onhandstock

On-hand stock, also written as on-hand inventory, is the quantity of goods physically present in a company’s facilities that are available for sale or use at a given moment. It is a core metric in inventory management and reflects real-time availability for fulfilling customer orders.

Measurement and scope vary by system, but on-hand stock is typically tracked in an inventory management or ERP system through physical counts or cycle counts. It represents items that are physically present in the warehouse or store and are not committed to specific orders or in transit. Depending on policy, some organizations exclude items that are allocated to open orders or in-transit shipments, while others may include certain in-transit stock when it is owned by the company and receivable.

Importance and use include informing replenishment decisions, safety stock levels, and reorder points. Accurate on-hand data helps maintain service levels, reduce stockouts, and optimize working capital. It also supports reporting on inventory turnover and overall stock health.

Related concepts include backorders, allocations, returns, spoilage, and obsolescence. Regular cycle counting and reconciliations with other inventory measures (such as on-order stock and in-transit stock) are common practices to maintain data accuracy. In practice, managers use on-hand stock to determine how much inventory is immediately available to fulfill new orders and plan future purchases.