Opening Balance Sheet Count Checklist: Steps, Owners and Evidence

After an acquisition, the buyer must record the acquired assets as of the acquisition date. For plant and stock, the seller's fixed asset register and stock ledger are the starting point. These records often do not match the floor. An opening balance sheet count finds the differences before they go into your opening balances.

Use this checklist to plan the count. It shows who owns each step, how each step relates to the acquisition date, and which evidence to keep. It applies to fixed assets and industrial stock, such as raw materials, work in process, finished goods and spare parts.

Who owns each step

Write the owner of each step in the count plan. When a step has no owner, it often has no evidence.

The checklist

Before close: get the records and set the rules

• Get the seller's fixed asset register, with asset number, description, location, cost and in-service date.
• Get the stock ledger extract by item, location and quantity.
• Get the site list and the legal entity for each site.
• Record the acquisition date. The count date and the roll-to-date work depend on it.
• Agree the scope: which sites, which asset classes and which stock types.
• Agree the cutoff rules for receipts, issues, shipments, additions, disposals and transfers.
• For a carve-out, agree the split rules. These come from the transaction documents and your instructions.

Plan the count against the acquisition date

• Choose a count date as near to the acquisition date as the sites permit.
• If the count date is not the acquisition date, plan the roll-back or roll-forward now. List the movement records that you will need for the period between the two dates.
• Decide the tag standard for fixed assets that do not have a usable tag (barcode or RFID). See our asset tagging services for tag types.
• Send the count plan and the schedule to your auditor, if the auditor wants to observe.
• Confirm site access, safety rules and a site contact for each site.

Count day: fixed assets and industrial stock

• Count each fixed asset at its location. Record the description, make, model and serial number where visible.
• Apply a durable tag to each fixed asset that does not have a usable tag. Link each tag to one register line.
• Count stock by item and location. Use blind counts, so that the counter does not see the book quantity.
• Recount where the first count and the records do not agree.
• Record the legal entity for each asset and stock location at shared sites.
• Record condition notes where they are in scope.
• Freeze or log all movements during the count, as the cutoff rules say.

Reconcile the count to the register and the stock ledger

• Match each counted fixed asset to a register line. Mark each line as matched, missing or not on the register.
• Search again for each missing asset at the site and in nearby areas before you list it as an exception.
• Match stock counts to the stock ledger by item and location. Record each difference.
• Record wrong descriptions and wrong locations as separate exceptions.

Roll the count to the acquisition date

• For stock, use the receipts, issues and shipments between the count date and the acquisition date.
• For fixed assets, use the additions, disposals and transfers between the two dates.
• Keep the source document for each movement that you use.
• Show the count quantity, each movement and the quantity at the acquisition date on one schedule.

Build the evidence pack

• Count files for each fixed asset and stock item, with location and tag number.
• The reconciliation to the acquired register and to the stock ledger.
• The exception report, line by line, with search notes.
• The roll-to-date schedule and its source documents.
• The method memo: count plan, cutoff rules, recount rules and controls.
• For a carve-out, a register and a stock list for each legal entity.

Hand off and close the exceptions

• Give the verified asset list to the valuation team.
• Give the evidence pack to the auditor for the opening balance sheet audit.
• Get a decision from the controller on each exception. Record the decision and the date.
• Load the clean register into the buyer's system, with the new tag numbers.

Mistakes that weaken the opening balances

• No owner for the cutoff. Stock moves during the count, and nobody records it. The roll-to-date schedule then has gaps.
• Count date set with no roll plan. The team counts on a convenient date but does not keep the movement records for the period between the dates.
• Exceptions with no decision. Missing assets stay on a list, and nobody decides the accounting.
• One file for two entities. At a shared site, the count does not record the entity. The carve-out register then needs a second visit.
• Tags that do not link to the register. New tags go on assets, but the tag numbers do not go into the register.

For a wider fixed asset checklist that is not tied to a deal, see our fixed asset verification checklist.

Frequently asked questions

This article gives general information. It is not legal, accounting or audit advice. Your auditor and advisors make the accounting decisions.