Serial Number Audits

Serial Number Audits

A serial number audit is a physical inventory count of your firearms. You go to each firearm in your shop, scan or read its serial number, and the system compares what you scanned against what your records say you should have. This is the most thorough way to verify your inventory and is essentially what an ATF inspector does during a compliance examination.

When to Perform a Serial Audit

• Quarterly: Recommended minimum for any FFL dealer
• Before ATF inspections: Absolutely essential — do this before any known inspection
• After security incidents: Burglary, break-in, or any event that may have resulted in missing firearms
• At year-end: As part of your annual inventory and financial reporting

Step-by-Step: Running a Serial Number Audit

1. Go to FastBound → ReportingReports → Serial AuditAudits.
2. Click New Audit to startCreate a new audit session.record, then click Start Audit to load expected items from your compliance records. The audit moves from Draft to In Progress.
3. Physically go to each firearm in your shop — display cases, safes, back room, anywhere you store inventory.
4. For each firearm, scan or type the serial number into the audit form. Use a barcode scanner if your serial number labels support it, or read the serial number directly off the firearm. Matching happens in real time as you scan — each serial is immediately checked against the expected list.
5. Continue until you have scanned every firearm in your physical possession.
6. Click CompleteSubmit Auditfor Review (or a similar button to finalize).move the audit to Pending Review status.
7. TheOptionally, systemclick comparesVerify yourin FastBound to call FastBound's BulkVerify API and confirm the scanned serials against FastBound's records. This moves verified items to Verified in FB status.

Click Complete Audit to finalize the complianceaudit serialand numbermove records.it to Completed status.

Audit States

StateDescription DraftAudit created but not yet started In ProgressExpected items loaded; scanning is underway Pending ReviewScanning complete; results ready for review VerifiedResults verified against FastBound via BulkVerify API CompletedAudit finalized and closed

Understanding Audit Results

Each audit line (fastbound.serial.audit.line) will show one of threefour statuses:

Status	What It Means	Action Required
MatchedFound	Serial foundwas in both your physical countscanned and yourmatched recordsagainst the expected list	None — everything is good

Verified in FBSerial was confirmed via FastBound's BulkVerify APINone — verified at the highest level MissingSerial is in your records but was not scanned during the auditLocate the firearm immediately. If you cannot find it, report as theft/loss ExtraSerial was scanned but does not appear in yourthe recordsexpected listInvestigate: was the acquisition not recorded? Create the proper record

Resolving Discrepancies

• Missing items: Search your entire premises thoroughly. Check if the firearm was recently sold or transferred and the records were not yet updated. If you truly cannot locate it, follow the Theft/Loss reporting procedure.
• Extra items: Check if a recent acquisition was not committed to FastBound. Look for pending receipts or transfer-in records that were not confirmed. Create the acquisition record.
• Mismatched serials: Sometimes the issue is a typo in the original record. Compare the physical serial carefully against the record and correct any data entry errors.