Perform a stocktake

Perform a stocktake to check that the number of stock items you actually have in your warehouses (and bins) match the number of items you have recorded in Sage 200.

Sage 200 will help you with your stocktakes. First you create stocktake lists based on either the stock items or bins that you want to count. You will then count your stock using the stocktake lists, and record your actual stock levels. After you finish counting, you approve your stocktake count, which will record any differences and update your stock levels.

Stages of a stocktake

The stages of the stocktake process are:

1. Create a stocktake list.

   You can create a stocktake list by either choosing the stock items or the warehouse bins that you want to count.

   • When you first create a stocktake list, its status is set to Selecting items.

   • When you've finished preparing the stocktake list, you then save the list and its status changes to Entering values (the status is shown in Manage Stocktake).

     When the stocktake list is saved, the quantity in stock at that time is recorded as the Expected quantity. When the stock is counted and the new Actual quantity entered, any adjustments made are based on the Expected quantity already recorded. Any changes that are made to the stock quantity are not taken into account after the stocktake list is saved (and has a status of Entering values).

2. Count your stock and enter values in your stocktake list.

   Use your stocktake list to record the quantity of the stock items that you have counted.

   • Once you've entered quantities in the stocktake list, you then finish the stocktake and its status changes to Requires approval.

3. Approve and complete the stocktake.

   Check the quantities and any discrepancies on the stocktake list, then complete the list to finalise the amended stock quantities. This will post the necessary transactions to the Nominal Ledger, and the stock records and the stock movement history are updated (if required).

   • Once you've checked the quantities, you then complete the stocktake list and its status changes to Complete.

Prepare your stocktake lists

Create your stocktake lists

The first stage is to create a stocktake list of the items that you want to count. You create a list for each warehouse, that contains the stock you want to count. You create lists by selecting either the stock items or bins.

Count by stock item

You can create stocktake lists by selecting stock items from a warehouse.

• You can select individual stock items.
• Use the Auto select option to select multiple items by their product group, date, stock quantity, traceable item type, and stock value. For example, this is useful if you only want to count your high value items.

Count by bin

You can create stocktake lists by selecting the bins from a warehouse.

• You can select one or multiple bins from the selected warehouse.

• You will only see the stock items in the selected bins when you enter values for the stocktake.

When you're ready to count stock and enter values

Once you've finished preparing your stocktake list and are ready to start counting, use Save List to change the status to Entering values.

The quantity in stock at that time is recorded as the Expected quantity, and any changes to the stock quantity after this point are not taken into account.

• When you save the list, you can choose to Pre-fill Actual Counts with the expected values.

  This makes it easier to record stock counts, as it automatically enters the expected quantity from Sage 200 as the actual quantity. You will then only need to enter values for those stock items where there is a discrepancy in the actual quantity. This is useful if your actual quantities are usually close to the expected quantities.

See Prepare a stocktake list.

Enter values for your stocktake lists

Once you've created your stocktake lists and saved them, you can start entering values of stock that you have counted.

• The stocktake list will show the Expected quantity for stock items, if you chose to Show expected quantities when entering values when you created the list.
• The stocktake list will pre-fill the Actual quantity for stock items, if you chose to Pre-fill Actual Counts when you saved the list.
• If the expected quantity of a stock item is below zero, you cannot enter the Actual quantity unless you have chosen to Allow entry of stock counts for items with negative stock levels in the Stock Control Settings in the Sage 200 desktop. If this setting is enabled, you can enter an Actual quantity for the item of zero or above.

See Enter values for a stocktake.

Approve and complete the stocktake

Once you've finished entering values in your stocktake list, you can check any discrepancies before you approve and complete the stocktake.

This will record any differences and update your stock levels.

You can control who can approve and complete the stocktake by setting user access to this feature. To do this, use User Access in the Sage 200 desktop.

See Approve and complete a stocktake.

Outcomes of completing a stocktake

• The stock records are updated with the new actual stock quantity.

  Note: If nothing has been entered in the actual quantity for a stock item, the item is not updated.

• If the stock level has increased, the additional stock is added using the:

  • Average cost price for items using the FIFO and Average costing methods.
  • Standard cost price for items using the Standard costing method.

• Changes in stock quantities are recorded in the stock item history with a Movement Type of Stocktake.

  You can see this by using Stock Item History.

• An adjustment is posted to the following two nominal accounts: the default stock nominal account for each stock item, and the stock Variance Account nominal account that you have specified.

  Note: The stock records for traceable items are not updated, and no nominal transactions are posted.

  The transaction date that is used is the Stocktake date when the count values were entered.

  The adjustment value is calculated using the:

  • Average cost price for items using the FIFO and Average costing methods.
  • Standard cost price for items using the Standard costing method.
• The status of the stocktake list will change to Complete.

View stock adjustments

You can go back to view check any discrepancies and adjustments for a completed stocktake.

See View stocktake adjustments.

Stocktake example

• Stocktake lists are produced and a stock item has 10 in stock at the time.
• The stocktake is carried out and 8 items are counted. This new quantity is entered, but the stocktake is not completed.
• Before the stocktake is completed, a sales order is despatched for 3 items. The quantity in stock is now 7.
• The stocktake is completed and an adjustment made to the stock level of minus 2, as this is the difference recorded when entering values.
• The stock level for this item is now set correctly as 5.

When to do a stocktake

There are no rules about how often to do a stocktake. It's up to you how regularly you do this and how you manage the process.

We recommend that you perform a stocktake when trading has stopped and no changes made to the stock, either through Sage 200 or physically at the warehouse.

Set how often stock items are due a stocktake

You can set how often you want to count specific stock items.

1. Amend the stock item, then move to the Details tab.

2. Enter how often (in days) you want to do a stocktake for the item in Stocktake every.

See Details (stock item).