Guides

The decisions nobody explains

Each of these answers a question we had to answer in code, and got wrong at least once. Correct about the subject first and about Dailybuz second — if one of them sends you to a competitor better informed, it did its job.

Moving average or FIFO: choosing a stock valuation method

Moving average and FIFO are both legal in India and give different profit on the same sale. Here is what decides it, and why moving average usually wins.

3 min · for anyone who holds stock and has been asked what it is worth

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Perpetual inventory: when your books should follow your shelf

Perpetual inventory makes your books follow the shelf. What it changes, why switching it on mid-year needs an opening entry, and how to tell if you need it.

3 min · for owners whose stock value and balance sheet have stopped agreeing

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Landed cost: why your margins are better on paper than in the bank

Freight, duty and clearing are part of what goods cost. Leave them in expenses and every margin is overstated. How to load landed cost without double-counting.

3 min · for importers, distributors and anyone paying freight on stock

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Batch, expiry and FEFO: what actually needs tracking

FEFO is not FIFO, and tracking every batch is how tracking stops being done. What really needs batch and expiry tracking, and how to ship what expires first.

3 min · for pharmacies, food, cosmetics, chemicals — and anyone told they need batch tracking

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How to count stock without closing the shop

Cycle counting finds stock errors within days instead of once a year. How to choose what to count, and why a count must post the difference, not the total.

3 min · for anyone whose annual stocktake costs a weekend and still does not agree

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Closing a stock period, and why freezing it matters

A back-dated receipt can quietly change a GST period you have already filed. How closing a stock period and freezing it keep your filed figures true afterwards.

3 min · for anyone who files GST returns and lets staff back-date documents

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WhatsApp's 24-hour rule: what it is and when it applies

The WhatsApp 24-hour rule decides when a business may message a customer freely and when only an approved template will do. How it works, and what it costs.

4 min · for any business replying to customers on WhatsApp, through the app or the API

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Milestone billing without losing a paisa

Splitting a quotation into milestone invoices is easy until the shares stop adding up. How to split to the paisa, when GST falls due, and how not to bill twice.

4 min · for agencies, contractors and anyone who bills a job in stages

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Billed, received, delivered: three numbers, not one

A project can be 80% billed, 50% delivered and 40% paid at once. Why the three numbers differ, which one is revenue, and what each gap between them tells you.

3 min · for anyone running projects that are invoiced in stages

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Why a payslip rounds each line, not the total

A payslip whose lines do not add up to its total costs an argument every month. How to round salary components, PF and ESI so the printed slip is always right.

3 min · for anyone who runs payroll, or checks their own payslip

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How to run a customer khata you can actually collect

Selling on khata keeps regulars coming back and quietly ties up cash. How to record credit sales, age each balance, set limits, and why khata never delays GST.

3 min · for shops, distributors and anyone who sells to regulars on credit

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Liquor stock in millilitres: pour cost and variance

Counting bar stock in bottles hides every over-pour and spill. Why liquor belongs in millilitres, how to work out pour cost per peg, and how to read variance.

3 min · for bars, pubs and restaurants that serve liquor by the peg

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Running a print job from enquiry to delivery

A print job loses money at the quote and the proof, long before the press runs. A printing press workflow from enquiry to delivery, with the checks that matter.

3 min · for printing presses and print shops handling commercial jobs

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