Cycle counting your inventory

You can validate inventory balances by periodically counting a set of inventory in storerooms. Counting can help ensure that all inventory is validated at least annually and that your most valuable or most frequently used inventory is validated more often.

About this task

By default, inventory that has an overdue or nearly due count date is shown at the top of the Counts table. The count due date for an item is calculated based on the date of the last physical count in this storeroom and the count frequency.

Count frequencies often relate to the value of the items or how quickly certain items are consumed. The count frequencies can be specified manually for items in storerooms. They also can be assigned by associating an ABC type with the items in that storeroom and running the ABC analysis report in the Inventory application. The frequency values for the ABC types are specified in the Organizations application.

If an item is located in multiple bins, the Counts table shows a row for each bin. Obsolete items and items in staging bins are not included in the table.

Procedure

  1. On the Storerooms page, select the storeroom that has inventory that you want to count and then select the Counts tab.
    Storeroom inventory can be filtered or sorted by several criteria to help you identify which inventory to count.
  2. Specify a new count value for the items that you selected and counted.
    Before you update the New count field, it shows a numerical value if the previous balance was counted but not reconciled. If the previous balance was counted and reconciled, the field shows two dashes.
  3. Save your changes.

Results

Saved counts are updated. Current® balances are not adjusted until balances are reconciled.

What to do next

Reconcile the balances. Balances can be reconciled on the Reconcile tab of the Storerooms page. Balances also can be reconciled in the Inventory application by using the Inventory Adjustments > Reconcile Balances action. Reconciliation records any losses or gains to the GL accounts of the storeroom.