The NZ financial year wraps up on 31 March, which means if you’re running a WooCommerce store, now is a good time to get your inventory sorted before your accountant comes knocking. A stocktake isn’t the most exciting way to spend an afternoon, but it matters. Accurate stock numbers flow through to your financial statements, your cost of goods, and your tax obligations. Get it wrong and you’re creating headaches for future you.
Here’s how to work through it in WooCommerce.
Before you start
A couple of things worth doing before you count a single product. First, work through any outstanding orders that haven’t been fulfilled yet. WooCommerce reduces stock automatically when an order is placed, but if you’ve got orders sitting in processing that haven’t been packed and shipped, clearing those first gives you a cleaner picture of what’s actually available.
Second, export a copy of your current stock levels as a backup before you make any changes. Head to Analytics > Stock and export a CSV of your current stock quantities. Save it somewhere safe before you touch anything.
Count your physical stock
This is the part that can’t be automated. Go through your actual stock, whether that’s a storeroom, a garage, or a warehouse shelf, and count what you have on hand for each product and variant. Write it down or use a spreadsheet as you go. If you have a barcode scanner, even better.
The goal is a real-world count for every SKU you carry.
Reconcile against WooCommerce
Once you’ve got your physical counts, head to Analytics > Stock in your WooCommerce admin. This report shows you your current stock levels across all products and variants in one place. Worth knowing that the Stock report shows your inventory as it stands right now, there’s no date selector, so you can’t pull a historical snapshot. This is why it’s worth exporting a copy before you start making any adjustments, that export becomes your record of stock on hand at the time of the count.
Compare what WooCommerce shows against what you actually counted. Where the numbers don’t match, click into the individual product and update the stock quantity manually under the product’s Inventory tab. WooCommerce doesn’t log manual stock adjustments automatically, so it’s worth keeping a note of any changes you make and why, either in a spreadsheet or in the product notes. Your accountant may ask.
Common reasons for discrepancies include items that were damaged and never written off, stock received but not entered properly, returns that weren’t restocked correctly, or the occasional mystery shrinkage. Note down any significant gaps as you go.
Export your inventory report for your accountant
Once your numbers are reconciled, head back to Analytics > Stock and export a fresh CSV. Because the Stock report reflects your inventory at this moment in time, the best practice is to do this export immediately after completing your stocktake and reconciliation, so the numbers are as accurate as possible as at 31 March.
Worth knowing that if you’re doing this stocktake well after 31 March, the Analytics > Stock report will show your current stock levels, not what they were at year end. The best fix is to do your stock export on or as close to 31 March as possible and save that file as your year end record.
If you want a more automated solution going forward, a plugin like Stock Snapshot for WooCommerce can take scheduled snapshots of your stock levels at set intervals. Just note that it can only record from the date it’s installed, so it needs to be set up before the date you want the snapshot from. If you install it in April hoping to get a March 31 figure, you’re out of luck.
The simplest approach for most stores? Add a recurring calendar reminder for 31 March each year to export your stock report from Analytics > Stock. It takes two minutes and means you’ve always got a clean closing stock count on file when your accountant asks for it.
WooCommerce now has a built-in Cost of Goods field, which is a relatively recent addition to the platform. You’ll find it under the General tab when editing any product. If you’ve been adding costs to your products, your accountant can use this data to work out your total stock valuation. If you haven’t set these up yet, now is a good time to start, it makes your end of year reporting a lot more straightforward going forward.
For sales data, head to Analytics > Revenue, set the date range to 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026, and export to CSV. That gives your accountant the full picture of what came in over the financial year.
Check your draft orders and pending payments
Do a tidy-up of any orders sitting in pending payment or on-hold status before year end. These can skew your figures if they’re not resolved. Either follow up with the customer, cancel, or mark them appropriately so your order history is clean going into the new financial year.
A note on WooCommerce stock management
WooCommerce’s built-in stock management works well for smaller stores but can get unwieldy as your product range grows. If you’re finding it hard to keep on top of, it might be worth looking at a dedicated inventory plugin. ATUM is a popular free option that adds a proper stock management interface, purchase orders, and reporting on top of WooCommerce.
And as always, check with your accountant about what they need and in what format. Every practice works a little differently at year end.
Need a hand getting your WooCommerce store sorted?
If your store needs some attention before the financial year closes, we’re happy to help.
get in touch