Once the stock take is finished all the stock sheets must be collected, accounted for and passed to the data capturers for processing. Each discrepancy will be highlighted for further investigation.

The first step in this investigation will be a recount of the specific stock item. If this is not the cause of the problem the data capture will have to recheck the figure they entered.  Sometimes the cause for the difference is as simple as that.

There are two types of discrepancies, they are as follows

1. Excess [or surplus] stock occurs when we count more stock than the records reflect. This means is that we have too much stock.

2. Deficit [or negative] stock occurs when we count less stock than the records reflect. This means that we have too little stock.

How we handle these discrepancies will depend on their monetary value.  In other words how much will it cost us?

For “minor” discrepancies we will adjust the records without further investigation

For “major” discrepancies an investigation will be carried out. 

Each organization will have its own rules on what falls into the major category and what falls into the minor category.