Why your stock never matches (and how to fix it)

The system says 200 cartons. The godown has 160. Where did the other 40 go? In most businesses the answer is one of three reasons, and most owners never check the third.

Reason 1: Late or missing entries

Goods leave the warehouse in the morning, but the entry is made in the evening, or never. In the meantime sales keeps selling stock that is no longer there.

The fix: no goods leave without a gate pass, and the gate pass updates stock immediately. In BusinessBox, dispatch and gate pass are linked to the sales order and the stock ledger.

Reason 2: Returns that never go back into the system

A customer return goes back on the shelf, but nobody records it. The physical stock is now higher than the system, and next month's count makes no sense.

The fix: every return gets its own voucher that updates stock and the customer ledger together.

Reason 3: One item, two codes

"Blue 1 litre" and "1 litre Blue" are the same product created twice. Purchases go into one code, sales come out of the other, and neither balance is right. This is the reason most businesses never check.

The fix: a clean item master with duplicate checks before new items are created, plus a one-time clean-up of existing codes.

A quick weekly check

1. Pick your 20 fastest-moving items.
2. Count them physically on the same day every week.
3. Compare with the system and note the difference by item.
4. For every difference, find which of the three reasons caused it.

Want to see live, godown-wise stock with gate-pass control? Book a free BusinessBox demo.