Year-end cut-off mistakes we still see in shipping docks

Cut-off testing fails more often on the dock than in the general ledger. Goods leave on 30 March; paperwork lands on 2 April; revenue recognition follows whichever stamp someone trusts first.

Three patterns appear often in our western Japan inventory observations:

1. FOB shipping point vs destination written in the customer contract but ignored on the warehouse checklist.
2. Partial loads left on the bay after midnight with tags still marked as “in stock.”
3. Returns in transit posted as sales reductions in the wrong period because the RMA date and goods receipt date diverge.

A simple fix helps: freeze the perpetual ledger at a named hour, print open shipment lists, and require the shipping supervisor to initial any load that crosses midnight. Bring those initials to the audit room. They save hours of reconstruction later.