1C versus physical stock: how an auditor reconciles them

An accountant pulls a stock statement from 1C, a storekeeper counts the racks, the two numbers are placed side by side and a difference appears. Many people stop there: "there is a shortage". In fact the difference is not yet a conclusion but a question. An auditor takes it apart step by step and often finds that behind many gaps lies not theft but a system setting or a document error. Below is the method of reconciling 1C with physical stock; it suits other accounting systems too.

Why 1C data is not yet the truth

1C shows not what is in the warehouse but what has been entered into it. Goods for which no document was entered are absent from the system, and goods with a wrongly entered document are shown wrongly. So the two sources are not equals: the physical count gives fact, while 1C gives the record by documents. The auditor's job is to find the trail of every difference between them.

Tying the balance to an exact date

The most common mistake: the count is done on one day and the system data taken on another. If goods arrived or left during the count, a difference is natural. So:

• Take the balance at the date and hour the count began, with the latest documents entered up to that moment.
• Separate documents entered after the count: receipts or issues recorded with a back date can distort the difference.
• If there was movement in the warehouse during the count, record it separately.

The roll-forward test: opening plus receipts minus issues

This is a simple but powerful check on a single item: opening balance + receipts for the period − issues for the period = closing balance. A hypothetical example, one item:

• opening balance 120, receipts 300, issues 280;
• calculated closing balance: 120 + 300 − 280 = 140;
• the system shows a closing balance of 140, while the count finds 128.

The system agrees with itself (140 = 140) and the 12-piece gap lies outside the documents, so the cause is physical (receiving, picking, wrong location, loss). A different situation: the system shows 150 but the formula gives 140. That is an inconsistency inside the system: the balance may have been edited by hand or a document changed, so the check begins with the adjustment log.

Sources of differences in 1C

These depend on settings and configuration, but they are widely seen:

• Negative balances are allowed, so goods can leave without a document.
• One product exists under two item records and the balance is split between them.
• The unit-of-measure coefficient is wrong: boxes and pieces are mixed up.
• Goods "in transit" between warehouses are visible at neither.
• A document was left as a draft and does not affect the balance.
• Batch or serial tracking is incomplete.

Reconciling step by step

1. Export the balance at the time of the count from the system to Excel: code, name, unit of measure, quantity, value.
2. Enter the count result in Excel by code.
3. Join the two tables by code (for example with the VLOOKUP function). Items whose code is not found show up separately: that is an item master problem. For example, the count sheet says "washing powder 3 kg" while the system holds "powder washing 3000 g": without a code the two lines will not join. So every item in the count should be recorded by code or barcode, not by name.
4. Sort the differences by type: quantity, value, unit of measure, code not found.
5. For the largest differences, open the item card in 1C, look at the list of movements and read the latest documents.
6. Separate explained differences from unexplained ones and leave the latter for a deeper check.
7. Compare the total value with the inventory account balance in the general ledger: if they differ, the gap lies in bookkeeping, not in the warehouse.

Quantity and value: two different differences

Quantity can be right while value differs: the cause is the costing method or a late price document. Conversely, value can match while quantity does not: two different products have swapped places, one in surplus and the other short, but at the same price. So comparing only the total value is not enough.

Conclusion

Reconciliation does not end with finding a difference: the trail of each difference must be shown with a document. Then many "shortages" turn out to be a system setting or a document error. OmborAudit takes balances from 1C and Excel, prepares a reconciliation statement and shows the causes of differences item by item.