The Walrus and the Carpenter

The Walrus and the Carpenter were walking down the Strand,

And all the little Oysters came and followed hand in hand,

“If we but had some Guinness now”, they said, “it would be grand!”

On the wall outside The Temple Bar pub in Dublin City centre there is a famous line from Lewis Carroll’s nonsense poem The Walrus and The Carpenter. Open to a vast array of interpretations from readers and scholars alike, the line “The Walrus and the Carpenter sat down at once to sup” prompted us recently to consider the fabled Walrus and Carpenter to be an Accountant and a Stocktaker!

Every business needs to engage the services of a qualified accountant, at least to prepare annual accounts and submit company returns. An accountant may also conduct further services for a customer such as maintaining monthly accounts, basic P&L, and payroll.

Not only hospitality businesses, but businesses of any variety where goods are bought / sold / processed / transacted at a rate of frequent occurrence, ought to seriously consider employing the services of a stocktaker to support the senior management team and report at regular cyclical intervals on key performance indicators.

More so than the glaringly obvious difference between a Walrus and a Carpenter, what is the difference between an accountant and a stocktaker? Both are looking back in time examining business performance, but time periods differ greatly, advice, support, and outcomes too, and your stocktaker will report at a macro and micro level on gross profit performance and individual product and category movements, whereas an accountant will review gross and net profit results as well as assets and liabilities.

Accountant: here’s what happened last year, you’re in a spot of bother.

Stocktaker: here’s what happened last week, you’ve got a problem. Here’s how to fix it, and we’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again next week. While we’re at it, we’ll coach your management team to drive profitability, and sit in on the next Team Meeting to address ongoing stock issues.

Stocktaker + Accountant = healthy business!

The single biggest difference between an accountant and a stocktaker is time. Unlike the tale of The Walrus and the Carpenter, the accountant and the stocktaker typically do not meet. However, in our experience the accountant would not be bringing surprises to a business owner that the stocktaker has not already highlighted and addressed. Prevention is better than cure; by cyclically analysing agreed key performance indicators of a business, your stocktaker will identify issues as and when they arise, and support with solutions and immediate actionable insight.

Your stock is your product, your investment, your asset, and your risk. In appreciating and understanding the risks and opportunities that your stock presents, information gathering leading to total visibility of your margins, total control of your inventory, and total security of your investment, becomes critical. The flow of high-quality information is simply more important than ever, and enables better decisions.

Irish owned and operated since 1993 Total Stock Control is your trusted nationwide partner for all your stocktaking and stock management needs. Serving large and small customers in Ireland and Northern Ireland, we work with single and multi-site operators of Hotels, Bars, Restaurants, and Off Licences on a weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly basis. We support hospitality business of all varieties and locations, from private members clubs, to high volume transit hubs, through to large late-night music venues and fine dining restaurants. Don’t just take it from us, contact us directly for any further questions you may have.