Wrong stock figures: five causes found in almost every SME

A wrong stock figure costs twice: you sell what you do not have, and you buy again what you already own. Here is what we find at almost every client before go-live.

1. The issue recorded twice

The delivery note takes the goods out, then the invoice takes them out again. It is the most common error and the quietest: it only shows at stocktaking. The rule: one document issues the goods, and it is the delivery note.

2. The sale with no document

The customer takes the goods, someone writes it in a notebook, it will be entered later. Later never comes. As long as an issue can happen outside the system, the system is wrong.

3. Negative stock allowed

Many tools accept issuing 10 pieces when 6 remain, and display −4. It looks convenient on a busy day. It opens the door to gaps you will never close. With us, the issue is refused.

4. The return that never returns

The customer brings the item back, the credit note is issued, but nobody puts the piece back on the shelf in the system. Conversely, a return entered twice inflates the stock. Every return must be tied to its original delivery.

5. The untracked transfer between warehouses

One shop helps out the other. With no movement recorded, both stock figures are wrong, one up and one down, and the total stays right - which makes the error invisible in group reports.

What it changes in practice

None of these five causes needs smarter software. They need software that refuses. That is a design choice: our applications block the impossible issue rather than record it and let you discover it at stocktaking.