Begin with a manageable group of products. Record where the count took place and distinguish saleable stock from damaged items, customer orders and goods awaiting return. Recount a material difference before adjusting the record, then assign the investigation to one person.
Look for a practical cause: an unrecorded delivery, a transfer between locations, a product sold under the wrong code or an item stored in more than one place. Do not assume every difference has the same explanation. Keep the correction and its reason together. The weekly review should ask which process needs changing so the exception is less likely to recur. A smaller, reliable counting routine is more useful than a large exercise that leaves unexplained adjustments behind it.
