Planning the year-end count around the head-office calendar

At year-end, two calendars collide. Head office in Korea has a closing timetable: figures to be reported by a certain day, reviewed by finance, sometimes confirmed by external auditors. The warehouse in Uzbekistan has its own calendar: public holidays, annual leave, the last big deliveries of the year and, in winter, cold buildings and short days. The count has to satisfy both, and the only way to make that work is to plan backwards from the reporting deadline and not forwards from a date that happens to be convenient.

Start from the deadline

Ask head office finance for three things in writing: the date by which the inventory figure is needed, the format in which it is needed, and what supporting material is expected. Then subtract the steps in reverse order.

For illustration, suppose the figure is due on day D:

• D minus 3: summary and explanations sent to head office.
• D minus 7: adjustments proposed and approved locally.
• D minus 12: reconciliation and recounts finished.
• D minus 14: count finished and results consolidated.
• D minus 20: count started, after preparation and training.
• D minus 35: plan, scope and mapping of codes agreed.

Every site has different durations, so replace these numbers with your own. The principle is that each step has an end date, and that the count date follows from the later steps. A count that finishes on the last working day before the deadline leaves no room for a single recount.

Check the local calendar

Put the following on the same sheet:

• Public holidays and any extra days off around them, and the dates when key people are on leave. Count teams need the storekeepers who know the warehouse, not only the people who hold scanners.
• Deliveries expected near the end of the year. Large receipts just before the cut-off complicate the timing, so agree how they will be treated, or ask suppliers to deliver before or after the count.
• Winter conditions. Unheated warehouses slow people down, scanner batteries drain faster in the cold, and daylight ends early in the afternoon. Plan shorter shifts, more breaks and extra lighting.
• Travel to regional sites, especially if roads or flights are affected by weather.

Tell regular suppliers and carriers the cut-off date and the days on which the warehouse will not receive or ship, and ask production not to schedule large internal transfers on those days.

Count at the year-end, or earlier and roll forward

Sometimes the best solution is not to count on the last day at all. A count shortly before the year-end, with the movements between the count date and the year-end added or subtracted from the result, is known as a roll-forward. It reduces pressure on the holiday period, but it needs a reliable record of movements and the agreement of head office finance and the auditors. Ask them whether this approach is acceptable before you rely on it, and write down the answer.

Fix the plan with a short list of decisions

1. Who is the single contact at head office, and who is the single contact at the site?
2. Which warehouses and which kinds of stock are in scope?
3. Which date and hour is the cut-off?
4. Who approves adjustments, and by when?
5. In what form will the results be delivered, and to whom?

Put the answers on one page and give a copy to everyone involved, including the night-shift supervisor. A plan that only the project lead has seen is not yet a plan.

When the schedule slips

Schedules slip. A delivery arrives late, a key person falls ill, a hall is unavailable. The safest reserve is a block of buffer days placed before the adjustments, not at the very end. If you have to choose, shorten the explanation stage by cutting scope, for example by counting the highest-value items fully and the rest by sampling, but only with the agreement of head office. Do not shorten the cut-off agreement or the recount stage.

Summary

A year-end count succeeds when the date is calculated from the reporting deadline, the local calendar is on the same sheet, and the basis has been confirmed by head office in writing. Smart Inventory plans year-end counts in this order, agrees the cut-off, scope and file format at the start, and can arrange night and weekend work when the schedule is tight, as long as it is raised several weeks ahead.