The simple answer is that you need to do stocktakes to make sure that your business is operating profitably. Your stock (which can also be called your inventory) is basically anything that your business makes or buys to sell or trade, or changes into other products or goods for sale or trade. An annual stocktake is an essential part of inventory control and it’s the best way to keep track of your stock. Stocktaking involves physically counting all of your stock so you can find out exactly what you have, and its value. Once you’ve counted your inventory, you can compare it to your previous stocktake, which lets you see which of your products are selling, and which are not. A stocktake will also identify lost, stolen, or damaged items, which you may be able to write off as a loss. Stocktaking can help you to identify stock control issues and areas of your business that need to improve in order to be more profitable. In the day-to-day running of your business, you can easily lose track of which products are winners and which products you could probably do without. Nothing brings your finances into focus like a good stocktake – it’s a great opportunity to analyse your sales and profits and revise any pricing strategies that aren’t generating maximum profit for you.
