Inventory count of goods and materials

When the books say one thing and the shelves another, every decision on purchasing, pricing and sales becomes guesswork. Orders are accepted for stock that is not actually there, and items are reordered only to turn up later in a far corner of the warehouse. An inventory count of goods and materials (known in Uzbekistan as TMB) removes that uncertainty: we record what is physically in your warehouse, shop or workshop on a single date, compare it with your records and document every difference. Our own team carries out the count as an external contractor; from your side we need preparation and the presence of the person financially responsible for the stock.

What the service includes

The count covers goods for resale, raw materials and supplies, spare parts, packaging, semi-finished and finished products. The scope of work includes:

• exporting book balances from 1C or Excel and preparing them for the count: flagging duplicates, zero and negative balances;
• dividing the warehouse into zones and drawing up a count map;
• counting with barcode scanners and recording by hand any items whose code cannot be read;
• listing goods in transit, goods held for third parties and damaged goods separately;
• recounting lines with differences by a different counter;
• reconciling the results with the books and analysing the causes of differences.

How we work

1. Site visit. A specialist inspects the site and establishes the number of items, the storage method (racking, pallets, open yard) and the working mode.
2. Contract. Price, timeline, count date and confidentiality terms go into the contract; an NDA is signed separately.
3. Preparation. You post all documents up to the cut-off date; we receive the stock file and draw up the zone plan and the team schedule.
4. Count. Teams work zone by zone; counters do not see the book quantity and record only what is on the shelf. A finished zone is closed.
5. Recount. Lines with differences are checked by another person. The double count removes random errors such as haste, unit-of-measure mix-ups and wrong scans from the result.
6. Reconciliation and handover. Confirmed figures are compared with the books, and the documents go to the inventory committee for signature.

What you receive

• signed count sheets for each storage location and each financially responsible person;
• a reconciliation statement listing only items with differences: surpluses and shortages in quantity and in so'm;
• a final file in Excel or 1C format with your own item codes;
• an analysis of differences: substitutions between similar items, unposted documents, unit-of-measure errors;
• short recommendations on keeping stock records accurate until the next count.

Count sheets and the statement follow the procedure set out in BHMS 19, the national accounting standard on organising and conducting inventory counts, and are adapted to your accounting policy. If you prefer to count some locations yourselves, download the free goods count sheet template and work in the same structure, so the results are easy to combine.

What affects timing and price

The main factor is the number of items (SKUs), but it is not the only one. Price and timing also depend on:

• the storage method: high-bay racking, open yards, loose or heavy goods;
• whether goods carry barcodes and how clean the stock database is;
• the number of sites and the distance between them, including branches in the regions;
• the working mode: business hours, nights and weekends, or without stopping operations.

The online calculator on this site gives an estimate. As a reference: 1,000 items cost about UZS 4 million, 10,000 about UZS 18 million and 50,000 about UZS 53 million. The larger the volume, the lower the cost per item. The minimum order is UZS 2 million, and night and weekend work carries a surcharge. The exact price and schedule are fixed in the contract after the site visit.

Who it is for

We are most often approached by distributors and wholesale depots, building materials traders, manufacturers (raw material and finished goods warehouses), pharmacies and online shops selling through Uzum or Telegram. Typical reasons:

• the mandatory count before the annual financial statements — the preparation steps are covered in detail in our annual inventory guide;
• a change of the financially responsible person or the warehouse manager;
• confirming stock before selling a business, bringing in a partner or taking out a loan;
• establishing the position after theft, fire or flooding.

If shortages come back at every count, the problem lies not in the count but in the processes. In that case it makes sense to combine the inventory with a warehouse audit.