Year end physical inventory is the process of having your staff physically count your pool & spa business’ entire inventory to ensure an accurate accounting figure on your tax return. This also provides an accurate starting inventory for the upcoming season and insight into discrepancies. These updated counts should accurately reflect the quantity of inventory on hand. We all know this grueling process is not usually fun, but it does provide highly important information for the business. To make physical inventory less painful for your staff try the following:

• Schedule the physical inventory for a time when your business is least busy, or close your store
• Schedule all staff members to participate in some manner
• Prepare your staff by providing notice of the dates & times the physical inventory will take place
• Let your staff wear jeans, t-shirts & sneakers the day(s) they will be counting inventory
• Order in lunch
• Assign a particular staff member to a specific category. This makes them accountable for that category. Stick to one person per category and not split the category.
• Assign a specific data entry staff to enter in all the counts. These people may start an hour or two after the staff doing the counting.
• If your point of sale system has data collection devices, consider purchasing them to make the physical inventory counting move along quicker. The device will scan the items and synchronize the counts into the POS system so there is no time involved in manually entering data.
• Last but not least, let your staff know how much you appreciate their hard work!
  Check back for information on the best way to do an in season cycle count, how to properly prepare for doing a physical inventory, and methods to prevent mistakes that contribute to inaccurate inventory on hand.

Check back for information on the best way to do an in season cycle count, how to properly prepare for doing a physical inventory, and methods to prevent mistakes that contribute to inaccurate inventory on hand.