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A count compares what the system holds against what is actually on the shelf, and then makes the system agree with the shelf. Opening a count takes a snapshot of current stock, so counting and selling can carry on side by side without the figures moving underneath you.

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What you’re looking at

Counts is a tab on the Inventory screen. It lists every count you have run, with its type, scope, date and whether it is open or closed, and carries one button: New count. A pharmacy that has never counted sees “No counts yet. Start a cycle count to reconcile physical stock against the system.” Opening a count moves you to the worksheet, headed with the scope — for example Physical count — Whole clinic. Each row is one lot, with Location, the System quantity taken at the snapshot, and an empty Counted box for you. Along the bottom sit the reconciliation totals: More than expected, Less than expected and Net difference, each valued in your currency and each recalculating as you type. A closed count keeps its worksheet but takes the buttons away, reading “This count is closed. Variances were posted to the ledger.”

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Open the count

1

Start a new count

On the Counts tab, select New count. The sheet explains itself: “Snapshot current stock into a worksheet, then enter what you physically count.”
2

Set the scope

Scope is either Whole clinic — meaning your whole pharmacy — or a single location. A scoped count is far easier to finish in one go, and a count you finish is worth more than a count you abandon.
3

Choose the count type

4

Say how it was counted

How was it counted? has two answers.Type counts by hand (worksheet) — “Open a worksheet and key each quantity against the system snapshot.” This page covers that route.Portable scanner (CipherLab terminal) — “Walk the shelves with the terminal first, then upload the scans here.” See Count with a CipherLab scanner.
5

Open it

A toast confirms “Count opened”. The worksheet now holds a frozen snapshot of the scope.

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Enter what you counted

The worksheet lists every lot in scope with its Location and the System quantity. Enter the real number in Counted.
  • Leave a row blank if you have not reached it yet. Blank is “not counted”, not “zero”.
  • Enter 0 when there is genuinely none on the shelf. That is a real count and it produces a real variance.
  • Select save as you go — a toast confirms “Counts saved” — and come back to it. A count stays open until you approve or cancel it.

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Approve it

Approving is what actually changes stock. Up to that point nothing has moved.
1

Add a witness if the scope is controlled

A controlled-drug scope requires dual sign-off. Choose the colleague from Select a witnessing staff member; the count cannot be approved without one.
2

Approve

Saving happens first, then the approval. Where the shelf and the system already agreed, the toast reads “Approved — no variances”. Where they did not, the differences are posted to stock and to the ledger.
Approving posts every variance to stock and closes the count — it cannot be reopened or reversed. Check the outliers before you approve: a mistyped quantity on a controlled line becomes a discrepancy you have to explain. Cancel count discards an open count without touching stock, and is the right move if the counting went wrong.

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Reading the variances

The reconciliation totals name the direction rather than making you work out a sign: More than expected, Less than expected and Net difference, each valued in your currency. Treat a large “less than expected” as an event, not a correction. It is the signal for shrinkage, an unrecorded dispense, or a sale that ran ahead of stock — which shows up separately on the Reconciliation tab, covered in Batches, expiry and FEFO.

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Who can do this

Role decides whether Inventory opens at all — a Cashier / Till Operator reaches only POS and Sales, so counting is not theirs. Permission decides whether you may change what the system believes you hold. The countersignature is the one real gate on this page, and the one to plan around: it sits with the Dispensing Supervisor bundle and not with Pharmacy Manager, because countersigning a controlled count is a pharmacist’s act rather than a manager’s. Both halves are checked — the person approving and the colleague they name as witness. If nobody on shift holds it, a controlled count cannot be approved — check before you start counting, not after. There is no permission for adjusting a count. Adjust stock counts was offered on the permissions sheet until August 2026 and nothing ever read it, so it was removed; anyone who can open Inventory can key or approve an ordinary count. Without View cost prices and margin the variance totals read “Hidden — needs authorisation from your clinic owner.” The counted quantities are still yours; only their value is withheld, and it is withheld as text rather than as a zero. Two behaviours surprise people:
  • Enforcement is opt-in, per person. A colleague never saved in the permissions sheet is unrestricted, and the sheet warns “Saving starts enforcing”.
  • A denied action is recorded; an allowed one is not. An approval you were refused leaves a trail; the hundred you were allowed do not.
See Staff permissions.

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Check it worked

  • The count shows as closed, and the sheet reads “This count is closed. Variances were posted to the ledger.”
  • The Stock tab now matches what you counted.
  • The Ledger tab shows a movement for each variance, against your name and your witness’s.
  • The Counts tab lists the count with its type, scope and date. An empty tab reads “No counts yet. Start a cycle count to reconcile physical stock against the system.”

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Common issues

A controlled scope needs a witness selected in Select a witnessing staff member. Nothing else blocks approval.
Only staff accounts in this pharmacy can witness, and only somebody holding Witness a controlled-drug dispense counts. You never appear in the list yourself — a countersignature has to be a second person. Invite them first — see Invite your team — or have an owner grant the switch.
The snapshot is taken when the count is opened, so sales during the count do not shift the System column. If a delivery arrived mid-count, cancel and re-open so the snapshot includes it.
It has no stock line in this scope — either it is at another location, or it was never received. Receive it, then run the count again. If you are scanning, the reconciliation sheet lets you assign it; see Count with a CipherLab scanner.
An approved count cannot be reopened. Correct the stock with an adjustment from the toolbar’s Dispense, giving the reason, so the ledger carries both the error and the correction.
You do not hold View cost prices and margin. The quantities are unaffected — only the money is withheld, and it is withheld rather than shown as zero.

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FAQ

No. Approving posts every variance to stock and closes the count for good — there is no reopen and no reverse. If a number was wrong, put the correction through as an adjustment from the toolbar’s Dispense with a reason, so the ledger carries both the error and the fix. Cancel count is the escape hatch, and it only works while the count is still open.
No, and the difference matters. Blank means “not counted yet” and is left alone on approval. 0 means “none on the shelf” and produces a real variance. Key the zero when you mean it.
Yes. The snapshot is frozen when the count opens, so the till keeps working and the System column does not move underneath you. That is the whole reason the snapshot exists.
Cycle count for a routine spot check of one location — short, finishable, and worth far more than an abandoned full count. Full physical for everything in scope. The two DEA types are for controlled items and carry the dual sign-off requirement.
It is a shared label that has not been relabelled for the Pharmacy edition. It means your whole pharmacy.