Warehouse documents - types and circulation. What is worth knowing about them?
Fulfillment For business
20 April 2022
Warehouse documents are an essential part of the correct and efficient management of goods in any warehouse. Keeping stock records is mandatory for partnerships and limited liability companies. This makes it possible to monitor resources on an ongoing basis and optimise the entire production. How to fill in warehouse documents and what are their types?
What are stock documents?
Warehouse documents are all records related to the operation of a warehouse, whether in paper or electronic form, which serve to provide information on the movements of goods and materials in a given company. The rules for documenting internal and external warehouse movements are set out in the Accounting Act of 29 September 1994. Thanks to specific documents, it is known, among other things, what goods are in stock, how many of them have been issued, received or have changed their location to another warehouse.
Nowadays, many companies use special systems that enable the ongoing monitoring of stock levels. Using the programme, employees are able to issue warehouse documents, invoices and sales notes. Such a solution enables efficient management of the warehouse and its resources, optimising work in the unit and maintaining order.
Breakdown of warehouse documents
Two types of warehouse documents can be distinguished according to the direction of circulation of the goods: incoming warehouse documents and outgoing warehouse documents. Incoming documents refer to all goods that have entered the warehouse. They can come from outside, e.g. purchased or accepted free of charge from another company, or be transferred internally, e.g. between the production department and the warehouse of the same company. 
On the other hand, outgoing documents are related to, among other things, the sale of materials, their free transfer or the release of goods to another business unit within the same company. Documents relating to inter-warehouse transfers that take place between different warehouses belonging to the same company are also specified.
How long to keep stock documents? The documentation covering all the processes of receipt, issue and transfer of goods defines them as a business operation. Such operations are subject to accounting records and, in accordance with the law in force, should be documented and kept for at least five years. The time counts from the beginning of the year that follows the financial year during which the documentation was drawn up.
Types of incoming stock documents
The correct circulation of warehouse documents relates to the recording of incoming and outgoing goods. Incoming documents are further subdivided into external receipt (PZ), internal receipt (PW), internal return (ZW) and inter-warehouse transfer (MM+).
An external acceptance document refers to the purchase or free acceptance of goods from another company. Such a letter is drawn up by a warehouse employee, who uses the documentation relating to the delivery of the goods in question. The P.O.P. should contain: the supplier's details, the date on which the document was drawn up, the date of receipt of the goods, the quantity and the price.
Internal acceptance refers to the circulation of materials and goods within the company. The document is used, for example, when finished goods from production are received into the warehouse. It is an internal operation, therefore, unlike PZ, no counterparty information is shown on the document.
Internal return is used when, by mistake, a different material has been taken than the one needed or more goods have been taken than intended (all within the activities of the different departments of the same company). An IR is also used when materials have been saved during the whole process and the warehouse wants to return the resulting surplus. The internal return document should include, among other things, the name and quantity of the material returned and the reason for the return. 
Consumable storage documents - types
The outgoing warehouse documents are those that relate to materials and goods leaving a warehouse to other internal and external units. Among these are the outward issue (WZ), the internal removal (RW) and the inter-warehouse transfer (MM-).
An outward issue is the documentation that identifies goods leaving the warehouse because they are being sold, e.g. to a contractor, or given to another entity free of charge. Internal disbursement, on the other hand, refers to materials issued by a specific warehouse to another unit operating within the same company. An example of RW is the transfer of material from the warehouse to production or the issue of office supplies to another unit of the company for use within the company's operations.
Inter-warehouse stock documents - what are they?
Inter-warehouse warehouse documents are used when goods are transferred between different warehouses belonging to the same company. Since such a document has to be issued on both the issue and receipt of goods, a distinction is made between an incoming inter-warehouse transfer (MM+) and an outgoing inter-warehouse transfer (MM-).
An incoming inter-warehouse transfer is issued when goods are received into a warehouse which originate from another warehouse of the same company. Such a document should include, among other things, the symbol of the warehouse handing over and receiving the material or goods in question, the exact name and quantity of the goods to be handed over and the signatures of the employees of both warehouses.
On the other hand, when goods are released from the warehouse to another warehouse within the same company, an inter-warehouse outgoing transfer must be issued. The document should contain the same data as the incoming inter-warehouse transfer, as MM+ and MM- are complete in the warehouse documentation.
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