Stock Control Toolkit: Turn Stock into Cash, Keep It Fresh and Know What You Hold

Every unit that sits, spoils or goes missing is cash you can no longer spend. Worse, you must sell several times its cost just to replace it: at a 20% margin, a loss of 100 dollars needs 500 dollars of new sales. This course treats stock as cash on shelves and gives you the tools to free that cash.

What you will learn

• Measure the cash tied up in stock and how long it stays locked up
• Read the quick ratio with the current ratio, and price overstocking
• Measure turnover at cost and find the categories that carry your stock value
• Value slow, dead and obsolete stock at no more than it can still sell for
• Set safety stock, reorder levels and order sizes, and test a bulk buy first
• Keep perishables safe through rotation, receiving checks and power cuts
• Decide what to do with near-dated stock, and track waste
• Keep stock records, run counts, and choose and set up a stock system

Your toolkit

Twelve tools developed by Eunoia Consultants: the Right Stock Five, the Stock Health Score, the Stock Liquidity Check, the Replacement Sales Calculator, the Turnover and Ageing Grid, the Bulk-Buy Test, the Reorder Calculator, the Shelf-Life Clock, the Expiry and Waste Tracker, the Stock System Builder, the Stock System Selection Checklist and the Stock Management Plan. The Stock System Builder grows one tab at a time and comes as a working Excel workbook. Every worked example is a spreadsheet grid with its formulas listed.

The case

You follow a fictional family wholesaler as it grows from one shop to a warehouse, a cold room and a second branch, with two items in every module: a chilled yoghurt that sells and spoils fast, and an imported olive oil that sells slowly and ties up cash. Every person and figure in the case is fictional.

Who it is for

Owners and managers of shops, wholesalers, distributors, pharmacies, hotels and kitchens; buyers, storekeepers, bookkeepers and accountants. The first lesson of each module covers the basics.

How the course works

Five modules of four lessons, each with a short scenario quiz; you need 70% on each quiz for your certificate. Accounting and food safety principles are explained in the course’s own words: check them with your accountant and your national food safety authority. The course is not exam preparation.

This course explains stock control methods, and the principles of the international standards on inventories and food date marking, in its own words. It is not endorsed by, or affiliated with, any standard-setter, regulator, software vendor or other organisation named in it.