This paper analyzes the inventories as basic tools for monitoring and review of businesses, the prospect now of organizations for profit and increasing amounts of waste.
Introduction
The present work arises from the concern to support the factors that determine the importance of keeping an inventory control within companies, without excluding by the type of business or its size, keeping an inventory control falls in the form of Seeing assets in a tangible way, on many occasions turns out to be a not easy task, but not impossible either and although it can turn out to be a tedious exercise, especially for small businesses, it is the basis of a business plan and its profitability.
Throughout this essay the history and the concept of inventories are shown in a general way, to make reading more enjoyable, tables and graphs are presented that allow us to understand in a very practical way the factors and terms involved in carrying out inventories, their results and implications.
It is clear that the concept is not something new, however what is sought is to contribute, based on professional experience, characteristic factors, but above all to create in the reader the awareness that on a large or smaller scale, it is still a subject that It is difficult to manage and it takes a backseat in many organizations, so it is expected to awaken interest and the key to change and have a new vision of something that may still be basic, but without a doubt is significant.
Theoretical framework
a) Historical Background
The concept of inventory today is a term used on a daily basis, within companies regardless of their size or business, but since when can we talk about the appearance of this concept and is that since time immemorial ancient peoples such as the Egyptians used to storing large amounts of food to be used in times of drought and scarcity, in this way the dilemma of keeping a record, distribution and care of resources arises, to face the journey of survival.
In America it would have its antecedents towards 2,500 BC with the Inca people since they created a tool called Quipu, they are considered vestiges of inventories for their use in records, censuses, harvest accounting, agricultural production reserves, quantity of mining products etc (Cabrera Ibarra H., 2007).
With the passage of time and towards World War II, with the emergence of large and complex computers, the first systems for inventory and material planning were born.
By the end of the 1950s, inventory systems as a means of planning the military material requirement and as a large part of the advances and modernities of today, their use in wars was transformed, to find a place in the sectors productive, especially in the United States of North America.
With the technological and diversified advances, systems for inventory management emerged, increasing the number of companies that made use of these tools.
In our country, the emergence of companies or sales of articles for profit dates back to pre-Hispanic times where they were installed in open spaces where precious pretal metals, spices, food, clothing and merchandise for religious rituals were sold.
Regarding the inventory storage system, merchandise was placed in piles or stored in warehouses located at the back of the shops, in such a way that the employees and / or sellers had to travel to deliver the orders requested by the customers.
b) Conceptual framework
Now if what is sought in reviewing the importance of inventories in the company, it is important to begin by defining what the term represents, according to the dictionary of the (Royal Spanish Academy, nd) it is defined as a dedicated organizational unit to industrial, commercial or service-for-profit activities.
In turn, the companies present various classifications, based on various parameters, however for this analysis the number of workers will be taken as a differentiation factor, the Conducef (National Commission for the Protection and Defense of Users of Financial Services, Updated to 2013) exposes the following classification:
Table 1 Classification of companies by number of workers. Retrieved from the Condusef website, last update Friday, July 19, 2013
| Size | Range of number of workers |
| Micro | Up to 10 employees |
| Little | From 11 to 50 |
| Median | From 51 to 250 |
In order to get into the subject of inventories, it is necessary to detail its meaning: it comes from the lat. Inventarĭum, seat of goods and other things belonging to a person or community, done with order and precision. (Spanish Royal Academy, 2014)
As a consequence, inventory is also called the verification and counting, both qualitative and quantitative, of the physical stocks with the theoretical stocks that were documented.
In the accounting sense, CP Javier Romero López in his work (Romero, 2006) points out that inventories or warehouse “are the material goods owned by the entity that are acquired with the purpose of selling them as the main activity of any commercial company, which is part of its assets ".
Starting from the concept of inventory, it should be emphasized that a consequence of analyzing the result of an inventory is the Loss, understood as the value of the merchandise that stops being sold due to the deterioration caused by obsolescence time, damage in its handling and / or storage, decomposition, theft or inadequate control of its inventory (Policies and Procedures, 2006).
Development
Based on the concepts already raised, it is time to get into the matter, it is today to see the figures and observe how many companies fail to survive, such as SMEs, perhaps it is a business option for an expert individual in a certain field, but this does not guarantee the success of a business, according to the Business Coordinating Council (C., 2013) 75% of small companies cease to exist during the first five years of life.
A key element that is lost or underestimated is keeping inventory control, it must be seen as the tangible representation of the company's assets, many companies being familiar, these tools are overlooked, it is considered an unnecessary cost, without However, over time it generates uncertainty and the information necessary to validate whether the business plan is optimal.
Without a doubt, it is a key factor, no matter the size of the company, currently large business groups, especially self-service and department stores, show considerable amounts of waste.
Only in 2014 ANTAD (National Association of Self-service and Department Stores) reported more than 20 billion pesos, but of that amount, 40%, that is, 8 thousand 200 million pesos, corresponds to the theft of clothes that later It is sold in the flea markets, markets on wheels and street stalls (Z., 2014).
It may not require a large investment, it would be enough for the entrepreneur to create an identification database with each of the items that are sold or marketed in a simple way, in this way you can have the knowledge of what the company has. company at any time, coupled with this, generate optimal plans for merchandise restocking, validate and reduce storage cost for merchandise with little turnover.
Today technology plays an important role, so there are specialized software to manage the inventory of a company, this varies depending on the type of business or period of use of the specialized program to mention some Inventory Pro, Inventory Organize Deluxe., Inventory Power, Small Business Inventory Control, among others.
