When auditors attend a physical inventory count, they are not there to recount the entire warehouse. They watch your process: how tags are issued, how movements are frozen, and how differences clear into the ledger.
Two days before the count
Train temporary counters on the difference between “counted” and “relocated.” Seal unfinished production areas if mixed-stage goods confuse quantity. Print a slow-moving report so questions about obsolescence do not begin from a blank page.
On the day
Keep a runner who knows where overflow stock sits. Provide the auditor with a floor plan and the last cycle-count variance summary. If a location cannot be counted safely, document why and propose an alternative procedure before the team arrives.
Calm inventory days are a planning achievement. They also shorten the path from fieldwork to a finished financial statement audit report.