Mid-Year Inventory Health Check: Why Inventory Accuracy Still Runs Your Supply Chain

Ask any warehouse manager what keeps them up at night and stock discrepancies land near the top of the list, right alongside missed deliveries and angry customers. Halfway through the year is the perfect moment to stop and check whether your stock levels actually match what’s on the system, because a small gap in July has a way of becoming a big problem by December.

Inventory accuracy is not a nice-to-have metric buried in a warehouse report. It is one of the clearest indicators of how well your entire supply chain is functioning, from procurement through to the customer’s front door. Inventory is one of the biggest capital investments most SA businesses carry, and when the numbers on the system do not match what is actually on the shelf, every department downstream feels it.

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Why Inventory Accuracy Is the Foundation of a Healthy Supply Chain

When your inventory accuracy is off, the ripple effect is bigger than most businesses expect. Procurement orders too much or too little. Warehousing wastes space and labour chasing stock that is not where the system says it is. Transport gets scheduled around loads that do not exist yet. And sales makes promises to customers based on numbers that were never true in the first place.

A mid-year review gives you a clean checkpoint. It is far enough into the year to see real trends, and early enough to correct course before the pressure of peak season hits.

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Six Inventory Accuracy Metrics Worth Reviewing Right Now

A proper mid-year stock check comes down to a handful of numbers. Here is what to pull and why each one matters.

Inventory Accuracy Percentage

This compares what your system says you have against what a physical count actually finds. Anything consistently below 95 percent means your data cannot be trusted for planning, and every decision built on top of it is a guess.

Inventory Turnover Ratio

This shows how many times stock moves through your warehouse in a given period. A low ratio usually points to overbuying or slow-moving lines tying up cash that could be working elsewhere in the business.

Stock-Out Rate

How often are you out of stock on items customers actually want? A rising stock-out rate is one of the fastest ways to lose a customer to a competitor down the road.

Slow-Moving Inventory Percentage

Stock that has not moved in months is not an asset, it is dead weight taking up warehouse space and holding cost. Flagging it at mid-year gives you time to discount, bundle, or write it off before it becomes a year-end problem.

Days Inventory Outstanding (DIO)

This measures how long stock sits before it sells. A creeping DIO number is often the earliest warning sign that demand forecasting and actual buying have drifted apart.

Order Fill Rate

This tracks how many customer orders you fulfil completely and on time, first attempt. It is the metric your customers feel most directly, and it is usually the first place inventory inaccuracy shows up publicly.

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What Inaccurate Inventory Really Costs Your Business

The cost of bad inventory data rarely shows up as one big line item. It shows up as a hundred small ones: an emergency order placed at a premium because stock was not where the system said it was, a delivery delayed while someone manually checks the warehouse floor, a customer who quietly takes their business elsewhere after the second late delivery.

These inaccuracies rarely stay contained to one department. Procurement, warehousing, transport, and sales all end up compensating for the same underlying data problem, usually without realising it is the same problem.

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How to Get Your Inventory Accuracy Back on Track

None of this requires a full system overhaul. Most businesses see meaningful improvement from a few disciplined habits:

Run Regular Cycle Counts

Rather than one exhausting annual stocktake, count a rotating portion of your inventory weekly or monthly. Discrepancies get caught early, while they are still small and easy to trace.

Audit Your Fastest and Slowest Movers Separately

High-velocity lines and slow movers fail for different reasons. Treat them as two separate reviews rather than one blended stocktake.

Tighten the System Review

Check that receiving, picking, and dispatch are all logged the same way, at the same point, every time. Most inventory drift starts with a process gap, not a system fault.

Businesses that keep on top of these basics are simply better positioned. They forecast demand with more confidence, negotiate procurement with better data, and give customer service teams numbers they can actually stand behind.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How often should we run a full inventory accuracy review?

A full review at least twice a year, at mid-year and year-end, catches most drift before it compounds. High-volume operations often benefit from monthly spot checks in between.

What is considered a good inventory accuracy percentage?

Most well-run operations aim for 95 percent or higher. Below that, planning and procurement decisions start to rest on shaky ground.

Can better transport and cold chain management improve inventory accuracy?

Yes. Reliable, well-tracked transport reduces the discrepancies that happen in transit and at handover points, which is often where inventory data quietly goes wrong.

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A resilient supply chain starts with knowing exactly what you have, where it is, and how fast it is moving. If your mid-year review has flagged gaps in stock accuracy, movement, or delivery reliability, LMC Express can help you tighten the transport and cold chain side of that equation. Get in touch with our team to talk through what a more reliable supply chain could look like for your business.