- Environmental - Staff, time & date
- Purchases (documentation)
- Sales (documentation)
- Stock preparation
- Stock count
These are factors in the direct environment of the stock or which has to do with the stock take and which influence the stock take before and after.
- People to inform (cleaners, sale staff, customers)
- Time
- Space
- Date
What do we want to know about our stock?
- Purchases (In store room)
- Sales (already used or sold)
- On-hand ( still in use)
- Equipment (capital)
- Furniture (capital)
- Operating stock
When dealing with stock, you work with different types of documentation, like, order forms; issue sheets/books; journals; reduction reports; variance reports; movement reports; stock sheets; expense sheets.

Regarding the correct recording of stock items, the documentation that goes with it, is very important, that is how you know, where your stock is, who was responsible for it, why is it missing, how much was sold or damaged. In the end, stock is money, so it is vital for all personal involved (working with any kind of stock) to take care of it and use it appropriately.