A yearly recount calendar

If a recount is held "when the time comes", it either lands on the busiest sales day, or happens when everything is already in a mess, or is forgotten altogether. A yearly calendar settles this in advance: on which date, what kind of count, who is responsible and when suppliers are told. A calendar is not a complicated document; a one-page plan is enough.

Three inputs for the calendar

Before drawing up the plan, gather three lists:

• Sales peaks and lulls. Depending on your trade: Navruz, Ramadan and Eid, the back-to-school season, autumn weddings, New Year. The dates of Ramadan and Eid come about 10 to 11 days earlier each year, so mark them in the calendar afresh every year. In Tashkent and the regions the peaks may differ: market days, village weddings, the harvest season. Include local events too.
• Reporting dates. Quarterly and year-end reports, inspections, tax deadlines. Ask your accountant for which date a confirmation of balances is needed.
• People and systems. Staff holidays, a change of responsible person, plans to move to a new accounting program, opening or closing a branch.

Kinds of count

Not every count has to be the same. For most shops four kinds are enough:

1. Full recount: the whole range. Once or twice a year.
2. Selective count: the most expensive or most often missing groups. Once a quarter, or before and after a season.
3. Small daily count: a little each day, especially ahead of a peak.
4. Handover count: when the responsible employee changes, with both sides present.

A sample calendar

Below is an illustrative plan for a retail shop. You will adapt it to your own trade:

• early January: full recount. New Year sales are over and balances are needed for the annual report;
• February: analysing differences, corrections, a selective count of the fastest-moving groups ahead of Navruz;
• April: a selective count after the Navruz and Eid season, marking slow goods;
• June: a half-year full recount, before the summer lull;
• early August: a selective count ahead of the school season (stationery, children's clothes);
• October: a selective count after the season, a list of dead stock;
• November: a selective count of the fastest-moving groups before New Year, a handover count if staff change;
• December: only the small daily count. A full recount is not planned, since this is the peak.

A time budget

Put working hours in the calendar as well as dates. An illustrative example: a full recount takes 10 people 6 hours, that is 60 person-hours, 120 when held twice a year. A selective count takes 4 people 3 hours, so 48 person-hours when held four times a year. A small daily count of 20 minutes a day comes to about 83 hours a year. In all, close to 250 person-hours. At 25,000 so'm an hour that is roughly 6.3 million so'm. A figure like this shows whether the plan is sound or too heavy.

Rules for the calendar

Each calendar row should show the date, the kind of count, the branch, the responsible person, a reserve day, the date suppliers are warned and the final document. When choosing dates a few rules help:

• count two or three weeks before or after a peak, not at the peak itself;
• leave at least five or six months between two full recounts, otherwise counting becomes routine and attention drops;
• big deliveries and promotions should not coincide with count day, so warn suppliers two weeks ahead;
• name a reserve day for each date: illness, rain or an unexpected delivery can upset the plan;
• in a chain, do not pack the branches into one day; take them in turn.

There are also unplanned counts: when a shortage passes the agreed threshold, when the responsible person changes, before moving to a new program, when a branch opens or closes. So that they do not break the calendar, leave reserve windows for them.

After each count, review the calendar: which date turned out convenient, which got in the way of sales, what the team did not manage. By the second year the plan will be fitted to your own shop.

Conclusion

A good calendar turns counting from an accident into a habit. The Pereuchet team carries out full and selective counts, counts across the branches of a chain and handover counts, fitting in with the dates in your calendar.