Field Notes
Planning year-end inventory counts on multi-site plants
Count teams, cut-off tags, and scrap piles that never appear in the perpetual ledger — a practical briefing for finance and warehouse leads.
Year-end inventory observation fails most often in the week before the count, not on the day itself. When a plant runs three sheds and a cold annex, finance needs a single count instruction that warehouse supervisors can actually follow.
Agree the shut-down window early
Auditors need a freeze — or a carefully documented movement log — while counts are underway. If production must continue, designate a quarantine lane for goods received during the count and treat those receipts as post-count additions.
Tag cut-off, not just quantities
We still find finished goods staged for shipment with last month’s packing lists attached. Count tags should record the intended shipping document date so revenue cut-off testing later has a trail.
Walk the scrap and returns corners
Perpetual systems rarely hold damaged lots that sit behind the loading bay. A short scrap schedule signed by the warehouse manager prevents last-minute write-downs during partner review.
If your year-end falls in March, start site mapping in January. Request an estimate if you want inventory observation scoped into a statutory audit.