Hi,
Can somebody help please. I’m doing an end of the financial year stock take (for the first time ever) & have no idea how detailed these should be. Can it just be broken down in to simple categories such as packaging materials, toiletry making ingredients, stationary, made up stock ? Do I include machinery /tools?
Many thanks in anticipation of your help (which lets face it is always good)
Louise x
Mind the tumbleweed 
I do my accounts on a cash basis so don’t do a stock take. There is no box on the online tax return for you to put in a value of materials/ stock held, I’ve checked. (I don’t count all the beads in or out and who knows how many are hiding down the back of the work bench and then there are the ones that fail my quality checks and get binned). I probably should do a list of all the stones I have with how much I paid for them just so that I know how much to charge for the final piece - at the moment they are in baggies with the purchase price written on it which works for me.
With respect to machinery/ tools - if they are valuble and could be considered an asset (ask yourself would it have a resale value as a second hand item, if it does then it is probably an asset) then it should be accounted for. Where I used to work there was a master list of assets and each one had a unique number, once a year someone from the accountants would come round and find everything against the list. None of the tools I have are valuble (pair of pliers ~£5) and I’m not going to account for every square cm of sand paper so I don’t do an asset inventory either.
If you think that you have product lines that aren’t selling well or stock that is approaching the end of its best before date then it would be worth doing a stock take so that you can assess these things and have a sale if required.
Sorry not more help.
Sasha that’s really helpful, particularly knowing its not on the online form. I only make stock up in the tiniest of batches (except at Christmas) so no issues with old stock, the wonky stuff (poor labels etc) I use myself which I reckon is justified as its obviously good practice to test your own products. I’m very obsessive about ensuring stock goes out as fresh as possible to customers - its one reason why I won’t do sale or return. Hurrah - thats good news. Now back to sorting my disorganisation of last year. This year WILL be organised, I’m printing, filing & organising transactions as I go - lesson learnt. Thank You !!
I noticed too that there’s no box for stock held or for items made up but not sold. This is the first year that I have not included it, I think. But the cash basis is supposed to be simpler for very small businesses. I’ve completed my return online and sent it to HMRC. I have taken account of my stock as I like to know what I have and if there is something that I am not using which I can sell to give me more cash flow. Marg.
I’ve never done a stock take, I work out how much the materials have cost for each card then list it in a book with numbered pages then give that card the same number (so I can find its costings quicker), when it’s sold I list in my accounts book the price it sold for in the ‘cash in’ column in the ‘cash out’ column I list the cost of materials, postage costs and fees for paypal. Any tools I use have little/no 2nd hand value so I don’t bother working out their asset value.