In this guide 6 sections
Hold each item in one base unit, usually the kilo, and store the bag as a conversion to it. Record the actual weighed weight when a bag is opened, post shrinkage as its own entry, and the closing stock still reconciles to the purchase bill without guesswork.
Why bags and kilos fight each other
You buy cumin in fifty-kilo bags and sell it by the kilo, or by the quarter-kilo to a retailer. A bag is not exactly fifty kilos. It is whatever the scale says on the day.
Dry fruit adds moisture and dust. Chilli loses weight in a hot month. Cardamom loses a little every time the sack is opened.
If the system counts bags, stock looks full while the kilos run out. If it counts only kilos, the purchase bill no longer matches what you entered.
Pick one base unit
Choose a base unit for each item and keep every balance in it. For most spices that is the kilo. For saffron or very costly items it may be the gram.
Then define the bag, the carton or the tin as a larger unit with a fixed factor to the base. Tally calls this an alternate unit. The bag is only a way of entering or printing a quantity.
Fix the factor from your usual pack, then handle the exceptions through weight adjustment instead of rewriting the factor.
- One base unit per item, never two
- Alternate units for bag, carton and tin
- Factor set from the standard pack
- Odd weights handled as adjustments
Opening a bag and recording the real weight
The purchase bill says fifty bags of black pepper. The godown scale says one bag is forty-nine and a half kilos. The bag beside it reads fifty and a quarter, because jute sacks and moisture move the number. Enter the bill quantity as billed, then record the weighed difference as a stock adjustment with a reason.
When a bag is opened for retail packing, weigh it and note the weight on the batch slip. Repack into twenty-five and fifty-gram pouches from that weighed lot, not from the nominal figure.
Over a month these small notes show which supplier’s bags run light. That is a firm figure to bring to the next price discussion, far better than a vague feeling that the last lot felt short.
- Billed weight on the purchase entry
- Weighed weight on the receiving slip
- Difference posted as a weight adjustment
- Supplier name kept on every batch
Shrinkage, dust and moisture
Shrinkage is real and it is not theft. Keep a separate adjustment reason for it, such as drying loss, sieving waste and spillage. Do not hide it in a sale or a rounded invoice. Once loss is buried in selling prices, you cannot tell a drying problem from a pricing problem.
Review the reasons monthly. If drying loss on turmeric doubles in summer, you learn to price for it or buy smaller lots. If sieving waste is high on one supplier’s lot, that goes into the next negotiation.
Never delete a negative balance by editing the sale. Fix it with a dated adjustment so the trail stays readable.
Reconciling closing stock to the purchase bill
At month end, take the opening kilos, add purchases at billed weight, deduct sales and add or subtract the adjustments. The result should equal the weighed count on the shelf, the sacks in the back room and the open drums by the counter. If it does not, the gap is an unexplained loss and needs a look. If it does not, the gap is an unexplained loss and needs a look.
Do this for your ten largest items first. A clean answer on those covers most of your value.
Start this week with one item. Weigh every bag in the next delivery and note the difference from the bill.
Bag to kilo reconciliation sheet
A one-page worksheet per item. Rows: opening kilos, purchases at billed weight, weighed receipt, sales, repacking loss, drying loss, spillage and counted closing stock. Columns: week one to week four, plus a supplier line showing billed bag weight against weighed bag weight.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
Should I stock items in bags or kilos?
Keep the balance in kilos and treat the bag as an alternate unit for entry and printing. One base unit prevents the two counts from drifting.
How do I record a bag that weighs less than billed?
Enter the purchase as billed, then post the weight difference as a stock adjustment with the supplier noted. Do not alter the purchase bill.
Does Tally support alternate units?
Yes. Tally lets you set a base unit and an alternate unit with a conversion factor, so you can buy in bags and sell in kilos. Check the setting before entering stock.
How do I deal with shrinkage in a hot month?
Weigh a sample of bags at receipt and again a week later. The loss gives you a number to track and, where it matters, to price in.