Inventory Reports: Contents and Purpose | How to Prepare a Detailed Inventory Report for Your Business

Vu Khoi

Author at Wotech Electronics Blog

The inventory report is one of the most important reports for any business. It helps companies manage goods, equipment, and more. From there, businesses can set their development direction and draw up suitable business plans. So let's explore with SimERP what an inventory report is and how to lay out an inventory report template!

What is an inventory report template?

An inventory report template is a report consolidating the stock on hand of an organization, business establishment, or company. The report periodically controls the quantity of goods and materials in stock each month, clearly showing the quantity status of goods still on hand at the beginning and end of the period.

What is an inventory report used for?

The inventory report template contains information related to the quantities of each type of goods held in stock. It details the unit of measure, the quantity of goods and materials in stock at the beginning of the period, the quantities received and issued during the reporting period and cumulatively, and the closing stock quantity. The warehouse accountant is responsible for preparing the report and submitting it to company leadership for each period.

The inventory report is how a business keeps control of its growth rate. In addition, businesses can use the inventory report to understand how they are developing.

Each relevant department must be ensured to provide the most accurate information, so that information on stock quantities is as accurate as possible.

Learn more: Why manage inventory? Which methods are effective?

Guide to preparing an inventory report for your business

Businesses can use the BO7 – H report template. This template mainly includes the following contents:

• Name of the unit preparing the report

• Reporting period

• Names of the types of goods and raw materials, presented and listed in order, and also divided into different categories (as shown in the image)

• Unit of measure: each type of goods has its own unit, such as piece, set, item, etc.

• Beginning-of-year stock: the quantity of each type of goods, materials, and equipment (Qty), which is then converted into value in the (Amount) column.

• Receipts and issues: the quantity and value of each type of goods, calculated the same way as the opening stock above. However, in these cells you enter either the current period or the cumulative figures from previous periods.

• Closing inventory: detailed information on quantity and value (calculated the same way as the beginning-of-year stock).

• The bottom row is the total of all the above categories.

Notes when preparing an inventory report

The person responsible for preparing the inventory report must calculate accurately. The preparer can use software to obtain the most accurate and fastest results, which helps confirm that the information on the report is correct. Once the report is complete, all relevant parties must sign and print their full names: the head of the accounting department, the report preparer, and the unit's leadership. The unit's leader must also affix the company seal to certify all the information presented in the report.

The date of preparation must be written out in full — day, month, and year. This time information must be presented before the relevant departments sign off.

Once the report is done, leadership can see the status of goods issued and received, and from there the accounting staff can also calculate actual sales revenue.

Learn more: What is warehouse management? The tightest and most effective processes

Consolidated inventory report template

In terms of presentation, this template is similar to the B07 – H inventory report template. However, to prepare the consolidated inventory report, confirmation from the warehouse keeper is also required.

Normally, whenever goods or materials are received or issued, the warehouse keeper reports it to the accountant at the end of the day. The accountant then carefully records all of that information in the general ledger.

More importantly, this is the basis for preparing the consolidated report, and it is also one of the documents used to reconcile and compare the recorded results against the actual results. For that reason, achieving highly accurate information requires confirmation from more parties, including the report preparer, the warehouse keeper, the accounting supervisor, and the head of the unit.

Difficulties with traditional warehouse management and reporting

In the digital age and amid the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, traditional inventory reporting suffers many shortcomings, such as:

• Companies often manage their warehouses by keeping paper ledgers or entering data into Excel spreadsheets. Both methods are time-consuming and prone to errors or data loss. For a business carrying hundreds or thousands of product types, each with its own expiry date and storage requirements, the warehouse keeper's job simply cannot be completed without support from modern tools.

• Traditional record-keeping means information is not updated regularly. As a result, the business owner cannot accurately track current stock levels.

• Stock quantities are not updated in time. This can have a major impact if errors occur during reporting — the owner will be unable to respond promptly.

For these reasons, finance and accounting software plays a very important role for businesses. Managers using software can closely monitor and control the status of goods, materials, and equipment in the warehouse.

Effective warehouse management software

SimERP software

About SimERP

SimERP is an Enterprise Resource Planning software with the following standout advantages:

• Accounting features built to Vietnamese standards

• Powerful team management

• Flexible user count adjustment

• Diverse deployment models

SimERP's warehouse management solution

SimERP's modules and applications are integrated on a single platform, easy to use on both the web and mobile devices. They cover many management functions, from projects, sales, and accounting to warehouse management. For manufacturing organizations, the following management modules may be of particular interest:

• Accounting: An internal accounting management system built to Vietnamese accounting standards.

• Warehouse: Helps the business accurately manage the quantity of goods in the warehouse, making management easier and more effective.

• Manufacturing: Management of Production, Quality, Maintenance, and Product Lifecycle Management is integrated on a single platform.

SimERP is currently offering a free 30-day trial of the SimCRM module. Sign up for a trial here!

Conclusion

With the information in this article, we hope you have gained plenty of useful knowledge for preparing inventory reports. If you have any further questions, leave a comment below this article so SimERP can help you out quickly!

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