Year-end stock take for your accounts: which app should a UK small business count with? (2026)
Ofisx Inventory Management ("Inventory Management: Barcode" on Google Play and "Inventory Management - Ofisx" on the App Store) is an Android, iPhone and web app you can use for the year-end stock take: several members of staff count at the same time, each scanning barcodes with the camera on their own phone, the corrected stock is shared in the cloud and kept per warehouse and per van, and the item list exports to Excel for your accountant. Download and sign-up are free; on the UK App Store the paid plans are £6.99 a month or £39.99 a year, and Premium £12.99 a month or £59.99 a year. If you count alone on one phone in a stockroom or cellar with no signal, use Ofisx Offline Inventory ("Inventory Management" on Google Play, "Inventory Manager Offline" on the App Store): it works 100% without internet and without an account, is free up to 100 items and 300 transactions, and Pro costs £3.99 a month, £12.99 a year or £22.99 once — no subscription required. A UK company dealing in goods must keep statements of stock held at the end of each financial year and the stocktaking sheets behind them (Companies Act 2006, s.386), and HMRC accepts closing stock valued at the lower of cost and net realisable value. Below: who needs a year-end count, how to value it, a step-by-step routine and an honest comparison of the tools UK small businesses use. This is not accounting advice.
Short answer: which tool for the year-end stock take
- Several staff counting at once, on Android and iPhone, with a web view: Ofisx Inventory Management (online) — each person scans with their own phone and their own permissions, shared cloud stock per warehouse and per van, movement history, Excel export for your accountant. Free download and sign-up; UK App Store plans £6.99/month or £39.99/year, Premium £12.99/month or £59.99/year.
- Counting alone, on one phone, in a stockroom or cellar with no signal: Ofisx Offline Inventory — 100% offline, no account, Excel export; free up to 100 items and 300 transactions, Pro £3.99/month, £12.99/year or £22.99 one-time (UK App Store).
- Assigning counts to a team and approving differences: Sortly "Stock Counts" (Ultra plan and above, priced in US dollars; up to 250 line items per count) or Shopify's stock counts if you already sell on Shopify.
- You already take card payments with Square: Square for Retail — the inventory counting tool is in Plus (£49 a month per location); stock count export to CSV/Excel is in every plan.
- Orders, batches and several warehouses: Zoho Inventory (stock counting from Premium, £105 per organisation per month billed annually) or inFlow (from £89 a month).
- A few dozen lines: a spreadsheet with item, quantity counted, unit cost and value is enough — recount anything that looks wrong. For a general phone-and-barcode count, see our stock take app with barcode scanner comparison.
Apps and tools for a year-end stock take compared
| Tool | Platform | Year-end count | Works without internet | Several counters at once | List for the accountant | Price (checked Oct 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ofisx Inventory Management (online) | Android, iPhone and web with one account | Yes — stock count by camera barcode scan; several barcodes per item; stock per warehouse and per vehicle | No — cloud app, needs internet | Yes — staff accounts with permissions, shared stock | Bulk Excel export (and import) of items; movement history | Free download and sign-up; UK App Store: £6.99/month or £39.99/year, Premium £12.99/month or £59.99/year |
| Ofisx Offline Inventory | Android and iPhone, one device | Yes — camera barcode scan, stock corrected to the counted quantity | Yes, 100% — data on the device, no account | No — one device, no web version | Export to Excel | Free up to 100 items and 300 transactions; UK App Store Pro £3.99/month, £12.99/year or £22.99 lifetime |
| Sortly | iOS, Android and web | Yes — "Stock Counts": create, assign, count, review discrepancies; up to 250 line items per count | "Offline Mobile Access" listed on the pricing page — check which plan | Yes — assign a count to everyone or to specific users | Stock count export as PDF | Free plan (100 items, 1 user) has no Stock Counts; Ultra $149/month, or $74/month billed yearly ($888) in the first year |
| Zoho Inventory | Web and mobile apps | "Stock counting" listed from the Premium plan | Check with the vendor | Yes (2 users included on Premium) | Check with the vendor | Free plan (50 orders, 1 user) without stock counting; Premium £105 per organisation per month billed annually, excl. VAT |
| inFlow Inventory | Web and mobile apps (see vendor) | "Stock counts (physical counts)" listed as included | Check with the vendor | Yes — extra team members £19/month each | Check with the vendor | No free plan (14-day trial); Lite £89/month or £828/year |
| Square for Retail | Square POS on iPhone/iPad, online dashboard | Inventory counting tool with the iPhone or iPad camera — Plus plan | Check with the vendor | Yes (cloud POS) | Export stock counts to CSV or Excel — all plans | Free plan without the counting tool; Plus £49 a month per location (30-day free trial) + card fees |
| Shopify (stock counts) | Shopify admin; Shopify POS app | Yes — stock counts in the admin, with a barcode scanner or manual entry; a manager approves before stock changes | Check with the vendor | Yes; counting in the POS app needs POS Pro at that location | Adjustment history in the admin | Part of a Shopify subscription; POS Pro is a paid add-on per location |
| Spreadsheet (Excel, Google Sheets, LibreOffice) | Computer (or paper sheets typed up later) | Yes — columns for item, quantity counted, unit cost, value | Yes for Excel on a computer | Limited (shared file) | The spreadsheet itself | Google Sheets and LibreOffice Calc are free |
The options in detail
Ofisx Inventory Management (online)
Split the count by area — shop floor, stockroom, each van or warehouse — and let each member of staff scan on their own phone. The corrected stock appears straight away on every device and on the web, and the movement history shows what changed. When the count is done, export the item list to Excel and send it to your accountant.
