Inventory count forms: a full set of documents for the stock count

Regulatory basis

A stock count (inventory) is mandatory (Article 16 of the Law “On Accounting”); the objects, procedure, timing and document forms are set by NAS No. 19 “Organisation and Conduct of Inventory” (Order No. 141 of 14.06.2024, reg. No. 3548). NAS are Uzbekistan’s national accounting standards. The set: an order, count sheets for fixed assets, inventories and intangible assets, a cash count report, a reconciliation report on settlements, a variance sheet, the commission’s minutes.

What the set of documents consists of

A count starts with an administrative order and ends with the manager’s decision on the discrepancies found. Between these points there is a chain of forms, each recording its own fact.

The logic is simple: the order answers “on what basis”, the count sheets — “what is actually there”, the variance sheets — “where the discrepancy is”, the report — “what the conclusion is”. If one link is missing, the chain of evidence breaks.

• order to carry out the stock count
• receipt from the materially responsible person
• count sheets by type of property
• reports on the count of settlements and liabilities
• variance sheets for discrepancies
• final report and minutes of the commission meeting

Forms for inventories

For stocks, goods and materials a count sheet is used. It lists, line by line, the name, item number, unit of measure, quantity and value per the books, and next to them the actual data obtained during the count.

The sheet is filled in during the count itself, not rewritten neatly afterwards. This is a matter of principle: a draft rewritten later does not prove that the count actually took place.

• count sheet for inventories in the warehouse
• count sheet for goods held in custody
• count sheet for goods in transit and shipped
• count sheet for low-value items in use

Forms for fixed assets and intangible assets

Here the count sheet is built around inventory numbers: the commission checks that the asset exists, its condition and whether it matches the asset card. Assets that physically exist but are not on the books, and vice versa, are recorded separately.

Intangible assets cannot be counted, so the documents confirming the company’s rights and the correctness of their recognition are checked instead. The structure of the count sheet remains similar.

Forms for cash and settlements

Cash is checked with a cash count report: the balance is counted and compared with the cash book on the same date. Simultaneity is especially important here — the count is carried out without a break in operations.

For settlements with counterparties, the budget and employees holding advances, a settlements count report is used. It is usually accompanied by a statement breaking down the debt by each counterparty and by the date it arose.

• cash count report
• report on the count of settlements with customers and suppliers
• breakdown of debt by counterparty
• report on the count of settlements with accountable persons
• report on the count of strict-accountability forms

How to fill in stock-count forms correctly

The first rule is to fill them in based on facts and at the time of the count. The second is not to leave blank lines: empty fields are struck through so that nothing can be added to the document later.

The third is that corrections are made only with a note, signed by all members of the commission. Correction fluid or erasures make the document invalid. Every page of the count sheet is signed, and at the end the number of line items and the total are written out in words.

• filling in during the count itself
• strike-throughs instead of blank lines
• annotated corrections signed by the commission
• signatures on every page of the count sheet
• totals in words at the end of the document
• receipts from responsible persons before and after the count

Where companies most often go wrong

The most common situation is forms downloaded from the internet and not approved in the accounting policy. Formally a company may develop its own forms, but then they must be fixed in an internal document, otherwise the status of the papers is disputable.

The second mistake is using one universal count sheet for all objects. Settlements with counterparties and stocks in the warehouse are checked differently, and trying to squeeze them into one form means important details are simply missing.

It is also worth thinking through how forms are handled when counts take place at several storage locations at once. Each warehouse and each materially responsible person has its own count sheet, and the consolidated result is prepared separately. Trying to keep one shared document for all sites leads to confusion: it is unclear where exactly the discrepancy arose and who is accountable for it. Numbering and labelling count sheets by storage location solves this in advance, before the count begins.

A set of documents from Leader Audit

We prepare a working set of forms tailored to the company’s specific asset structure: with the necessary fields, references to the internal procedure and filling-in instructions for the commission.

Experience of more than 220 audits shows that a tidy set of documents saves weeks of disputes when a shortage arises or the materially responsible person changes.

• designing and approving forms for your specifics
• internal regulation on conducting stock counts
• briefing the commission before the count
• reviewing completed forms for past periods
• support with recording the results in the books