Stock Aging — how long stock has sat on the shelf

Shows the stock you are holding split by how long it has been on the shelf, and how much money is tied up in each age band. It is the quickest way to find dead stock to mark down, return to the supplier or stop reordering.

Before you start

You need permission to view inventory reports.
The report covers stock items only — services, charges and fees have nothing on a shelf to age.
Values use each item's average cost, the same as Stock on Hand, so the two reports agree.

Steps

Open Reports → Stock Aging.
Choose As at — normally today. Pick an earlier date to see how old your stock was at a month end.
Choose a Department to age the stock in one shop or store, or leave All Departments for the whole business.
Choose your Age bands (see below).
Choose Show: Value (money tied up) or Quantity (how many units).
Tick Group by category to see which categories hold the oldest stock, with a total for each.
Sort by Oldest (days) or by the last band to put the worst items at the top. Click the magnifier on a row to see every stock movement for that item.

Choosing age bands

You decide how the stock is cut — there is no fixed limit on the number of periods:

Ready-made choices, such as 30 / 60 / 90 / 180 / 365 days, every 30 days up to a year or two years, weekly up to 13 weeks, or calendar months (the last 3, 6, 12 or 24 months).
My own day limits… — type where each band ends, separated by commas. For example 15, 30, 60, 120, 365 gives 0-15, 16-30, 31-60, 61-120, 121-365 and Over 365. Press Enter or click away to apply.
My own number of months… — any number of calendar months up to 120 (ten years). Each month gets its own column, then one for everything earlier.

Your choice is remembered on this computer for next time.

How the age is worked out

The system doesn't record which delivery each unit on the shelf came from, so it assumes the oldest units sell first: what is still on hand is taken to be from your most recent deliveries. For example, if you hold 15 units and your last two deliveries were 8 units last week and 10 units in September, the report shows 8 units as a week old and 7 as from September.

This is the standard way to age stock, and it never makes stock look older than it is. If the report says it's old, it really is.

Whole business: moving stock between your own departments doesn't make it new — it keeps its age.
One department: age counts from when the stock arrived in that department, including transfers in.

Reading the report

Value / quantity per band — how much of each item falls in each age band. The last band is highlighted: that's the stock to act on.
Avg age (days) — the average age of the units on hand.
Oldest (days) — how long the oldest unit has been here.
Last received / Last sold — when it last came in and last sold. Never sold in red means it has stock but no sale on record.
The badges above the grid give the total on hand and how much of it — and what share — is in the oldest band.

Tips

Start with the oldest band, sorted by value. A few items usually hold most of the old money.
Old stock that still sells (recent Last sold) just needs smaller orders. Old stock that doesn't sell needs a markdown, a bundle or a return to the supplier.
Run it at each month end with the same bands and export to Excel to watch the old money shrink.
For items with expiry dates, use the Batch Expiry Report as well — a product can be young on the shelf but close to expiry.

Common problems

"… below zero — not aged". Some items show less than zero in stock. Stock that isn't there has no age, so they're left out. Click the badge to open Stock on Hand, where you can count and correct them.

"… with no cost". These items have no cost on their item card, so they count as zero value. Set a cost price on the item card, or switch Show to Quantity.

An item looks older than I expected. Stock that can't be traced to a recorded delivery — for example, from before you started using the system — is dated to the item's very first stock movement. Click the magnifier to see the movements.

"Each age band must end later than the one before it". Your own day limits must go up in order, like 30, 60, 90. Fix the list and press Enter.

The totals row is blank when showing Quantity. That's on purpose: cartons, bottles and kilos can't be added together. Switch to Value for totals.