The full history of every product's stock

The story behind every count

A stock count tells you how many you have. It does not tell you why. When a shelf count disagrees with the system, you need the history. In SeroPOS, open Products › List Products, choose a product and pick Stock history. You get a dated list of every movement at that location: opening stock, each sale, each purchase, sell and purchase returns, transfers in and out, and adjustments.

Each line shows the quantity that moved and the running stock after it, so you can see exactly when the number changed. Because every line comes from a real transaction, you can open the sale, purchase or adjustment behind it and check who recorded it, when and at what price, without searching through separate screens.

Tracking down a discrepancy

Say the system shows twelve bottles and the shelf has nine. The history shows a transfer to another store last Tuesday, a damaged-goods adjustment on Thursday and the sales since. Often the gap is a delivery recorded at the wrong location, a return that was not restocked, or a transfer still in transit.

When the history explains the gap, record the fix as a stock adjustment with a reason. That way the correction becomes part of the history too, instead of a silent edit. Anyone reviewing the product later will see both the original movement and the fix, with the date and the reason, so the story behind the count stays complete.

• Opening stock
• Sales and sell returns
• Purchases and purchase returns
• Stock transfers in and out
• Stock adjustments

When the totals themselves drift

Occasionally the stored stock figure and the sum of its movements disagree, for example after an interrupted sync. The Product Stock Details report checks this. For each product it lists opening stock, purchases, returns, adjustments, transfers in and out and quantity sold, then compares the calculated stock with the available stock.

If they do not match, the adjust product stock action brings the available figure in line with the calculated one. It is reached from the product screens rather than the Reports menu. Use it after an unusual event, such as a till that was offline for a long time, and check a handful of your fastest-selling products to be sure their counts are sound.

Good habits that keep history useful

Record every change through the right screen: purchases for deliveries, stock adjustments for waste and damage, transfers for moves between stores and returns for goods coming back. Avoid editing opening stock after you start trading. Each of those screens leaves a line in the history with a reference and a date.

The Activity Log in the back office adds who did what, so a manager can see which user recorded an adjustment. Together, the stock history and the Activity Log answer both questions a stocktake raises: what happened to the stock, and who recorded it. That makes counts quicker to reconcile and easier to trust.