What is cycle counting?

Counting a small part of the inventory on a regular schedule, so every item is counted over the year and the records stay accurate without shutting down for a full physical count.

How does ABC classification work for cycle counts?

Items are sorted by annual usage value (annual quantity times unit cost). The few items that make up most of the value are A, the next group B and the many low-value items C. A items are counted most often.

How often should each class be counted?

It is your choice. A common starting point is monthly for A items, quarterly for B and once or twice a year for C, adjusted for how often items move and how costly a shortage is.

How is inventory record accuracy calculated?

The number of counts within tolerance divided by the number of counts checked, times 100. 188 of 200 counts within tolerance is 94%. Tolerances are often tighter for A items than for C items.

What is a blind count?

A count where the counter does not see the system quantity until after counting, so the expected number cannot influence the count.

Free template

Inventory cycle count sheet

Cycle counting is counting a small part of the inventory on a regular schedule instead of shutting down for one big physical count, so that stock records stay accurate all year and the causes of errors are found while they are fresh. Most schedules count the high-value items more often than the rest, using an ABC classification by annual usage value: A items, the few that make up most of the value, are counted most often. This template has a count sheet with part, location, class, counted and recount quantities, system quantity, variance and variance %, within tolerance and the reason, and a page with the ABC count schedule, how the numbers are worked out and a month-by-month accuracy record. The Excel version classifies items A, B or C from your cut-offs, works out the next count date for each item, and logs counts with the variance, the tolerance for the class and whether each count is within it, with the record accuracy overall, by class and by month.

Free to use: print it, copy it and edit it for your team. Enter your name and work email once to download.

Page 1 of the inventory cycle count sheet: fields for zone, count date, counter and checker, tick boxes for the checks before counting, and a table with part, description, location, unit, class, counted, recount, system quantity, variance, variance %, within tolerance and reason. — Blind count sheetRecount columnVariance and variance %Tolerance by classABC count scheduleRecord accuracyMonth-by-month record

When to use it

When to use an inventory cycle count sheet

Instead of, or alongside, a yearly physical inventory.
When stock records are not trusted and people keep their own counts.
When shortages appear for parts the system says are in stock.
To measure and improve inventory record accuracy over time.

How to fill it in

1
Classify the items
List items with annual usage and unit cost. Sort by annual usage value; the few that make up most of the value are A, the next group B, the rest C.
2
Set the schedule
Counts a year and a tolerance per class. A common starting point is monthly for A, quarterly for B and once or twice a year for C.
3
Count blind
Count first and fill in the system quantity afterwards, so the number on the screen does not steer the count.
4
Recount before adjusting
Anything outside tolerance gets a recount, ideally by someone else, before the record is changed.
5
Find the cause
For each variance, the reason: a receipt or issue not posted, the wrong location, the wrong unit, a miscounted pack, scrap not booked.
6
Track accuracy
Record accuracy = counts within tolerance ÷ counts checked. Track it by month and by class, and fix the causes behind the misses.

A filled-in example

Illustrative, not a benchmark

An example: the first month of cycle counts in a component store (illustrative).

1,200 items: 150 A, 300 B, 750 C. Counts a year 12, 4 and 2, so about 35 A, 23 B and 29 C counts a week.
200 counts in the month, 176 within tolerance: record accuracy 88%.
The biggest causes: 9 variances from issues to the line posted a day late, 6 from parts in the wrong bin.
Net variance value: −1,850, the value of every variance added up with overs and unders offsetting.

Line issues were posted at the time of the move from the next week, and the wrong-bin items were relabeled. The team tracked whether accuracy moved over the next three months.

Common mistakes

Adjusting without a cause
Correcting the record without finding why it was wrong means the same error next month.
Counting with the system quantity in view
People find what they expect to find. Count blind.
Counting during movement
Receipts, issues and moves during the count create false variances. Post them first or stop moves in the zone.
Only counting the easy items
A schedule by class makes sure the high-value items, and every item eventually, get counted.

Download the template

Free to use: print it, copy it and edit it for your team. Enter your name and work email once to download.

Run this template in LeanSuite

In LeanSuite you set a target and Red-Amber-Green ranges for each KPI, it is flagged as soon as new data crosses a limit, and values can be pulled on a schedule from Excel on SharePoint or OneDrive or from Google Sheets.

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