# Physical Inventory Audits

A physical inventory audit compares what is actually on the floor with what the books say, and posts the difference as adjustments. Audits run from Inventory → Product on Hand, one facility and location at a time.

The workflow is split the way the work is:

On the floor, people count each product and format by area. They write down what they can see, which is the code printed on the unit, and nothing more.
At the desk, someone with the lot list and the book on screen enters those counts against lots, resolves anything that does not match, and completes the audit.

# Before you start

Audits require the Inventory Admin role. See Roles & Access.
Count sheets are printed by count area. Set up count areas for the location in Settings → Inventory Layout first. See Locations within a facility.
You do not need every movement entered before you count. Counts can be saved while receipts, packaging, transfers and sales for the period are still being caught up. They must all be in before you complete the audit.

# Print count sheets

Open Inventory → Product on Hand.
Choose the facility and location to count.
Open Audits and choose Print Count Sheets.

The packet contains:

Area sheets, one per count area. Each has space for counter, verifier, start and end time, and a row for each product and format. Counters record the code on the unit, position, stacks, units per stack, loose units, loose packs, a total and notes.
A Completeness Checklist listing every product and format with stock in the book, and the codes the book expects. Use it to confirm that each SKU was counted, was found to be zero, or does not apply to that area.

The sheets are blind. They do not show book quantities, so counters record what is there rather than confirming a number.

# Start or resume an audit

An audit covers one as-of date, one facility and one location. Select all three on Product on Hand. The main button in the Audits menu then changes to fit that scope:

Start Audit: no audit exists for this scope yet.
Resume Audit: a draft for this scope has been saved.
View Audit: the audit for this scope is complete. It opens read-only.

The button is unavailable while All Facilities or All Locations is selected.

You can also start from Inventory → Audits. New Audit asks for the facility, location and count date, then opens Product on Hand with them selected and the Audits menu open, so the next click is Start Audit. If that location already has an audit for that date, it offers to resume or view it instead. Only Inventory Admins see New Audit.

Starting an audit puts the grid into audit mode and opens the audit panel along the bottom of the page. A dot beside each product and format shows where it stands:

Not counted.
Some lots still uncounted, or a saved count that needs review.
Counted with a variance.
All lots confirmed at book quantity.

Hover over a dot to see what it means.

# Enter counts

Click a product and format in the grid to open its count. The dialog lists every lot the book holds for that SKU at this location, with its date code, book quantity, physical count and variance.

Enter the Physical Count for each lot. Set physical count to book value fills in a lot that matched.
Choose a Reason for any lot with a variance:
- Cause undetermined
- Damage or breakage discovered
- Prior count error
- Mislocated inventory
- Lot/date-code reclassification
- Unrecorded opening inventory
- Other
Optionally, enter the Count sheet total from the paper sheet. If the lot counts do not add up to it, the dialog says by how much they are over or under. This catches a lot entered twice or a line that was missed.
Choose Save Counts.

Tracked casks are counted individually, one line per cask.

Saving stages the counts. Nothing is posted to inventory until the audit is completed.

# Stock that is not on the list

If the count turns up a lot that is not listed for the SKU, choose Add Unlisted Lot:

A lot that has depleted out of the book: the code on the unit matches a lot the book shows as gone. Pick it from Historical lot, and the count restores it.
Stock with no readable lot identification: the code is missing or unreadable. Enter the Quantity found and a Reason. A lot recorded this way has no date code, so it cannot be aged for freshness or traced in a recall. If you can read a batch number or package date, use the first option instead.

# Product or format missing from the books

If you find a product and format with no book inventory at this location at all, use Add Missing in the audit panel. Add Inventory Missing From the Books takes the product, format, quantity and reason, and optionally restores a matching depleted lot.

If the quantity matches a packaging run that was never logged, the dialog offers Treat matching quantity as pending package log. This stages a pending package-log exception instead of an overage, so the run gets logged properly rather than becoming an audit adjustment.

# Count date and count time

The audit panel shows the date and time the count is true as of. Click either one to change it.

Change Audit Date moves the audit to the date the count was actually taken. Saved counts are kept. Book quantities must then be refreshed for the new date before the audit can be completed.
Count Time sets the moment on that date the count reflects. Movements recorded later that day are left out of the book the count is compared against. Movements on that date with no recorded time cannot be placed, so they are always included. The panel flags them so you can confirm they were on the floor when you counted.

# Check the book

The book can change after you count, for example when a late transfer or a package log is entered for the audit date. Check Book compares the book quantities saved with the audit against the current book as of the count time.

If anything moved, a notice appears in the panel. Review Changes opens Book Inventory Changes, which shows each affected lot's saved book, current book, physical count and new variance. Preserve Counts and Refresh updates the book side and keeps every physical count you entered.

A lot that appeared in the book after you counted cannot inherit a count. It has to be counted before the audit can be completed.

# Audit panel

The panel shows:

Progress: lots counted out of lots required, and how many are still awaiting a count.
Lot totals: Confirmed, Adjusted and New.
Shortage and Overage: the gross units short and over across the audit.
Notices: anything that blocks completion or needs a look, such as changed book lines, new lots that need a count, saved counts on lots that dropped to zero, and movements on the audit date with no time.

# Complete the audit

Complete becomes available once every lot in the book has been counted, the book has been refreshed after any changes, and no saved count is waiting for review.

Before completing, make sure all receipts, packaging, transfers, sales and other movements through the audit date are entered, then use Check Book one last time.

Complete Physical Inventory Audit shows the gross shortage and overage. Confirm the attestation that the counts are accurate and that all known movements through the audit date are entered, then choose Post Adjustments and Complete.

Completion locks the audit. The variances are calculated against the book as of the count time, but the adjustments post today. They are not backdated into the counted period, so periods you have already reported or filed are not changed.

# Drafts

An audit stays a draft until it is completed. Drafts are listed in two places:

At the top of Inventory → Audits, each with Resume.
Under Draft Audits in the Audits menu on Product on Hand, with a badge showing how many are open.

Resuming a draft opens it on Product on Hand where you left off.

To abandon a draft, use the delete icon beside it in the menu. Discard Draft removes the draft and its staged counts. A draft that already has posted adjustments cannot be discarded.

# Audit records

Inventory → Audits lists every audit for the account, with facility, location, date, status and BBLs. View All Audit Records in the Audits menu on Product on Hand opens the same list. Click a completed audit to open its record. Clicking a draft resumes it instead.

An audit completed with this workflow opens as a Physical Inventory Audit record. It shows:

The date, facility and location, and the status.
Confirmed and adjusted lot counts, and the shortage and overage in units and BBLs.
Who attested the counts, and when.
Every lot counted: product, format, date code, book, physical and variance, with the reason, any note, and any corrections made after completion.

Accounts that used the earlier audit tool also have records from it in the same list. Those open in the earlier audit view, which shows them as they were recorded.

# Correct a completed audit

Choose Correct when a count turns out to be wrong after completion. Typical causes are a misread code or a sheet found later. Correct is on the audit panel when you open a completed audit with View Audit, and beside each lot in its audit record.

In Completed Audit Correction:

Choose the Inventory lot. The dialog shows its book quantity and current effective count.
Enter the Corrected physical count and a Correction reason.
Write a Correction explanation naming the record or operational fact that establishes the corrected count. The explanation is required.

A correction posts on the original audit date, not today, because it fixes what was on hand at the time of the count. The original attestation and counts are kept. The panel shows how many times the audit has been corrected, and earlier corrections are listed under Prior Corrections.

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