How do I check a nursery’s plant loss and unsold stock write-offs?

A nursery grows or buys living stock, and some of it will die or go unsold. That is normal. What matters is whether the records show it. Ask how losses are recorded, who records them and how often. Some owners do a regular cull, others wait until year end, and a few never write off anything.

Compare three things: what was bought or propagated, what was sold, and what remains. The gap should roughly match the recorded losses. If it does not, the difference may be hidden in other expenses, or in inventory that is still on the books but cannot be sold.

Walk the grounds and see what is actually there. Are there rows of old plants outgrowing their pots, or stock marked down heavily last year and still sitting? Ask whether the nursery grows plants itself and, if so, how it counts the cost of that growing. Ask your accountant how aged and unsellable plants should be valued. Do not treat the book value of living stock as certain, and ask whether weather or disease events caused big losses in the past. Ask about the worst season the nursery has had and what it cost.

Key takeaways

• Request loss and write-off records across several seasons, not just one.
• Compare purchases, sales and remaining stock to see whether losses add up.
• Walk the grounds and look for aged plants still counted in the inventory.