What a manufacturer stock audit actually checks, and how to be ready for it

Manufacturer finance arms and independent stocking funders audit the stock they fund. Sometimes it is announced, sometimes it is a field auditor arriving on a Tuesday with a list. The purpose is simple: to confirm that the vehicles they have advanced money against exist, are where they should be, and have not been sold without settlement.

The list they arrive with

The auditor works from the funder’s own record of funded units, by VIN. They will want to see each one, or evidence of where it is. A funded unit that cannot be produced needs one of a small number of explanations: on a demo or courtesy loan (show the agreement), at another site in the group (they may drive there), sold and settlement in progress (show the settlement request and the date), or in transit (show the delivery note).

"We think it was sold" is not one of the acceptable answers. Neither is "it will be in the workshop somewhere".

What they check on each car

VIN against the list, usually from the windscreen plate or the door jamb sticker. Registration if plated. Whether the car is prepared for sale or looks like it has been used (mileage on a "new" car is a question). Whether there is a customer’s belongings in it. Whether it is on the sales floor or hidden at the back. Each of these is a small tell about whether the funded stock is really stock.

What they check in the office

Sold units: the invoice date against the settlement date. A consistent gap of more than a few days is the finding they write up. Stock ageing: units past the curtailment point and whether the curtailments were paid. The reconciliation: whether someone in the business agrees the statement to the stock list each month, and can show it.

Being ready

Three things make the visit short. A recent stocktake with photographs, dated, showing every funded VIN sighted on site or accounted for. Off-site and workshop registers that explain the cars that were not on the forecourt that morning. And last month’s statement reconciliation, signed off, with a note against each exception.

If you have those three documents, the auditor is confirming your work rather than doing their own, and the visit is an hour. Forecourt produces all three as a matter of routine: the stocktake report, the registers, and the Manufacturer rec.