Anyone counting stock
Inventory count sheet
An inventory count sheet compares the units a system says you hold against the units actually on the shelf, per SKU and per location, and prices the difference at landed cost. The variance column is the point: unpriced shrinkage is invisible, and priced shrinkage is a decision.
The file
nouz-inventory-count-sheet.csv · 10 columns · one example row
Count in cost, not in units. Six missing shirts is a shrug; €114,90 of missing stock, repeated across a catalogue, is a real line in a real month. Value the variance at cost rather than at retail, because stock is money spent, not revenue lost, and pricing it that way puts it in the same units as everything else on the statement.
Locations matter more than most stores expect. Stock reserved for a wholesale order, units sitting on the returns bench and anything in a second warehouse are all real and none of them can be sold to the next customer, so counting them into one number is how a well-stocked product goes out of stock. The same logic underlies stock coverage, which is only honest when it counts saleable units.
Count often and narrowly rather than annually and completely. A rolling count of the fastest twenty SKUs every month finds problems while they are still small and costs an hour; a full annual count finds them a year late. Price each variance at the landed cost of the unit, not at what it would have sold for, and whatever the count says, the counted number wins: an inventory system that disagrees with the shelf is wrong by definition.
How to use it
- 01Export expected units per SKU per location from your shop or warehouse system.
- 02Count physically, without looking at the expected column first.
- 03Enter counted units, then let variance_units and variance_value follow.
- 04Price the variance at landed cost, not at retail: this is money spent, not revenue lost.
- 05Correct the system to the count, and keep the sheet: repeat variances point at a process, not an accident.
What is inside
| Row | sku | product | location | expected_units | counted_units | variance_units | unit_cost | variance_value | counted_by | count_date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AW-TEE-BLK-M | Essential tee, black, M | Main warehouse | 420 | 414 | -6 | 19.15 | -114.90 | Ibrahim | 2026-08-31 |
| 2 | ||||||||||
| 3 |
Every column, explained
| sku | The variant counted. |
|---|---|
| product | A readable name for the row. |
| location | Warehouse, shelf, returns bench or reserved stock. |
| expected_units | What the system says you hold. |
| counted_units | What is actually there. This one wins. |
| variance_units | counted_units minus expected_units. |
| unit_cost | Landed cost of one unit, so the variance can be priced. |
| variance_value | variance_units times unit_cost. |
| counted_by | Who counted, because repeat variances have patterns. |
| count_date | The day of the count. |