Colleges like other organizations and businesses must maintain proper and authentic records to assess financial expenditure detect loss of assets and determine liabilities.

With the advent of the internet, institutions of higher learning are taking advantage of automated systems for the effortless management of payroll and human resources, procurement, budgeting, automatic email-invoices, feature-rich programs meant for larger institutions, text book tracking and much more.

Institutions have legal obligations to comply with procurement laws, risk and compliance requirements, item coding and tracking analytics.

An outdated and inefficient practice gives birth to numerous disadvantages, below are 5 costly inventory management mistakes schools should avoid:

Equipment Inspection Problems

There multitudes equipment and machinery acquired by schools, automated codes are used to record purchase or sale, and this minimizes haziness or falsifications.

Coding also ensures inventory you do not run up and down groping for items, however, you will be shocked by the glaring anomalies when checkouts are being undertaken.

Since items are normally coded in groups; you may be forced to go through voluminous records a whole day to track an item, if there was an omissions, you may take two.

Without painstaking inspections, depreciation estimations, stolen and damaged machinery or equipment are not recorded, most schools end up reproducing original prices for scrap and non-existing things.

Lack of Accountability

Most colleges lack comprehensive compilation of their stock as procurement is not centralized and occurs through departments.

Without a regular and complete assessment of stock, funds and essential materials like laboratory chemicals and apparatus, machinery, and motor vehicles are prone to embezzlement, thievery and vandalism without any accountability as they are not recorded.

These lead to inaccurate inventories not to mention the open leeway, thieves rejoice and warm up ready to drain school coffers.

Asset Mismanagement

Colleges though not profit-seeking entities cannot afford to toy with the numerous assets and proprietary rights in their hands.

Due to improper inventory management, factors such as downgrading, theft and smash ups are overlooked in supply records.

To rein into corruption and fraud, there is need for adhering to appropriate procurement procedures, prompt recording of arriving supplies, frequent inspection and coordination of stock information from all departments.

Luckily, there are nifty programs schools can apply to tame the activities of swindlers.

Data Entry Errors

Unlike businesses, institutions of higher learning acquire untold items like laboratory equipment, computers, sporting paraphernalia, books and academic materials and other stock for consumption and not profit generation.

There are dozens of items acquired every day; this increases the likelihood of omitting mixed expenses and flow of supplies while not updating the main records timely.

Where there is chaotic departmental coordination is a hard nut it becomes difficult for larger colleges to get exact, up-to-date and overall inventory snapshots at the end of the year.

Inventory mistakes travel all the way to all-inclusive accounting to distort data showing the financial standing of the institution.

Property Loss

With archaic and shoddy inventory management methods, denizens can flirt with assets like vehicles negligently and vanish with what fits into their pocket secretly.

Unreturned equipment, machinery, and loads of learning materials borrowed or loaned to students will not be easy to follow-up.

Libraries, especially depending on size require inclusive inventory or stock taking into account monies expended, determine the whole collection size and quality, lastly, the exit book-tracking software will net naïve thieves pants down at the library’s entrance.