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Count stock by scanning (Stock Audit)

Count the stock on your shelves by scanning barcodes, see the difference from the books, and correct your stock in one entry.

A stock audit is a physical count. You scan every item on the shelf. Arthlekha shows the stock in your books next to what you counted, and books the difference as a stock adjustment.

Before you start

Turn on Barcodes. Open Settings > Configuration, click Barcodes and turn on Use barcodes in this business. See Configuration.
Every item you will count needs a barcode, and the barcode must be on the item. See Barcodes, labels and scanning.
Finish the count and save in one sitting. The list is not kept if you leave or reload the page.

Steps

Open Barcodes > Stock Audit. You can also click Stock audit on the Products page.
Set Qty per scan. Keep it at 1 to count pieces one by one. If you scan one code for a whole box, such as a box of 24, set it to 24.
Click in the scan box under Scan products and scan the first item. You can also type the code and press Enter, or click the camera icon to scan with a phone.
The item is added as a row with its System qty (stock in your books) and its Scanned qty.
Scan the same item again each time you pick up another piece. Each scan adds the Qty per scan to Scanned qty.
To fix a count, type the right number in Scanned qty. To take an item off the list, click the bin icon.
Check Variance on each row. It is the scanned qty minus the system qty.
Set the Audit date. It is the date the stock correction is booked on.
Type a Narration (optional), such as "May-2026 monthly count". If you leave it blank, a narration is filled in for you.
Click Save audit & post variance.

A message confirms Stock audit saved as AUDIT-... and the list is cleared.

Reading the result

Variance	Meaning
✓ match	The count equals the books. Nothing is booked for this item.
A plus figure (blue)	You found more than the books show. The extra is added to stock.
A minus figure (red)	You found less than the books show. The shortage is taken out of stock.

The chips above the list count how many items match, are surplus and are short. The Save audit & post variance button stays grey until at least one item has a difference.

What gets booked

One stock journal of type Adjustment, numbered AUDIT- followed by digits. You can see it in Stock journal.
Each difference is valued at the item's current average cost.
Only the items you scanned are changed. An item you did not scan keeps its stock, even if it was not on the shelf.
Stock is not counted godown by godown. The correction is made to the item's total stock.

If stock changed while you were counting

When you click save, Arthlekha checks each item's stock again. If a sale, purchase or other entry changed it during your count, a message lists those items with the old and new figures. Click OK to go on. The difference is then worked out from the latest stock, so your books end up equal to what you counted.

Common problems

This audit will update stock quantities but will NOT post to the GL. — this yellow note means the count will change stock quantities but not your accounts. Either stock is not linked to accounting, or your stock ledgers are missing. Turn on stock posting in Configuration and check your product groups if you want the audit in your books.
No variance to record — every scanned qty matches the latest system qty. — after the recheck, nothing differs. There is nothing to save.
Couldn't save audit: ADJUSTMENT must have exactly one line (either IN or OUT). — only one item with a difference can be saved at a time. Remove the other rows that show a difference, save, then scan the next item and save again.
Couldn't fetch stock for ... — the item's stock could not be read. Scan it again.
No product with barcode '...' — no product has this code. Check the sticker, or give the product this barcode in Products.
The Barcodes menu is missing — Barcodes is switched off. Turn it on in Configuration.

More in Inventory

Stock journal: transfer, production, consumption and adjustmentRecord stock movements that are not sales or purchases: transfers between places, simple production, wastage or own use, and stock found or lost.Check stock with the Product RegisterSee opening, inward, outward and closing stock for every product, in quantity and value, and open the transactions behind any figure.Track stock by godown (location-wise stock)Keep stock separately for each godown or warehouse, set default locations, and move goods between your own godowns on a challan.Barcodes, labels and scanningGive your products barcodes, print barcode stickers, and scan items straight onto sales, purchase and other documents.