What is imprest stock?
Imprest stock is a fixed, agreed stock holding kept on site and topped back up to its set level at each visit, rather than reordered line by line. You and your supplier agree a list of items and a quantity for each. Someone counts what is left, replaces the difference, and invoices only for what was replaced. Nobody raises a purchase order per item.
The name comes from imprest cash, the old petty cash float restored to a set figure each month. Stock behaves the same way. The float is a shelf, a container or a van, and the top-up is a delivery. It needs no software and very little arithmetic, only an honest count and a visit that actually happens.
- Levels are fixed; the order quantity is whatever restores the level.
- You normally own imprest stock from delivery, unlike consignment stock.
- One replenishment note per visit replaces dozens of purchase order lines.
- It suits fast-moving, low-value consumables, not project-specific items.
- It fails when levels are set once and never revisited at a phase change.
How imprest replenishment works
The mechanics are simple enough to run on a clipboard. You agree a schedule of items and a level for each, held in a defined place. On an agreed day the stock is counted and the shortfall is made up from the vehicle.
- The level is fixed, the order is variable. You never specify a quantity. The quantity is whatever it takes to return to the agreed level.
- Ownership is usually yours. In the common arrangement imprest stock is yours from the moment it is delivered. Strictly, imprest describes how the quantity is calculated rather than who owns it, so it can be run over consigned stock too. If nobody has said otherwise, assume you own it from delivery.
- One document per visit. Twenty weekly orders become one replenishment note, which is where the admin saving comes from: twenty lines take several hundred order lines a year off a buyer's desk.
- The count is the control. If nobody counts properly, the arrangement quietly turns into a standing order for the wrong things.
What belongs on an imprest list
Put an item on imprest when it is used constantly, costs little, and stops work when it runs out. Leave everything else on normal ordering.
- Consumables with a steady daily draw: gloves, wipes, cutting and grinding discs, marker pens, cable ties, tape, general fixings, batteries.
- Items where one stockout costs more in standing labour than a year of holding them.
- Items with a shelf life longer than your review cycle. Adhesives, sealants and resins only suit imprest where turnover is fast.
Keep off the list: anything specified for a single work package, anything sized to a drawing, anything with a long lead time that suits a scheduled call-off better, and anything expensive enough that holding three ties up money you would notice.
Where imprest goes wrong
The failure is almost never the concept. It is that levels are set once, during a phase of work that has since finished, and never revisited. The site ends up carrying stock it no longer uses and running short of whatever replaced it.
- Phase drift. Review at each change of work phase, not annually. Groundworks and fit-out have almost no consumables in common.
- Squirrel stores. If gangs keep private caches, the count means nothing and levels creep upward to cover stock that is already on site.
- Silent substitution. A top-up that quietly swaps one glove or disc for something similar breaks the usage record, and on protective equipment your issue record too.
- No named owner. Imprest needs one person on each side. Where it is everyone's job it is nobody's, and it decays within weeks of a staff change.
What to agree before the first delivery
Write it down. An imprest arrangement that lives in two people's heads ends when one of them leaves.
- The schedule of items, levels and locations, dated, with a named owner on each side.
- Visit frequency, and what happens when a visit is missed or a site is shut.
- Who counts, and whether the count is witnessed or accepted on trust.
- How urgent draws outside the cycle are recorded so the next count still reconciles.
- The review trigger: a fixed date, a phase change, or a variance threshold.
Reliability of the visit matters more than the paperwork: a missed run turns an imprest site into an emergency ordering site overnight, so agree what happens when a visit is missed before you need the answer.
Common questions
Who owns imprest stock, me or the supplier?
You do. Title passes on delivery exactly as with any normal order, and the stock sits on your books. Only the ordering and invoicing change. If you want the supplier to retain ownership until the goods are used, that is consignment stock, a different arrangement with different risk and different paperwork.
What is the difference between imprest and min/max?
Min/max triggers an order when stock falls to a minimum. Imprest tops every line back to a set level on a fixed visit, whether it has fallen far or not. Imprest is effectively min/max with a calendar as the trigger. It suits a supplier visit; min/max suits a stores team ordering for itself.
How often should imprest levels be reviewed?
At every change of work phase, plus a check on usage variance each quarter. Annual reviews are too slow for construction and maintenance work, where the consumables profile can turn over completely in months. If a line has not moved in two review cycles, take it off rather than leave it gathering dust.
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