Goods in transit and unposted documents at the cut-off

At the cut-off moment, not every item is cleanly "in the warehouse" or "out of it". A truck stands at the gate with a delivery that has not been unloaded. Pallets sit in the receiving bay with an unsigned delivery note. Goods are loaded and waiting while the shipping paper is still being prepared. If the book treats such an item one way and the count treats it another, the same goods appear in both totals or in neither, and a false difference results. The remedy is a set of written rules, applied in the same way on both sides.

The principle: each item sits in exactly one place

For every item in a grey area, decide whether it is stock, issued, or pending on a separate list. Apply the same decision to the physical count and to the book. The aim is that no item is counted twice or not at all. The rule should rest on things both sides can observe: whether the goods are actually in your possession, and the signature on the document.

Typical cases and a rule for each

These are examples. The point at which ownership passes depends on your contracts, so adjust them with finance.

1. Goods unloaded, checked and signed for on the delivery note before the cut-off but not yet entered in the system: stock. Count them physically, and add the document to a "pending postings" list so that the book is brought up to the physical position.
2. Goods in the receiving bay, not yet checked, with no signature on the delivery note: not stock yet. Record the document number and quantity on a "received, unchecked" list and leave them out of the count total.
3. A truck at the gate or on the road at the cut-off: in transit. Do not count it, and note the document number if you know it.
4. Goods loaded and signed for before the cut-off: issued, even if the vehicle is still on the premises. If the book has not yet recorded the issue, take them out of stock.
5. Goods in the loading area with no signed delivery note: still stock. Count them in a marked area.
6. Returns waiting for inspection: keep them apart from good stock under a separate status, "returns pending".

Keep an exceptions list

Use a simple table with the document number, date, item, quantity, case number (1 to 6), location of the goods, who confirmed it and its status after the cut-off. The warehouse supervisor signs it at the end of the count. Afterwards, check that each pending document was entered with its real date and that the quantities match the list. Opening the list again in the first week after the cut-off and updating the status keeps forgotten documents from lingering.

For illustration, the list has five documents. Two are case 1, of 300 and 120 pieces, already on the shelf but not entered. One is case 2, of 500 pieces unchecked in the bay. One is case 3, a truck carrying 800 pieces. One is case 4, 60 pieces loaded. Without the list, one item shows a false surplus of 420 and another a false shortage of 60. With the list, the book is adjusted by adding 420 as pending and removing 60, and both differences disappear. Cases 2 and 3 appear on neither side and cause no difference, but they must be on the list: if someone later enters them with a date before the cut-off, the book will show more than the shelf.

Who decides

The rules, particularly for goods whose ownership depends on delivery terms, are set by finance together with logistics before the count and written down. The people who count apply them and do not interpret them. The receiving clerk, the shipping clerk and the accountant should all hold the same single sheet. Goods held at customs or in outside inspection also go on the in-transit list.

Summary

Without rules, goods in transit and unposted documents become disputes; with rules, they become one list. While matching scan results with your book item by item, Smart Inventory also sorts out the cut-off exceptions list, so timing differences and genuine differences are reported separately.