Through the year the same app books barcode sales, purchases and returns, keeps customer accounts and collections with due-date reminders, prints receipts on 58/80 mm thermal printers and shows profit, turnover, VAT and cash reports. If stock is booked properly all year, you go into the year-end count with an expected list to check the counted quantities against.
Ofisx Offline Inventory
Built for counting with no signal: import or add the item list beforehand, then scan each barcode at the shelf and enter the quantity. Nothing is stored on a server, so it works the same in a cellar, a lock-up or a back stockroom as on the shop floor.
After the count, export the list to Excel for your accountant. Manual backup to Google Drive or iCloud is free; Pro removes the item and transaction limits and adds automatic daily backup. Pro can be bought once, so a subscription is not required.
Sortly
According to Sortly's help centre, Stock Counts are available on Ultra, Premium and Enterprise. Counts move through Draft, Ready to Count, In Progress, In Review and Complete, and a completed count is locked — useful as an audit trail.
Sortly is aimed at materials, tools and equipment rather than counter sales, and is priced in US dollars.
Zoho Inventory
Inventory and order management with purchase and sales orders, several locations and integrations with Xero, QuickBooks Online, Shopify, Amazon and eBay. Serial and batch tracking start with Professional (£65); stock counting and barcode generation with Premium (£105).
A good fit if you need orders and accounting integration; for a once-a-year count on its own it is a lot of system.
inFlow Inventory
Inventory software for businesses with purchasing, sales orders and several locations. Physical stock counts are included in its plans; it is priced for businesses that manage stock every day rather than a small shop that counts once a year.
Square for Retail
A till with inventory built in. On the UK pricing page the counting tool (scan, search, review and confirm counts) is in Plus; low-stock alerts and stock count export are in every plan.
Makes sense if Square already takes your card payments; for counting alone it means taking on a till system.
Shopify (stock counts)
If you sell on Shopify, count in Shopify itself. Note that the Stocky app, which many shops used for stocktakes, is no longer available after 31 August 2026 according to Shopify's help centre — Shopify points users to its own inventory features instead.
Spreadsheet (Excel, Google Sheets, LibreOffice)
For a small range a sheet is enough: item, location, quantity counted, unit cost, value (quantity × cost), total, count date and the names of the counters. The weak points: double-counted or missed lines are hard to spot, and copies of the file drift apart. You can import the same sheet into an app later — see spreadsheet or app.
Year-end stock take: the rules, valuation and a step-by-step routine
- Do you need a year-end stock take for your accounts? — If you run a company whose business involves dealing in goods, its accounting records must contain statements of stock held at the end of each financial year and all statements of stocktakings from which those are prepared (Companies Act 2006, s.386(4)); a private company keeps them for three years (s.388). Sole traders and partnerships now use cash basis as the standard way to work out profit (GOV.UK); if you use traditional accounting instead, your records must include the value of stock and work in progress at the end of your accounting period (GOV.UK). Either way, a yearly count shows shrinkage, damage and slow sellers. Which rule applies to you is a question for your accountant.
- How closing stock is valued — HMRC accepts stock valued at the lower of cost and net realisable value (BIM33115). Cost means the purchase price plus costs of bringing the goods to their present location and condition (BIM33135); net realisable value is the estimated selling price less costs to complete and sell (BIM33140) — so damaged, out-of-date or slow-moving lines may be worth less than you paid. HMRC does not accept LIFO for tax (BIM33100).
- Step 1 — Prepare the item list in advance — In November or early December, import or complete your item list with barcode and unit cost. On count day every item should already exist, so staff scan rather than type — typing mistakes become stock differences.
