A Look Behind the Shelves: Inventory & Audit Day at LHR
Fiscal transparency, good resource stewardship, best audit practices, and a good (late) spring cleaning come together at Loudoun Hunger Relief (LHR) at the end of June each year. As a nonprofit, we are professionally audited by an outside accounting firm every year, and a report is made to our board of directors and publicly posted on our website here. As a part of the audit process, we are required to account for the inventory of food we have on hand.
Those who have donated food to LHR know that we weigh all items as they come in. We also weigh all items that go out in our markets for our neighbors to take home, and all the trash that goes either to local pig farmers or as a last resort, into our dumpster. We keep a running total of inventory all year long, but at the end of our fiscal year on June 30, we double check everything in our warehouses, refrigerators, freezers, and market shelves to confirm that our accounting inventory matches our physical inventory.
Literally every pallet, shelf, hamper, and bin of food is weighed. While we’re at it, we take advantage of all those empty shelves and warehouse racks, and we deep clean. This process takes an entire day in two locations.
The inventory and audit process are important elements of how LHR manages our position as a connector between neighbors who want to help and neighbors who need help. We take that position very seriously, and we take the trust of both those who donate and those who need help just as seriously.
Literally every pallet, shelf, hamper, and bin of food is weighed. While we’re at it, we take advantage of all those empty shelves and warehouse racks, and we deep clean. This process takes an entire day in two locations.
The inventory and audit process are important elements of how LHR manages our position as a connector between neighbors who want to help and neighbors who need help. We take that position very seriously, and we take the trust of both those who donate and those who need help just as seriously.
This year’s report will be available in the fall. In the meantime, if you’d like to explore LHR’s financials, here’s a link to our financial information webpage.
