Introduction
Stock Counts help you accurately record on-site inventory, providing a clear view of stock levels and highlighting any variances that need attention.
This guide covers common questions and troubleshooting tips to help you manage stock counts effectively. Whether you're carrying out a routine period-end count, investigating discrepancies, or reviewing stock performance, the Stock Count feature helps ensure inventory is recorded consistently and accurately.
Use this guide to understand how stock counts work, resolve issues quickly, and gain valuable insight into stock movements and variances throughout the reporting period.
If you can't find what you're looking for, contact Cinchio support for assistance:
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Products Can Be Counted?
In a stock period, you can add these types of products to Stock Period Count Sheets:
- Supplied Type Products: Regular stock items.
- Recipe Type Products: Specifically flagged for "Batch Counting."
- Production Products: Made and preparation items, if using the production feature.
For stock period reporting, only Supplied products are used in stock calculations. If you count a Recipe product that has Batch Counting enabled, the system automatically allocates the counted quantity to the recipe's Supplied component products based on their defined proportions.
You do not need to count every product in the system. Counts are only required for Supplied products that:
- Had an opening stock quantity other than zero at the start of the period, or
- Recorded any stock movement during the period (for example, sales, wastage, transfers, orders, or deliveries).
If a required product is not counted, a Count Exception will be generated and displayed in the Period Exceptions section when you attempt to approve the period.
Can I Enforce Blind Stock Counts?
The Blind Stock Counts feature is enabled which prevents access to expected stock on hand and period reporting whilst a period is still open. Once stock counts are declared and the period has been Approved, reports become available to review.
Troubleshooting
I Have A Stock Count Variance That Needs Investigating.
If you encounter unexpected variances after entering stock counts, the guidance below can help you identify and resolve the cause.
The Period Variance Report provides a detailed breakdown of stock discrepancies identified at the end of the period. In addition to highlighting variances, the report shows the opening stock quantity (carried forward from the previous period's closing count) and provides visibility of all stock movements recorded throughout the period.
Use this information to trace variance sources, verify stock activity, and ensure period counts accurately reflect actual inventory levels.
| Cause | Solution |
|---|---|
| The previous period is not yet approved. | The Opening column of the report will only reflect the closing count of the previous period once it has been approved. Update the state of the previous period to Approved. |
| The count entered is incorrect. | Check the Count column of the report to ensure that the counts correctly reflect the physical stock on hand for the product at the end of the period. If not, update the count sheet to correct the count. |
| The count entered in the previous period is incorrect. | If the count in the previous period was entered incorrectly, the Opening column of the report in this period will be incorrect. To resolve, roll back the previous period and correct the count. |
| There is an outstanding record within the period. (e.g. transfer not yet receive in.) | Ensure that the Trial Approve process has been run within the period, to check for any outstanding records that need to be finalised within the period. |
| A record within the period has the incorrect date. (e.g. supplier order received into the wrong period with incorrect delivered date.) | For the product, check that the movement totals accurately reflect the actual movements that occurred during the week. If not, select the value to view review each record within the period that makes up that total (as covered in This Article). For any records with incorrect dates, roll back the record to correct the date and re-approve it. |
| A mistake has been made in a record within the period. (e.g. wrong product wasted, or incorrect quantity entered.) | For the product, check that the movement totals accurately reflect the actual movements that occurred during the week. If not, select the value to view review each record within the period that makes up that total (as covered in This Article). For any records containing mistakes, roll back the record to correct the mistake and re-approve it. |
There Is A Difference Between Actual & Theoretical Costs.
Within the Margin Summary & Stock KPIs Report and Period KPI Results Report, the total Actual Cost and total Theoretical Cost for the period is shown. Typically there is a small difference between these two costs due for known losses through a combination of:
- Period Count Variance at the end of the period.
- Declared Wastage during the period.
- Yield Loss Wastage during the period. (If using Product Preparations.)
These losses are available to view within the Margin Summary & Stock KPIs Report for each individual period, in the Wastage Analysis section:
In some cases, the difference between actual and theoretical doesn't necessarily equal the total value of losses shown within the Wastage Analysis section as shown above. This is due to the impact of costs changing within an individual period on the Actual Cost calculation, whereby opening stock is valued based on costs at the start of the period (i.e. at the end of the previous period), and closing stock is valued based on costs at the end of the period.
In the majority of cases, cost changes within a period are minor, so the impact on the Actual Cost calculation is minimal. However, below is an exaggerated example to demonstrate how this happens.
| Opening Stock | Purchases | Sales | Closing Stock |
| 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| £100 | £150 | £125 | £150 |
In this example:
- The cost at the start of the period (and therefore end of the previous period) is £1 per unit, hence a count of 100 units gives an opening stock valuation of £100.
- Halfway through the period, and order is received for 100 units, now valued at £1.50 per unit, thus a total purchases cost of £150.
- In the first half of the period 50 units were sold at £1 per unit, and in the second half of the period (after the above order was received) another 50 units were sold at £1.50 per unit. Therefore the total cost of sales (i.e. the Theoretical Cost) for 100 units sold is is £125.
- The cost at the end of the period (and therefore the start of the next period) is £1.50 per unit, hence a count of 100 units gives a closing stock valuation of £150.
In this case, the Actual Cost (calculated as: Opening + Purchases - Closing) of selling the 100 units is calculated as £100, whereas the Theoretical Cost based on the cost at the time of each sale is £125, there the impact of changing costs within the period resulted in a £25 difference impacting actual versus theoretical.