From January 1, 2026, the basic VAT rate in Kazakhstan increased from 12% to 16%, and the threshold for mandatory VAT registration is 10,000 MRP — this is 43.25 million tenge with an MRP size of 4,325 tenge (new Tax Code, ZRK No. 214-VIII dated July 18, 2025). For any business that stores and resells goods, this changes the cost of the issue: each unit of inventory is now more expensive and more sensitive to error. This means that warehouse accounting is finally turning from the "storekeeper's notebook" into a financial circuit, on the accuracy of which both taxes and profits depend.
At West Star Ltd, we have been implementing, configuring, and integrating warehouse accounting systems for Kazakhstani companies for several years — from small wholesale warehouses to retail chains with dozens of outlets. Over this time, a simple conclusion has been reached: the problem is almost never in the software, but in the fact that inventory accounting, goods movement, and reporting in the IS ESF live in three different places and do not converge with each other. This article is about how warehouse accounting is organized in the reality of 2026 and what makes sense to automate and what does not.
Warehouse accounting is the recording of everything that happens with material assets (MA): receipt, expenditure, transfer between warehouses, inventory, write-off. As long as the nomenclature is measured in dozens of positions, an Excel spreadsheet can handle it. Problems begin when there are thousands of positions, several warehouses, and sales are conducted simultaneously through retail, the website, and marketplaces.
A typical picture: the balance in the table says that the goods are there, but they are not on the shelf — this is a mismatch and "hanging" balances. Or vice versa: the goods are physically present, but in the system, they are written off, and the accountant calculates the cost incorrectly. Each such discrepancy is either a missed sale or a distorted tax base. With a VAT of 16%, an error in inventory valuation hits the wallet more noticeably than with the previous 12%.
Add to this multichannel sales. Today, the same product is sold through a retail outlet, website, Kaspi, and possibly wholesale — and each channel wants to know the current balance in real-time. A table that is manually updated once a day cannot physically be a source of truth for four channels at once: while the manager enters the morning sales, the marketplace has already accepted an order for something that is not in stock. This leads to cancellations, platform fines, and dissatisfied customers — costs that are not visible in the reporting but directly cut the margin.
Manual accounting scales poorly for another reason: it leaves no trace. When it is unclear who, when, and on what basis changed the balance, it is almost impossible to figure out the shortage. Automated warehouse accounting stores this history by default — each movement has an author, time, and supporting document.
Regulatory Layer: SNT, Virtual Warehouse, and Traceability
From 2026, warehouse accounting in Kazakhstan cannot be considered separately from state systems. The rules for issuing accompanying invoices for goods (SNT), approved by the order of the Ministry of Finance No. 657 dated October 31, 2025, are in effect from January 1, 2026. SNT is issued electronically in the IS ESF through the "Virtual Warehouse" module.
The virtual warehouse is essentially a state copy of your balances for certain categories of goods: it ensures traceability in automatic mode. The list covers nine positions — from petroleum products, alcohol, and liquefied gas to goods subject to traceability and everything imported from or exported to EAEU countries. Goods received via SNT are recorded in the virtual warehouse; in retail with a cash receipt, they are automatically written off — on the 16th calendar day from the date of sale.
The practical meaning for warehouse accounting is simple: your internal balances and balances in the virtual warehouse must match. The rules explicitly require that the data in the form journal correspond to the actual quantity in the warehouse. If they do not match, you will either not be able to issue an SNT or will receive questions from the tax authorities. And here comes a key detail that many overlook: accounting systems can work with the "Virtual Warehouse" module through an API. This means that internal warehouse accounting can be reconciled with the state one not manually, but through integration — and this is what removes most of the accountant's routine.
What Automated Warehouse Accounting Looks Like in Practice
When we automate a warehouse, it is not about "buying a program," but about building three interconnected layers.
The first layer is the accounting system. In Kazakhstan, this is most often 1C (configurations "Accounting 8 for Kazakhstan", "Trade Management"), where nomenclature, batches, cost, and balances by warehouses are maintained. Correct setting up warehouse accounting in 1C with a single write-off method (FIFO or average) covers the lion's share of tasks for accounting MA and cost calculation.
The second layer is physical data entry. This is barcoding and data collection terminals (DCT): the storekeeper scans the goods upon receipt and shipment, rather than rewriting invoices manually. This is where most of the mismatch disappears because the person stops being the one who enters numbers from the keyboard. The scanner physically does not allow accepting the wrong position or making a mistake in quantity as it happens with manual entry.
