What should I ask about a recycling yard’s scale calibration and weigh records?
Ask who certifies the scales, when they were last checked, and where the paperwork is. Then follow a few weigh tickets from the scale to the invoice and the payment. If you cannot tie tickets to money, the revenue and the inventory figures are weaker than they look.
Everything in a yard is bought and sold by weight, so the scale is the foundation of the numbers. Ask for the certification or inspection records, the name of the company that services the scales, and the history of any repair or adjustment. Look for stickers or seals on the scale and note the dates. Ask whether anyone ever disputed a weight and what happened next.
Then trace the paper. Choose a handful of incoming and outgoing loads and follow each one: weigh ticket, grade, price, invoice or payment, and bank deposit. Check whether tickets are numbered, whether voids are explained and whether anyone can edit a weight after the fact. Gaps here are a control problem as well as an accounting one.
Ask also about the people. Who operates the scale and who reviews the tickets? Is it the same person? Ask how mill receiving weights compare with the yard’s own, and what the owner does about differences. Your accountant can test the whole chain, and an equipment specialist can check the scale itself. Finish with the physical scale. Check the platform for debris, damaged load cells and cracked concrete around it, and ask what happens when the system goes down. A manual fallback with no control invites errors and disputes.
Key takeaways
- Ask for certification records and the scale service history.
- Trace sample loads from weigh ticket to invoice to bank deposit.
- Check who can edit or void a weight, and who reviews them.
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Sources
This answer is checked against primary sources. Links were last confirmed on the dates shown.
- 01Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentHow to conduct due diligence when buying a business
- 02Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentEquipment valuation: How to do it
- 03Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentWhat are the steps to buying a business?
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