Month-end checklist for a distributor: eight things to close before the 1st

Month end is when small daily problems become big ones. A payment not entered, a damaged case not written off, a scheme claim not filed: on their own, nothing. Left for a month, they are the reason the numbers do not add up and the company owes you money you never claimed.

Print this list and tick it off on the last working day of each month.

1. Cash and bank

• Count the cash in hand. Does it match the books?
• Match the bank statement with UPI collections and payments to the company.
• Check that every salesman’s cash for the month was settled, day by day.

2. Shop credit

• List every shop’s balance, split by age: under 15 days, 15 to 30, 30 to 60, over 60.
• Is the total higher than last month? Which beat grew most?
• Call every shop over 60 days. Decide which to put on hold for new credit.

See tracking shop credit and collecting from shops.

3. Stock

• Count your top products and most expensive products.
• Compare with the book stock and find the reason for each gap.
• Note anything within two months of expiry, and plan to sell it first.
• List products with more than a month of stock, and stop ordering them.

See how to count stock in your godown and how much stock to keep.

4. Damage and expiry

• Write off every damaged and expired item at cost, if you have not already.
• Separate what the company will take back from what it will not.

5. Claims to the company

• Total the free goods given under each company scheme.
• List damage and expiry the company has agreed to replace or credit.
• Send the claims with supporting bills, and note the date you sent them.
• Check last month’s claims: which are still unpaid?

Unclaimed money is pure lost profit. See FMCG schemes and free goods.

6. Purchases

• Match every company invoice with what actually arrived in the godown.
• Match your purchase total with the company’s statement of account.
• Follow up on short supply and rate differences now, not in three months.

7. Each salesman’s month

• Sales, shops billed, and collections for each salesman.
• Credit on his beat now, compared with last month.
• Cash shortages, returns and damage on his van.

A good daily report makes this easy. See the salesman daily report.

8. Profit for the month

• Gross profit: sales minus what those goods cost you.
• Minus running costs: salaries, diesel, rent, electricity.
• Minus damage, expiry and credit you will not collect.

See how to work out real profit.

Then: hand over to the accountant

Send the same set every month: sales and purchase registers, cash and bank movements, shop balances, month-end stock and damage written off. Your accountant will also remind you about GST returns; check with them which returns you file and when, because that depends on your registration.

How Mulberry Sales helps

Reports cover any dates you choose. The Sales bills and Purchase bills registers have a “Last month” button and download to Excel with every bill, its GST and every line, ready for the accountant without retyping (Growth plan and up). The product report shows how many of each product were sold and how many went free, which is where a scheme claim starts. The Credit Record shows every shop’s balance by age. Damage is written off at cost as it happens (Growth plan and up). The cash and bank ledger and P&L analytics cover items 1 and 8 (Business plan). See FMCG distribution software.

Questions people ask