A revision report: its structure

The count is finished, the statement is ready, the figures are known. Now they have to be gathered into one document: the revision report. It is the face of the revision: the manager, the accountant, a partner or an investor will read this document, not the count sheets. A good report answers the questions in one reading: what was checked, what was found, what the cause is and what to do next.

What a report is and is not

A report is a document in which the committee sets out the facts of the check. It is not a decision on punishment. The decision on who pays what is taken separately by the manager, after the report. The report answers the question "what happened?", not "who is to be punished?". Keeping the two apart lets the committee stay impartial.

The structure of the report

1. Heading: the title of the document, its number, date, place and the name of the organisation.
2. Basis: the number and date of the revision order and the reason for the revision.
3. Participants: the committee members and the person responsible for the stock, with positions.
4. Object and period: what was checked, for which period and on which days the count took place.
5. Introduction: which methods were used (counting, weighing, code scanning), at what moment the balance was frozen, whether all documents were provided and whether the responsible person took part in the count.
6. Descriptive part: the results, meaning the totals by books and by actual count, shortages and surpluses, and the biggest differences. The full list stays in the statement.
7. Explanations: what the responsible person said and which documents he relied on.
8. Conclusions and proposals: causes that were established kept apart from those that were not; recommended measures.
9. Annexes and signatures.

The length varies with the warehouse: for a small shop the report may run to two or three pages, for a wholesale depot up to ten. But the main part, the description and conclusions, should not exceed a page or two. Long tables and copies of documents go into the annexes, otherwise the manager will not find the main point.

How to write the descriptive part and the conclusions

The descriptive part relies on facts, figures and references to the source. Fact must not be mixed with guesswork, and the language should be uniform and impartial. Every figure must match the statement to the letter.

Compare two versions:

• Wrong: "The storekeeper stole the goods, which is why there is a shortage."
• Right: "A shortage totalling 3,850,000 so'm was found in 11 positions. For 4 positions (1,120,000 so'm) the cause is confirmed by documents; for 7 positions (2,730,000 so'm) the cause has not been established."

The first version is an unproven accusation; the second is a fact that can be checked. If a cause has not been established, say so, and do not fill the gap with words like "probably" or "apparently".

In the conclusions, group the causes: those confirmed by documents apart from those not established. Proposals should be practical: who does what, and by when. For example:

• correct the erroneous entries whose cause is clear (responsible: chief accountant, deadline: five working days);
• recount or run an additional check on the unexplained differences;
• change the procedure for processing returns;
• set the date of the next revision.

"Who pays" or "who gets dismissed" is not written into the report: that is the manager's separate decision.

Signatures, acquaintance and copies

All members of the committee sign the report. If one of them disagrees, he writes a separate opinion, and it must not be removed from the report. The responsible person is shown the document and writes with a date either "read, no objections" or "I have objections". If he refuses to sign, a separate record of that is drawn up in front of witnesses.

The original goes to the manager, with copies to accounting and to the responsible person. Draw up the report right after the count, while everything is still fresh, ideally within a week.

Typical mistakes

• a page is replaced or the text is corrected after signing;
• accusatory language: words like "stole" or "hid" used without proof;
• the report says one figure and the statement another;
• a cause that has not been established is presented as established;
• the report ends with "there is a shortage" and offers no proposals;
• the opinion of the responsible person is not recorded at all.

Conclusion

The simpler and more exact the report, the stronger it is: facts supported by figures, the cause by evidence, the proposal by a practical task. The Reviziya team can help prepare the report and check its structure.