Year-end doesn't have to be a fire drill

Inventory chaos at year-end isn’t a surprise, it’s a cycle. Cin7 says one number, your finance system another, and your warehouse count doesn’t match either. The culprit? Broken processes, untrained teams, and systems that aren’t aligned.

If you rely on Cin7, you don’t need to dread December. With the right prep, SOPs, and system checks, you can avoid the year-end scramble, and actually use this time to build momentum for the new year.

Let’s break down exactly how to do it.

The 4 pitfalls that keep Cin7 users stuck

❌ Inventory mismatches across Cin7, Shopify, and QBO/Xero
❌ Sync errors causing ghost inventory or phantom revenue
❌ Manual reconciliations draining hours from finance
❌ No documented SOPs, just tribal knowledge and guesswork

Each of these slows your close, clouds your reporting, and sets up a rough Q1.

Step 1: prep your system before you count

A successful inventory count starts long before a single product gets scanned. Begin by ensuring that your Cin7 environment is clean and current. That means closing or receiving all open purchase orders, clearing sales order backlogs, resolving stock in transit, and addressing any pending adjustments or production orders.

It’s also smart to run inventory movement and valuation reports to flag SKUs with high adjustment histories or valuation issues. Don’t start counting until your system reflects reality.

Step 2: design a count plan that works, not just on paper

The best inventory counts are repeatable, not heroic.

Start by defining:

• Count scope: Full year-end or rolling cycle counts?

• Count method: Barcode, mobile app, or spreadsheet?

• Team structure: Counters, verifiers, importers, approvers

• Zones: Break warehouses into countable, manageable areas

Then build your execution plan:

• Freeze inventory movement in Cin7

• Print or generate count sheets (grouped by location or SKU)

• Train teams using SOPs and quick-reference guides

• Assign high-value SKUs to experienced staff

• Plan for recounted variances on the day, not after

💡Pro Tip: Perpetual counts throughout the year (especially for high-value/high-velocity SKUs) reduce year-end surprises and shrink count times over time.

Step 3: make sure your team knows the drill

Even the best process breaks without a well-trained team. Don’t assume tribal knowledge is enough, codify your workflows. A week before your count, run a dry run using older SKUs or smaller categories. Walk the team through SOPs. Assign leaders by zone and give them the authority to resolve issues on the spot.

Use tools like the Cin7 Core WMS app to cut down on manual errors and simplify data collection. Whether you're using barcode scanners or smartphones, digitizing the count reduces your paper trail and speeds up reconciliation.

Step 4: don't let sync issues ruin a good count

Imagine your team finishes a perfect count, only to discover your numbers still don’t match Shopify or QBO/Xero. That’s when sync issues rear their head. Before closing your books, audit your integrations. Compare total stock value across Cin7, Shopify, and QuickBooks/Xero. Review open orders, sync delays, and SKU mapping issues.

Especially watch for third-party systems like 3PLs or B2B portals, these can quietly introduce misalignments if they haven’t been configured to mirror Cin7 settings.

If the same problems keep coming up, don’t just patch them. Get to the root cause with a systems audit. You may be dealing with misconfigured workflows that need fixing, not just monitoring.

Step 5: reconcile, report and document for the win

Don’t stop at matching the count. Build a full audit trail.

Reconciliation steps:

• Investigate all count variances: misplacement, shrinkage, input error

• Test assertions: existence, completeness, valuation

• Confirm your costing method (First-In, First-Out / Weighted Average, etc.) and match stock values to financial reports

• Review landed costs and update slow-moving or obsolete stock values

• Generate final reports with variance summaries and management sign-off

🎯 Use our downloadable template to follow the same reconciliation flow our ERP team uses during full-service audits.

Step 6: when it's time to bring in help

You’ve run counts. Cleaned syncs. And your team is still buried under spreadsheets.

That’s when clients come to Fiskal. Not because they’ve failed, because they’re done spinning wheels.

We’ve helped Cin7 users go from 3-week closes to same-week sign-offs, with audit-ready reports, clean variance logs, and synced financials across systems.

From fixing rogue 3PL data to rebuilding your QBO or Xero integration so revenue matches ops, we help you stop duct-taping and start scaling.

Download the Cin7 year-end ERP checklist

Our expert-designed checklist covers the entire process, from system prep to financial reconciliation:

• Inventory count planning and SOPs

• Data cleanup and readiness reviews

• Integration health checks

• Reconciliation workflows

• Team roles and communication strategies

Avoid the fire drill, download the year-end ERP checklist now.

Start 2026 strong, not behind

Inventory is cash. Systems shape scale. And year-end is the perfect time to get both right.

With a clean inventory, synced tools, and a trained team, Cin7 becomes your growth engine instead of your bottleneck.

Let’s make this the year you don’t just survive your close. You lead it.

📞 Or call us directly: (954) 415-7895

Share on your socials.