It is necessary not only to have an updated database, but also to carry out inventory reviews on a regular basis and without contradicting the profit operations of the company in question.
As was well mentioned in a conceptual way, there is a factor or an immediate consequence when carrying out a validation of the inventory of a company known as shrinkage, in this way I take the boldness to show a classification of shrinkage based on the causes or conditions that they generate it.
Loss classification:
Methodology for quantification of waste
The method that will allow us to determine the causes of the loss will be carried out by documenting the processes involved in the reception and treatment of the merchandise from when it enters the company until it is exhibited for sale. This will allow the areas involved to visualize and the people involved to be clear about what their functions would be and what are the objectives that are not being achieved.
On the other hand, it is important to identify the factors and tools that converge during inventories:
Figure 1: Tools and factors of an inventory.
Collin Peacock stresses:
In addition to this, it is important to remember that carrying out inventories is part of a tax requirement (SAT, sf), regardless of the income or activity of the organization, it is a requirement that the Tax Administration Service supervises.
conclusion
Based on what is reflected in these pages, we can conclude that even though there are business groups in Mexico, it is also to recognize the fact that even with diverse business formats and extensive experience in the market, they have vulnerable parties with large areas of opportunity for achieve even higher results and profitability, since shrinkage results are high, especially in the retail business sector.
Whether you have a small business or a family-type entity, it is essential not to forget that it is necessary to keep track of both incoming and outgoing goods, continuously reviewing inventories and having what is necessary to keep records, since not only It allows us to plan for later years, but rather indicates which are the areas of opportunity.
The benefits of inventories can be concluded as the main ones:
- It allows to develop the skills of employees and / or entrepreneurs to know the items on offer Prepare and update the arrangement of the merchandise Generate confidence and validation of the optimal condition of the products Efficiently prepare new orders or restocking the merchandise.
Therefore, it is concluded with the most relevant factors, hoping that before avoiding, postponing or eliminating an inventory exercise, this tool can be reconsidered and taken as a viable means, to achieve optimization of resources within companies.
References
- CP, LA (2006). Accounting. Mexico: Mc Graw Hill ISBN 970-10-27773-6.Sion SE 2005, "The Retail System as a method of valuation and inventory control system" Editorial ISEF Leading Company ISBN 970-676-720 Tax agenda 2014: Compendium of Laws, Regulations and other related provisions on the matter, Fiscal Code of the Federation (2014) Editorial Ediciones Fiscales ISBN 9786074065947Gutiérrez A. Stock Management in Warehouse Logistics 2007 ISBN 9788496743380Arce, JC, and Gutiérrez, M. (2012). Financial indicators and their relationship with the future Latin American economy. In RJ Porras (Ed.), The economic course of Latin America (pp. 100-121). Bogotá, Colombia: New Way.
Online consultations
- http://lema.rae.es/drae/?val=EMPRESA. Royal Spanish Academy. (sf). Obtained from Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy: www.condusef.gob.mx. National Commission for the Protection and Defense of Users of Financial Services CONDUCEFhttp: //www.antad.net/index.php/la-asociacion/comites-de-trabajo/perdidas-y-mermas. (ANTAD) National Association of Self-service and Departmental Stores, AC website http://www.revistaciencia.amc.edu.mx/images/revista/58_4/PDF/06ok-512-26-33.pdf (December 2007). Mexican Academy of Sciences. Cabrera H., RH Obtained from the Science Magazine of the Mexican Academy of Sciences. Accessed September 20, 2015.http: //www.sat.gob.mx/informacion_fiscal/obligaciones_fiscales/personas_morales/regimen_general/Paginas/articulo_28_cff.aspx Tax Administration Service (SAT) / How to keep the Accounting, Website Last modified: May 07, 2014 at 11:44 Date of consultation: September 14, 2015http: //www.economiaynegocios.cl/noticias/noticias.asp? id = 56866 #. M. Teresa Solinas and Felipe Castillo, Economy and Business "Experts advise retailers to improve processes before" chasing thieves "Tuesday, December 02, 2008 Economy and Business, El Mercurio Accessed September 16, 2015http: // ecr-shrink -group.com/files/Hot-Stores-White-Paper.pdf Report: Hot spots in the Supply Chain Paul Chapman and Adrian Beck, Developing an Understanding of What makes some Retail Stores Vulnerable to Shrinkage. ECR Europe Published by University of Leicester November 2013, 62 pp Retrieved from: Accessed September 9, 2014http: //www.emb.cl / Negociosglobales / articulo.mvc? xid = 32 & edi = 2 & xit = strategy-collaborative-of-work-in-the-supply-chain-efficient-response-to-consumer-40ecr41.http: //www.revistaciencia. amc.edu.mx/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=132. ECR Concept: Global Business, Logistics, Transportation, Distribution, obtained from: Science Magazine of the Mexican Academy of Sciences is an independent civil association, Consulted on September 15, 2015Science Magazine of the Mexican Academy of Sciences is an independent civil association, Accessed on September 15, 2015Science Magazine of the Mexican Academy of Sciences is an independent civil association, Accessed on September 15, 2015
Videos
- Website: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_vOtSiyGLI (TV, 2010) TV PROFECO, The history of warehouses. Mexico City DF Published 24 June 2010
Footnotes
Tax Code of the Federation in art. 28 Section IV establishes that it is the obligation of companies to carry out a valuation method and inventory control procedure.
The word Quipu comes from Quechua and means knot, they were made of cotton or wool based on llama or alpaca hair. These were colored and knotted. Once the threads were made, they were coded in numerical values following a positional system with a decimal base.
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