When performing the stock count, people doing it need to be able to write down the amounts they have counted. While writing essentially isn’t a problem, a few things need to be kept in mind when dealing with sheets the results are written onto.

Since you want the whole process to be as fair and correct as possible, your count sheets should include as minimal information as possible. However, depending on the type of inventory, there may be couple of specifics you want to consider on the counting sheets.

When there are different types of inventory in stock, you might want to put the unit type on the count sheet – i.e. pieces, boxes, kilograms, tons, meters etc. This way you ensure that the persons counting the stock do know in which units it should be counted.

Another useful thing to put on the sheets is names of the items. Essentially the list of names comes from the inventory ledger i.e. representing the list of all goods listed and accounted on the balance sheet. The name gives the people counting also an idea what to look on the ‘floor’ and makes it easier to find from the counting sheets as well.

However, make sure you also have space or a separate sheet for all those goods currently physically in stock but not on the ledger obviously. While they are on your property, it’s a high chance they actually also belong to your company meaning they need to be recognized as inventory.

Another thing you really need to watch out for is the amounts – never add them to the count sheets. Whilst this is obvious for some, there still may be people saying ‘But then we know what the amount to look for is’. The whole idea behind inventory count is to count the actual amount.

So in summary, you do want your count sheets to be well thought through and eventually be helpful to the ones doing the counting.