Performing Cycle Counts (Physical Inventory)

Cycle counts let you verify that the physical quantities of inventory on your shelves match what AccuArk has recorded in the system. When discrepancies are found, finalizing a cycle count automatically generates stock adjustments to bring the book quantities in line with reality. This guide walks through the entire cycle count workflow from start to finish.

Permissions Required

Access to the cycle count form requires the INV_CYCLE_COUNT permission. If you cannot see the Cycle Count option in the Inventory menu, contact your administrator to have this permission added to your role.

Opening the Cycle Count Form

Navigate to Inventory > Cycle Count from the main menu to open the frmCycleCount form.

The form has two main areas:

1. Count Setup — Location and zone selection, create/resume controls
2. Count Grid — The item-by-item counting area where you enter physical quantities

Creating a New Count

Follow these steps to start a new cycle count:

1. Select a Location — Choose the location you want to count from the Location dropdown. This is required.
2. Optionally Select a Zone — If you want to count only the items in a specific storage zone, select it from the Zone dropdown. If you leave the zone blank, the count covers all items at the selected location.
3. Click Create Count — The system loads all inventory items in scope (at the selected location, optionally filtered by zone) along with their current expected (book) quantities.

Once the count is created, the Location and Zone pickers become disabled. You cannot change the scope of an active count — if you need to count a different location or zone, cancel or finalize the current count first.

The Counting Grid

After creating a count, the grid displays one row per item with the following columns:

Variance Color Coding

The variance column is color-coded to make discrepancies immediately visible:

Count States

A cycle count progresses through the following states:

Saving and Resuming a Count

You do not have to complete a cycle count in a single session. You can save your progress and come back later:

1. Enter counted quantities for as many items as you have physically counted
2. The count remains in Counting state with your entries saved
3. To resume, open the Cycle Count form, look at the Count History grid at the bottom, and double-click the in-progress count session
4. The form reloads with all your previously entered counted quantities so you can continue where you left off

Finalizing a Count

When you have counted every item and are ready to commit the results:

1. Verify that all items in the grid have a counted quantity entered — the system validates this before allowing finalization
2. Click the Finalize button
3. A confirmation dialog appears: "This will generate stock adjustments for all variances and cannot be undone"
4. Click Yes to confirm

What Happens During Finalization

When you confirm finalization, the system performs the following in a single transaction:

1. For every item where the counted quantity differs from the expected quantity, an automatic stock adjustment transaction is created
2. Each adjustment records the variance amount (positive or negative), the item, the location, the zone (if applicable), and the user who finalized the count
3. The location and zone stock levels are updated to match the counted quantities
4. The count session is marked as Completed with a finalization timestamp

All adjustments are created atomically — either all succeed or none do. After finalization, the count cannot be modified or re-opened.

Canceling a Count

If you need to abandon a count in progress:

1. Click the Cancel Count button
2. Confirm the cancellation when prompted

Canceling marks the count session as Canceled. No stock adjustments are generated and no quantities are changed. All counted quantities you entered are discarded.

Count History

The bottom section of the cycle count form displays a Count History grid showing the last 20 count sessions. Each row shows:

• Date — When the count was created
• Status — Counting, Completed, or Canceled
• Zone — The zone that was counted (blank if the count covered the entire location)

Double-click a row with 'Counting' status to resume that count session. Completed and Canceled counts are read-only.

Cycle Count Scope

Understanding what items are included in a cycle count:

• Location-level count (no zone selected) — Includes all items that have stock at the selected location, regardless of which zones they are stored in
• Zone-level count (zone selected) — Includes only items that have stock recorded in the specific zone. Items stored in other zones at the same location are not included.

Tips

• Count by zone for large warehouses — If your location has many zones, counting one zone at a time is more manageable than counting the entire location at once
• Print the count sheet — Before starting the physical count, consider exporting the item list so counters can work from a printed sheet and enter results afterward
• Count during low-traffic periods — Perform cycle counts when the location is closed or during slow periods to avoid stock moving while you are counting
• Investigate large variances before finalizing — If an item shows a large unexpected variance, double-check the physical count before committing. Finalization cannot be undone.
• Schedule regular counts — Monthly cycle counts for high-value or fast-moving items and quarterly counts for everything else help prevent book-vs-physical drift from growing too large
• Use zone-level counts for targeted audits — If you suspect shrinkage in a particular area, run a zone-scoped count instead of counting the entire location