A year-end inventory count goes smoothly when preparation starts well before the last week of the year. Below is an indicative 6 to 8 week timeline that operations and finance teams in Uzbekistan can adapt to their own warehouses. It is a practical planning tool, not a legal schedule: confirm any dates and requirements that apply to your company with your local accountant or auditor.
Weeks 8 to 7: decisions and responsibilities
Start by agreeing the purpose, scope and date of the count with finance, operations and, where relevant, head office. Appoint a count manager who owns the plan. If an outside counting team will be used, request proposals now, because the busiest weeks of the year fill up quickly.
Ask your auditor whether they intend to observe the count and what documentation they will need, and share the planned date with them.
- Count purpose, scope and date agreed
- Count manager appointed
- Outside counting team selected if needed
- Auditor informed of the plan
Weeks 6 to 5: data and layout
Review the item master in your ERP, 1C or WMS. Look for duplicate codes, items with wrong units of measure, obsolete items still active and missing descriptions. Fixing these now prevents confusion on count day.
At the same time, walk through the warehouse with a plan of the layout. Divide it into count zones, number them and estimate the effort for each. Identify difficult areas such as high racks, bulk storage, cold rooms or outdoor yards, and decide what equipment will be needed.
Weeks 4 to 3: clean-up, labelling and a trial count
Physical clean-up is the most effective preparation. Consolidate part-full pallets, return stray items to their locations, separate damaged and obsolete stock into marked areas, and check that every location and product has a readable label. Where labels are missing, print and apply them now.
Run a small trial count in one zone using the planned rules and scanners. It shows whether the rules are clear, whether the item data loads correctly and how long a zone really takes. Adjust the plan based on what you learn.
Weeks 2 to 1: final preparation and communication
Finalise the counting instructions and the team schedule. Brief every counter, checker and supervisor, including any outside team, on the rules, zones and exception handling. Confirm the cut-off with suppliers, customers and carriers, and plan receipts and shipments so that stock levels are as low and stable as practical.
In the system, chase and post outstanding documents: receipts, shipments, returns, transfers and write-offs. Prepare the system extract format so it can be produced immediately at cut-off.
- Written counting instructions issued
- Team briefed and schedule confirmed
- Cut-off communicated to partners
- Outstanding documents posted
Count week
On the day before counting, freeze movements at the agreed cut-off and take the system extract. On count day, work zone by zone, recount lines outside tolerance and close each zone formally. Keep a log of exceptions such as unidentified items, damaged goods and stock found in the wrong place.
Before the team leaves, the count manager should confirm that every zone is closed and that there are no open recounts.
After the count: reconciliation and report
In the days following the count, compare results with the system extract, investigate significant differences and prepare the adjustment list with causes. Finance reviews and approves adjustments before they are posted; the accounting treatment should be confirmed with your local accountant or auditor.
Finally, write a short lessons-learned note: what slowed the count, which data problems appeared and what to change next year. Starting next year's plan from this note is the easiest way to make each count faster than the last.
Adapting the timeline to your situation
Not every company needs the full eight weeks. A small warehouse with a clean item master and a recent count may manage with four. A first count after a system migration, a site with several buildings, or a network of warehouses in different regions of Uzbekistan may need the full period or more, especially if teams must travel.
Signs that you should start earlier include a large number of open documents, a history of large differences, missing location labels, or a new warehouse manager who has not yet run a count. When in doubt, bring the trial count forward: it is the quickest way to find out how much preparation is really needed.
Keep the timeline visible. A one-page plan with weeks, tasks and owners, shared between finance and operations, prevents the common situation where each side assumes the other has started.
Key takeaways
- Begin planning six to eight weeks before the count, not in the final week.
- Fix item master and layout problems early; they cause most count-day delays.
- Run a small trial count to test rules, data and timing.
- Freeze movements at a written cut-off and post all documents before it.
- Confirm dates and accounting requirements with your local accountant or auditor.