There are many factors outside of your control that affect inventory. All levels of supply chain operations are being impacted globally, from sourcing raw materials to the end consumer. 

The disruption caused by the pandemic only heightened the need for optimizing inventory management. That’s why 72% of businesses plan to reinvent their supply chain with real-time visibility powered by automated technology, sensors, and analytics.

Learn how to make the most out of your day as a financial controller, taking a proactive approach to inventory management and prioritizing strategic solutions.

Responsibilities of the Controller

Inventory management involves the high-level oversight of a controller. Your primary goal as a financial controller is to ensure sufficient stock is on the shelves to meet customer demand while keeping overhead costs at a minimum.

The last thing you need is to have too much stock on hand, eating into your available cash flow —or not enough, which leads to customer disappointment and lost business. By establishing a system for your team to effectively control the supply and demand of your inventory, you’ll see a positive impact on your bottom line and maximize profits.

While your warehouse managers and production planners oversee the scope of day-to-day inventory control, you need tools that will help you hone in on the following:

• Eliminating write-offs
• Ensuring the accuracy of record keeping
• Managing physical inventory counts
• Implementing an integrated order-to-cash process
• Making smarter decisions for product fulfillment

Challenges with Inventory Control

Inventory control is traditionally a time-consuming, endless process. Restaurants often need to conduct physical inventory counts several times a month to keep up with revolving weekly orders, and retail businesses may do them as often as every three weeks. Inventory systems that require lengthy data entry limit your visibility, making it harder to keep up with daily or weekly changes.

Here are some common challenges to look out for if you feel there is a lack of control:

• Little to no visibility of current inventory levels. Without a true picture of units on hand, it’s difficult to manage future inventory investments and confidently advise the executives of your business on important financial decisions.
• Problems with inventory tracking. Without a system for tracking real-time order progression and categorizing expired or defective products, your numbers can quickly get out of hand —not to mention put your customers at a safety risk in the event there are product recalls or contamination.
• There isn’t one source of truth. It’s true that the more stock you have, the harder it is to control. With barcoding and automated data capture, you’ll have centralized information about an order or current inventory levels at your fingertips.

Cloud Inventory Management Solution

Your inventory directly impacts your cost of goods sold (COGS), which is why you must be able to trust your numbers. Sage Intacct addresses the pain points of spreadsheets and limited manual data, simplifying inventory management, so you don’t have to make decisions blindly.

Inventory is a high costing portion of most business operations, using up a big chunk of working capital and current assets. So getting ahead now with the right systems in place will save you huge in the long-term success of your business.

Contact Trusted CFO Solutions to learn more about using Sage Intacct to improve accuracy and uncover actionable insights.