Thursday, January 3, 2013

The Periodic Inventory System: The Good and Bad

By Darren Folkes


Chances are that when you started out in business, you did not have a formal way of handling your accounting books, taking orders, tracking inventory or any other daily business task.But as the company expanded, you realized that you could not leave company data stuck in your head.You need a formal system, if you want to be profitable in the future.If you want to have a successful company that continues to grow on a yearly basis, then you must set these things in place.

You will have to decide upon a good inventory system.Will you settle upon perpetual or periodic?Obviously, each one has its own pros and cons.The real difference between the two is how they are updated.The perpetual inventory system updates information consistently.But, the periodic inventory system is not updated until there is a new physical count done.However, for the purpose of this article, we are going to focus on the periodic inventory system.

Periodic inventory is only updated after a certain amount of time.Normally, this is around inventory time.Companies manually count their inventory on a weekly, monthly, bi-yearly or even yearly basis.This means that in terms of the books, the information is not regularly updated.The records do not change, even when the product is shipped or received.Although this is a definite con of using a periodic system, it is something that many first time business owners are willing to endure.

The periodic inventory system will not require a purchase of a costly inventory management software package in order to conduct business.Info is not updated on a regular basis, so it would probably go to waste.Yes, sales are being made, but your inventory system is not updated until the next physical inventory count.This could be a month or even year later.

A small company might find this beneficial.However, if your company is mature and has built up a list of buying customers, then you might not find this kind of system suitable for your needs.You need a system that is constantly updated.

Quite naturally the biggest benefit is that you won't have expensive upfront costs for an inventory management software system. You might be able to get away with using only an excel spreadsheet.You will not be required to feed information into a database.

However, there are flaws to this system.First, the inventory is never accurate.It is hard to track sales.The system will not be updated until the next formal physical inventory count.This can become very stressful if you have a large company that has a lot of business transactions.

All in all, both inventory systems are adequate.But, you have to pick which one.




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