Reports
How to calculate stock value in a retail shop
Updated 2026-09-11
Stock value is quantity times cost for what you still hold. Why shops get it wrong, and what a POS report is actually showing.
Stock value answers a blunt question: what is sitting in this shop, in money, according to the records? It is usually quantity on hand multiplied by a cost you stored for the product, then summed across items.
It is not the same as sales, and it is not profit.
Why owners look at it
- To see whether inventory is tying up cash
- To notice shrinkage when the racks and the number disagree
- To talk to a bank or a partner without waving at shelves
BezPOS includes stock value reporting from local inventory records. It will only be as good as the quantities and costs you entered.
How shops corrupt the number
- Opening stock was guessed, not counted
- Purchases were received in the door but not in the system
- Units are wrong (counting boxes as pieces)
- Cost was never updated after a price hike from the supplier
Fix the process first: inventory, receiving, units. Then trust the report.
What it does not include
Stock value is not a full balance sheet. It does not automatically include unpaid supplier bills or customer credit. Those are supplier and customer ledgers.
Use stock value as a control, not as a vanity metric.