A register or an Excel sheet records what happened; it does not connect one record to another. A wholesaler loses on paper not because the entries are wrong, but because the sale book, the stock book and the khata are written separately and nothing makes them agree.
What does a wholesaler lose with registers?
- Udhaar that is never collected. A bill written in the sale book but not copied to the khata is money nobody asks for.
- Stock that walks away. If the stock book is updated at the end of the week, a shortage is found weeks after it happened.
- Time. Totalling a customer's account takes an hour when he is standing at the counter.
- The profit figure. Without the cost of goods sold, profit is a guess. See why profit is not sales minus purchases.
- Proof. A torn page or an overwritten figure cannot be traced.
Is Excel better than a register?
Excel is better at adding up and worse at control. It totals a column instantly, but:
- anyone can change or delete a row, and nothing records it;
- a sheet for sales does not reduce the sheet for stock unless someone builds and maintains formulas;
- two people cannot safely work in the same file;
- a back-dated entry does not correct the running balance below it unless the formula is perfect on every row.
How do the three compare?
| Need | Register | Excel | Software |
|---|---|---|---|
| One entry updates stock and khata | No | Only with complex formulas | Yes |
| Customer balance at any moment | After totalling | If formulas are intact | Yes |
| Back-dated entry corrects later balances | No | Sometimes | Yes |
| Record of who changed what | No | No | Yes |
| Several people working together | One book at a time | Risky | Yes, each with a login |
| Real profit | No | Hard | Yes |
| Cost | Lowest | Low | Monthly fee |
When is a register still enough?
A register is enough when you sell for cash only, carry a few dozen items and do all the writing yourself. The moment you give credit to more than a handful of customers, or someone else writes the bills, the register starts to cost more than software.
How do you move from registers to software?
- Pick a starting date, ideally the first of a month.
- List opening balances on that date: what each customer owes, what you owe each supplier, stock in hand, cash and bank.
- Enter them once. You do not need to type old bills.
- Enter every new transaction in the software from that day, and keep the register for one month as a check.
After one month compare three figures with the register: one customer's balance, one product's stock, and cash in hand.
In M-Tech Logistics: opening balances are entered on the customer, supplier, product and account screens, and everything after that comes from invoices and payments. If your lists are already in Excel, we can move them in for you. To judge any software before buying, use the 12 checks; to see ours, read what the wholesale distribution software does.