Count evidence for auditors: what to keep and how to file it

A count ends when the last zone is closed, but the audit begins later. Three months on, an auditor from head office opens a folder and asks why line 214 shows a shortage of 37 pieces. If the answer is scattered across a counter's phone, a chat thread and two versions of a spreadsheet, the result has to be defended from memory. An evidence package is the opposite: a small, indexed set of files in which every figure can be followed back to a scan, a person and a time.

What each document proves

These are the items that belong in the package, and what each one shows.

• Instruction sheet and scope: what was counted, where, and as of which cut-off.
• Raw scan log: which item was read, at which location, by which device or person, and when. This is the primary record, and it must not be edited.
• Manual count sheets: the same facts for areas counted on paper, signed by the counters.
• Mapping table and list of unmatched items: how the codes of the two systems were linked and what could not be linked.
• Variance list: for every difference, the cause, the owner and the status.
• Recount records: who recounted which lines and what they found.
• Proposed adjustments and approvals: what is proposed, by whom, and who approved it. Nothing is posted to the books until the cause is explained.
• Photographs: unusual items, damaged goods, unreadable labels, and the state of a zone when it was closed.
• Deviation note: whatever did not go to plan, such as a scanner failure, a zone counted twice or late movements.
• The signed count certificate and a one- or two-page summary.

Folder structure and file names

Use numbered folders: 00 Index, 01 Scope and instructions, 02 Raw data, 03 Reconciliation, 04 Recounts, 05 Photos, 06 Sign-off. Start each file name with the date (year, month, day), then the zone or subject, then a version number, so that the name alone says "scan log of zone B on count day, version 1".

Three rules keep the package trustworthy. Raw files are stored exactly as exported, read-only, and never overwritten. Cleaning and correction happen in a copy that gets a new version number. If a file is replaced, the earlier version stays, with one line saying why.

The index sheet

Put one sheet at the front of the folder. Each line gives a number, file name, description, author, date and the conclusion the document supports. This is the first thing an auditor opens. List the documents that do not exist as well. A line such as "Zone C was counted entirely by scanner, so there are no manual sheets" saves the question of whether something is missing or never existed.

The five-minute trace test

Before sending anything, pick five lines from the variance list at random. For each, start at the summary and follow the line to the variance list, the scan record, the location, and the photo or recount record. If one line takes more than five minutes, the structure needs work. For illustration, suppose four of the five lines are found within three minutes, but the fifth breaks off because the scan log has no location column. It is better to find that weakness yourself than to have the auditor find it.

Keeping and sharing

Keep the package in company storage with limited access, not on personal phones, and make one extra copy. How long to keep it depends on your internal rules and on the accounting and tax requirements that apply, so ask your accountant. Give auditors a copy, never the originals. Count data contains stock and value information, so limit the recipients and respect any confidentiality agreement.

Summary

Auditors look not at the total but at the road that led to it. Numbered folders, read-only originals, an index sheet and a five-minute trace test keep that road visible. After a count, Smart Inventory hands over the variance list, the raw scan log, a file for ERP or 1C entry, a draft count certificate and a management summary as separate files, so most of this folder is already in place when the count closes.