to be carried out and assign them: who is in charge of the inventory, what is the role of each,
- Plan the inventory and its progress,
- Set up the inventory technique according to its activity,
- Provide staff with the necessary tools,
- Define the locations (site, warehouse, floor, etc.).
What Procedure To Put In Place?
Before carrying out your inventory, as you have understood, you must prepare it rigorously and choose the procedure best suited to your company, activity and resources. This will allow you to avoid several pitfalls.
To achieve this essential and painful task, several methods exist. It’s up to you to choose the one that suits you best:
- The annual or accounting inventory consists of counting its stocks of goods at the end of the accounting year. This inventory is the most expensive and penalizing for the company because it requires a lot of rigor, requires mobilizing employees during this period, and no stock movement is authorized during the inventory.
- Rolling inventory: This is carried out at regular intervals. Not all goods are counted in the same period. It allows, without ceasing its activity, to control the discrepancies, correct them and avoid stock shortages.
- The permanent inventory is possible thanks to the use of computer management software. It takes into account all stock entries and exits in real-time. The advantage is that the data is instantly processed, allowing stocks to be constantly updated. It thus improves the company’s logistics performance.
Choose ERP Software To Manage Your Inventories.
The use of an ERP proves to be very useful in managing its stocks effectively in real-time and, thereby, its inventories.
It optimizes the work of resources dedicated to inventory and considerably reduces errors, particularly related to data entry.
Companies that use ERP can thus implement a permanent inventory strategy. All stock entries and exits are counted and updated automatically in real time. This considerably simplifies the mandatory accounting inventory. Inventory management through an ERP thus allows:
- dDoptimize its supply chain,
- To better control its stocks and value them,
- To control and reduce costs,
- Ensure you always have the right product at the right time to satisfy your customers.
- Obtain strategic data to make informed decisions.
Also Read: SAP – The Importance Of Having A Leading ERP Software In The Market
