Your first recount without records: stall and hardware shop

A bazaar stall, a shop in a building-materials market, a container or a family hardware store often works without an accounting program. Sales are in cash, noted in an exercise book or kept in the head, and the goods lie on the stall, in the back room and at home. One day the owner asks "what do I actually have, and how much?" and finds no answer. In such a place the aim of the first recount is not to find a shortage. It is to establish the opening balance, that is, to set the zero point of the records.

The zero point: why no shortage is visible yet

A shortage is the difference between two numbers: "should be" and "is". If the first number does not exist, neither does the difference. So after the first count you get not losses but a starting position. You will see the shortage in the two to four weeks after the first count, once you have recorded receipts and sales.

The list records the name of the item, the unit of measure (pieces, kilograms, metres, boxes), the quantity, and the purchase and selling prices. If you cannot remember the purchase price exactly, write an approximate figure and mark it "approx." beside it. Confirm it later from the supplier's documents.

All the goods in one place

In shops without records the goods lie in many places: on the stall, in the back room, under an awning, in the car, at home, in a relative's store. Before counting, write down all the places and count everything in one day. Otherwise goods moved from one place to another may be counted twice. Divide the stall into zones: top shelf, middle, bottom, boxes under the counter, back room. Take a sheet for each zone and write the result at once. Agree beforehand with those who work at the stall, family members or helpers: who counts what and who writes it down.

Small goods: counting by weight

Small hardware such as screws, nails, washers and nuts cannot be counted piece by piece: there are thousands. Use the weighing method:

1. Count out exactly 100 pieces and weigh them. For example, 100 screws weigh 85 g, so one weighs 0.85 g.
2. Weigh all the goods with their container and subtract the container weight. For example, the net weight is 4,250 g.
3. Work out the quantity: 4,250 ÷ 0.85 = 5,000 pieces.

Take the sample two or three times and use the average, because pieces do not weigh exactly the same. The scales should be reliable and set to zero. The method is cheap and enough for small goods, but it carries an error of a few percent. Count costly goods, such as power tools, taps and locks, piece by piece.

A notebook or a table: the next step

Enter the result of the first count in a simple table, a notebook or Excel. Then for two months record two things: receipts (by document or purchase) and sales (an approximate total at the end of the day). From then on a formula works: opening balance + receipts − sales = expected balance.

Example: at the start there were 40 metres of cable. In two weeks 60 metres arrived and the notebook shows 70 metres sold. The expected balance is 30 metres. On recounting there were 27 metres, a difference of −3 metres. Now a genuine shortfall is visible, and the cause could be a measuring error, an unrecorded sale or a piece cut off. Once a month recount the 20 best-selling items: you do not have to count the whole stall each time.

What to do with the first result

The first list gives you three things. First, the total value of the goods, that is, how much money lies on the stall. Second, goods that are held in excess and sell slowly. Third, positions that run short and are reordered often. Do not rush to call the first result "losses": it is only a starting point. The main work begins in the following months.

Conclusion

A first count where there are no records sets the zero point: all the goods written down in one place, in exact units, with approximate prices flagged. Small items are counted by weight, and in the following weeks receipts and sales are recorded. The Pereuchet team counts bazaar stalls and hardware shops too, weighs small goods to count them and hands over the opening list as a file for Excel or 1C.