The third layer is integrations. Warehouse accounting stops being an island when it is connected with sales channels and state systems: balances are automatically synchronized with the website and marketplaces, orders from Kaspi and the online store immediately reserve goods, and SNT and virtual warehouse data are pulled through the API, not filled in again. Automating these processes is what turns the warehouse from a source of errors into a manageable resource. We collect detailed analyses of such connections in our integration materials.
A simple example from practice. A wholesale company with 4,000 positions kept records in Excel and lost several days a month reconciling balances before issuing documents. After transferring accounting to 1C, implementing scanners at receipt, and setting up balance exchange with the website, monthly reconciliation was reduced to a few hours, and the share of orders with availability errors fell significantly. Importantly, the main effect was not given by the program itself, but by two simple changes: a single nomenclature directory and the rule "no scan — no movement."
It is also worth mentioning inventory separately. In an automated warehouse, it stops being a rush for several days: reconciliation by barcodes goes faster, discrepancies are visible immediately, not at the end of the quarter, and they can be worked out before they turn into a tax risk or a shortage that no one can be held accountable for.
There is also a non-obvious effect for which all this is started. When data on goods movement is accurate and collected in one place, warehouse accounting turns from a mandatory duty into a source of management information. It becomes visible which positions turn over quickly and which lie dead weight and freeze money; where there is a regular shortage, and where there is a mismatch; how much it actually costs to store non-liquid assets. Without accurate balances, none of these questions have an answer, and with them, purchasing and pricing begin to rely on numbers, not the storekeeper's intuition. That is why we advise looking at warehouse automation not as an expense for "another program," but as an investment in inventory manageability.
Limitations and Pitfalls
Warehouse automation is not a "make it good" button. Here is an honest list of where most often stumble.
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Garbage in, garbage out. If the nomenclature is entered incorrectly — duplicate positions, different units of measurement for one product — the program will just accelerate the chaos. Before implementation, directory cleaning is almost always needed, and this is weeks of work, not hours.
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Discipline is more important than software. Any system relies on the storekeeper scanning each box. As soon as part of the movements is conducted "retroactively" or "later," the balances stop converging again. Technology does not save here — regulation and control over its observance do.
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Integration with the virtual warehouse is alive but not free in terms of effort. The API exists, but matching your nomenclature with product codes, processing rejected SNTs (the recipient can reject the invoice within 10 calendar days), and regular balance reconciliation require setup and support.
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Not everything needs to be automated. For a warehouse with 50–100 positions, DCT and complex integrations are often redundant — here it is more profitable to put things in order in 1C and discipline, rather than investing in expensive infrastructure that will not pay off.
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Dependence on state systems. When the IS ESF is unavailable, some operations stop. The rules allow for a paper SNT in confirmed technical failures, but with the obligation to enter it into the system within three working days — this is manual work that needs to be prepared for.
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Human factor during the transition. The first weeks after implementation, accuracy usually falls, not rises: people get used to the new process. This is a normal stage, but it needs to be included in the plan, not perceived as a project failure.
If we reduce everything to practice, the conclusions are different for different roles. A specialist — a storekeeper or accountant — should start with cleaning the nomenclature directory and a single write-off method: this gives results faster than any integration. An operations manager should look not at the presence of a program, but at whether internal balances match the virtual warehouse and how quickly discrepancies are resolved. And an owner should ask one question: how much money the company loses on mismatches, write-offs, and missed sales due to inaccurate balances — and compare this with the cost of putting things in order. Most often, warehouse accounting pays off not by saving on the storekeeper's salary, but by no longer quietly "eating" the margin.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does warehouse accounting differ from the virtual warehouse in IS ESF?
Warehouse accounting is your internal inventory management system: receipt, expenditure, cost, inventory across the entire nomenclature. The virtual warehouse is a state module in IS ESF that tracks the movement of only certain categories of goods for traceability and SNT issuance purposes. Internal accounting is broader, but their balances on controlled positions must match, and it is most convenient to link them through the API.
Is it mandatory to automate warehouse accounting by law?
No. The law requires not automation, but correct SNT issuance and matching virtual warehouse balances with actual ones. Accounting can be done manually. But the larger the nomenclature and the more sales channels, the more expensive manual input errors cost — and the faster automation pays off.
Is 1C suitable for warehouse accounting in Kazakhstan?
Yes, for most companies, this is a working option: localized configurations support Kazakhstani accounting, work with IS ESF and SNT, as well as integrations through OData and API. The question is not "1C or not," but how well the accounting methodology, directories, and exchange with external systems are configured.
Where to start organizing the warehouse?
With inventory and cleaning the nomenclature directory. As long as there are duplicates and incorrect balances in the system, any automation will only cement the errors. First, data and methodology are put in order, then barcoding and integrations are connected — in this sequence, not the other way around.