This guide provides essential tips and best practices for conducting a successful stocktake in Lightspeed, particularly relevant for the end of the financial year.
Overview
Stocktake is the meticulous process of physically counting and verifying all inventory within your business. This is crucial for accurate financial reporting, identifying discrepancies, and optimising overall inventory management. By following these best practices, you can streamline the process, minimise disruptions, and achieve a more accurate inventory count.
End of Year Stocktake
The end of the financial year is a critical period for businesses to ensure their financial records are precise and up-to-date. A well-executed stocktake provides a clear picture of your assets and helps in identifying any potential issues with stock shrinkage, damage, or misplacement.
To ensure the most accurate inventory levels for June 30, it is highly recommended to conduct your stocktake before this date, as Lightspeed does not allow for backdating inventory counts.
Key Best Practices
- Proactive Planning
- Do not wait until the last minute. Preparation is the cornerstone of a smooth stocktake.
- Accurate Data
- Ensure all transactions are processed before the count begins to maintain data integrity.
- System Limitations
- Be mindful that Lightspeed does not allow backdating of inventory counts. Therefore, schedule your stocktake appropriately.
- One Poolwerx Way
- Consistent and accurate inventory management across all outlets (including service) contributes to overall business efficiency and accurate financial reporting, aligning with the "One Poolwerx Way" ethos.
Tips and Tricks
1. Plan for your stocktake
- Set a date and time:
- Schedule this well in advance.
- Choose a period when your business is quiet or closed to minimise disruption.
- Communicate the scheduled time to all relevant personnel (e.g. staff, delivery drivers).
- Consider partial or cycle counts:
- For larger business (multi-store, stock sites), a full inventory count at once may not be the most efficient method.
- Consider breaking the stocktake into manageable counting blocks e.g. via product categories.
- Guide/s: Refer to the guides on Full Inventory count or Partial inventory count for detailed instructions.
- Set up scheduled counts:
- It is recommend to set up scheduled counts in advance with the products to be counted clearly defined.
- Assign dedicated counting staff:
- Decide who and how many staff you'll need.
- Ensure they are appropriately trained on the process, including which stock they are counting and its location.
- Process all pending transactions:
- Before you start a count, ensure all incoming purchase orders have been received and all outgoing sales/returns have been processed in Lightspeed. This ensures expected quantities are as accurate as possible.
- Ensure all Lightspeed registers are closed for the period:
- Review your register close report and ensure all register with sales up to and including the day of (or before depending on the time) have been closed. This includes any service outlets.
- Organise the physical space:
- A messy store, warehouse or van/stock site can lead to inaccurate counts.
- Tidy and clearly label all areas where stock is stored.
- Print Barcode Labels:
- If any products are missing barcodes, print them from Lightspeed before the count begins.
- Scanning is significantly faster and more accurate than manual entry.
- Guide/s: Refer to the guide on Printing barcode labels individually or in bulk.
2. Leverage Lightspeed Scanner App
The Lightspeed scanner app can significantly expedite your inventory count:
- Multiple devices: The scanner app allows multiple devices to be used simultaneously for a single count without overwriting each other's data. This is critical for larger stores.
- Offline counting: Counts are uploaded to Lightspeed every 10 seconds when online. If a device loses connection, it will sync when connectivity is restored, preserving data and preventing loss.
- Guide/s: Refer to the guides on How to install the scanner app and How to perform a stocktake count.
Best practice - Pre-sync scanners/devices: Ensure that all devices using the scanner app have fully synced the product database. This can take time for large catalogues but is a one-time process for the first count. We recommend you do this the day before.
3. Review and Finalise Counts
Review:
- Once the counting is completed, review the counted items in LightSpeed on your desktop (navigate to Inventory > Inventory count).
- You'll see tabs uncounted, unmatched, matched, excluded, and all items.
- It is critical that you investigate any discrepancies to ensure the count has been done accurately. For significant discrepancies, recount the physical stock for those specific items. Lightspeed allows you to 'recount' items directly from the review page.
Complete:
- Once satisfied with the accuracy, click Complete to update your inventory levels.
- This will officially adjust your stock on hand figures and values.
4. Next Steps
After successfully completing your stocktake, proceed with the following actions:
- Generate Reports: Generate your stocktake report from LightSpeed (PDF/CSV) to view the expected count, final count, and the financial impact of the adjustments.
- Adjust Inventory in Xero: Use the LightSpeed report to make the necessary manual journal entries in Xero to adjust your inventory and COGS values. Refer to the Xero | Adjusting Inventory & COGS values guide for detailed instructions
- Debrief: Conduct a post-stocktake review with your team to identify areas that went well and areas for improvement for future stocktakes.
Related Guides:
EOFY - Key tasks and how to guides
For any further assistance or issues not covered in this guide, please contact Evo Support.