Distribution & Wholesale
Reconciling inventory between the warehouse and the ledger
Situation
A regional distributor with several warehouses found that inventory values in the accounting system regularly differed from operational stock reports. Month-end adjustments were large and difficult to explain.
Approach
- Traced the transaction flow from receipt to sale across systems
- Identified timing and mapping differences causing variances
- Redesigned cycle-count practice and adjustment approvals
- Built a reconciliation report shared by operations and finance
Outcome
Operations and finance moved to a shared reconciled view of inventory, and variances could be traced to specific causes rather than written off.
