Records without clever formulas: just add and subtract

When people hear "records" many picture Excel formulas, complicated software and "VLOOKUP", and get frightened before they even start. In truth the records of a small shop, a market stall or a Telegram seller rest on a single rule: balance = opening + receipts − issues. All you need is the addition and subtraction learned at school. You may never need anything more complicated.

What the rule means

Each word stands for something simple:

• opening: the quantity actually counted on the day the records start;
• receipts: goods that came in, bought or returned by a customer;
• issues: goods that went out, sold, given away or broken;
• balance: how much should be on the shelf now.

Every event in the shop falls into one of these two columns. "Goods arrived" is a receipt, "I sold" is an issue. The good thing about this rule is that it is easy to check. If the calculated balance differs from the real quantity on the shelf, some entry has been missed or written wrongly.

A notebook with three columns

Give each item its own page in the notebook. Columns: date, note, receipts, issues, balance. After every entry update the balance: new balance = previous balance + receipts − issues.

An example: the stock of 48-page school exercise books in a stationery shop.

• 1 October, count: opening 200 pieces;
• 3 October, receipt of 100 pieces: balance 300;
• 3 October, sold 35: balance 265;
• 4 October, sold 42: balance 223;
• 5 October, a customer returned 2 pieces (receipt): balance 225;
• 6 October, 3 pieces turned out to be unusable (issue): balance 222;
• 7 October, sold 28: balance 194.

According to the notebook, there should be 194 on the shelf at the end of the week. If sales are frequent, you need not write each piece on its own row: make tally marks at the edge of the page during the day and carry the total over to one row in the evening.

A weekly check: notebook against shelf

Once a week count the shelf by hand and compare it with the notebook. Say the shelf shows 191. The difference: 3 pieces short. Do not erase earlier entries; add a new line, "correction, −3, cause unclear", balance 191. In this way the records match reality again, and the difference does not vanish without a trace. If "correction" lines keep appearing for one item, take a closer look at it: there may be an unrecorded sale, wrong change or a loss.

Five rules

1. Do not mix receipts and issues on one row. A day's sales can be merged into one total, but a receipt is always written on its own row.
2. Put a date on every entry: it makes checking easier later.
3. One unit only. If "one box = 20 pieces", write in pieces: receipt of 5 boxes is 100 pieces.
4. Do not erase or write over. If you make a mistake, add a correction line.
5. Everything lands in the two columns. A return is a receipt (note "returned"), a breakage is an issue (note "broken").

More complicated tables can be learned later; what matters now is the habit of writing straight after a sale.

When to move to Excel

When you have more than 30 to 40 kinds of goods, two people keep the notebook, or you need a weekly report, move these entries to a spreadsheet. The columns stay the same, only the spreadsheet calculates the balance. So the paper habit works in Excel too, and there is nothing to relearn.

Common mistakes

• starting without an opening count: a figure written as "probably about 200" spoils the whole record;
• writing receipts and forgetting issues, especially gifts and breakages;
• not updating the balance after the last entry;
• using two units for one item;
• writing from memory at the end of the day.

Conclusion

Addition and subtraction, three columns and a weekly check against the shelf cover many of a small business's needs. Records work correctly only when the opening count is reliable. To make the opening figure exact, the Sanab team can count the goods and hand over the result in a clear report; from that figure you start your notebook afresh.