Inventory glossary
What is Stock ledger?
Stock ledger is a running record of every stock movement for a SKU, including purchases, sales, returns and adjustments, showing the quantity on hand after each transaction.
A stock ledger lets you trace how a product's stock level got to where it is today. If a candle SKU shows 12 units on hand but you expected 20, the ledger shows every sale, receipt and adjustment that happened in between, so you can find where the difference came from instead of guessing.
For a small store owner, the stock ledger is mainly useful when numbers do not match. Use it to check a supplier delivery was recorded correctly, to spot a data entry mistake after a count, or to explain a shrinkage issue to your accountant. You do not need to review it daily, but it should be accurate enough to trust when something looks wrong.
Example
A store starts the week with 50 units of a t-shirt. The ledger logs: Monday, sold 10, balance 40. Wednesday, received 24 from a supplier, balance 64. Friday, sold 15, balance 49. Saturday, a manual adjustment of minus 2 for a damaged unit, balance 47. At the end of the week the ledger shows 47 units on hand, and each line explains how it got there.
Common mistakes
- Treating the ledger as optional and skipping entries for manual adjustments or damaged stock.
- Not recording the reason for an adjustment, which makes later audits harder.
- Letting two systems (like a warehouse sheet and the online store) keep separate ledgers that drift apart.
Stock ledger and SteadyShelf
SteadyShelf is not a stock ledger, but it uses your current on hand quantity and incoming purchase orders to forecast when to reorder each SKU.
SteadyShelf is launching on the Shopify App Store. Join early access to get the install link first.
Related terms
Quantity on hand · Inventory adjustment · Perpetual inventory · Inventory accuracy · Receiving
FAQ
Is a stock ledger the same as a stocktake?
No. A stocktake is a physical count at one point in time. A stock ledger is the ongoing transaction history that should match what a stocktake finds.
Do small stores need a formal stock ledger?
Most small stores rely on their inventory system to keep this automatically. You only need to look at it closely when stock counts do not match expectations.
Let SteadyShelf do this math for every SKU
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