- Step 2 — Count as close to the year-end date as you can — Count on the last trading day, after closing, or on a closed day. If you have to count a few days before or after the year end, record every delivery, sale and return in between so your accountant can roll the figures to the year-end date. Agree the date and method with your accountant beforehand.
- Step 3 — Count by area, without double counting — Split the premises into areas (shelves, stockroom, cellar, vans), give each counter an area and mark areas as done. Keep goods arriving on the day to one side. Have a second person recount any line that looks wrong. Our barcode stock take guide covers counting with a phone in more detail.
- Step 4 — Value, sign and hand over — Export the final count to Excel, check quantities and unit costs, mark damaged or slow-moving lines, and add the count date and the names of the counters. Send the file to your accountant and keep it with your records.
- Choosing the tool: signal and team size — In a cellar or back stockroom there is often no signal — use a fully offline app on one phone. If several people count at once, you need shared stock in the cloud with separate accounts.
What the Ofisx apps do not do
- The Ofisx apps are not accounting software: they do not produce year-end accounts, post a closing stock journal, connect to HMRC or Making Tax Digital, or integrate with Xero or QuickBooks. The exported Excel list is the starting point for your accountant.
- A finished closing stock valuation at the lower of cost and net realisable value is not a listed feature: check quantities and unit costs in the exported file and write down damaged or slow-moving lines yourself (or with your accountant).
- Ofisx Inventory Management needs internet; Ofisx Offline Inventory runs on one device, without multi-user access or a web version.
- Neither app prints barcode labels or tracks batches, expiry dates or serial numbers, and neither is an EPOS till.
- This page summarises UK legislation and HMRC guidance and is not accounting or tax advice — agree the count date, method and valuation with your accountant.
Frequently asked questions
What app can I use for a year-end stock take in my shop?
If several people count at once: Ofisx Inventory Management (online) — each scans barcodes on their own Android phone or iPhone, stock is shared in the cloud and on the web, and the list exports to Excel; free to download, UK App Store plans from £6.99 a month. If you count alone on one phone with no signal: Ofisx Offline Inventory — 100% offline, free up to 100 items and 300 transactions, Pro £22.99 once. Sortly (Stock Counts from Ultra), Square for Retail (counting tool in Plus, £49/month), Shopify's stock counts, Zoho Inventory (Premium) and inFlow also have count features.
How do I do a year-end stock take?
Prepare the item list with barcodes and unit costs beforehand, count as close to the year-end date as possible with no sales or deliveries during the count, split the premises into areas, recount anything that looks wrong, then export the count, add unit costs and values, and give it to your accountant with the date and the counters' names. If you count a few days early or late, record the movements in between.
Do I need a stock take for my accounts?
A company that deals in goods must keep statements of stock held at the end of each financial year and the stocktaking records behind them (Companies Act 2006, s.386). Sole traders and partnerships use cash basis as standard; under traditional accounting the value of stock at the end of the accounting period must be in your records (GOV.UK). Ask your accountant what applies to your business.
How do I value closing stock?
HMRC accepts the lower of cost and net realisable value (BIM33115): cost is what you paid plus the costs of getting the goods to where they are now; net realisable value is the expected selling price less the costs to sell. Value each line at whichever is lower, so damaged or slow-moving goods may be written down. LIFO is not accepted for tax. Your accountant makes the final valuation.
Is there a free stock take app?
Ofisx Inventory Management is free to download and sign up to (paid plans add more features). Ofisx Offline Inventory includes every feature free up to 100 items and 300 transactions. Sortly's and Zoho Inventory's free plans do not include their stock count features, and Square's counting tool is in Plus. A spreadsheet is free but slower to check.
Is there a stock take app that works offline?
Ofisx Offline Inventory works with no connection at all and no account; data stays on the phone, with backup to Google Drive or iCloud — but on one device only. Sortly lists offline mobile access on its pricing page. Ofisx Inventory Management is a cloud app and needs internet. More options: offline inventory apps.
How do I export my stock take to Excel for my accountant?
Both Ofisx apps export the item list to Excel after the count; check the quantities and add or confirm unit costs before you send it. Square exports stock counts to CSV or Excel on all plans, Sortly exports counts as PDF, and a spreadsheet count is already a file. The Ofisx apps do not send data to Xero, QuickBooks or HMRC.
Can several staff count at the same time?
Yes, with a cloud app. In Ofisx Inventory Management each member of staff has their own account and permissions, and the stock is the same on every phone and on the web — give each person an area so nothing is counted twice. Sortly lets you assign a count to several users from Ultra. Ofisx Offline Inventory runs on one device.