Organization and economics of pharmacy: management, accounting, and pharmaceutical supply
What the exam tests
This domain tests pharmacy operations: inventory, procurement, pricing, documentation, prescription records, narcotics accounting, and supply-chain reliability. Questions often use a small calculation or a stock-control scenario.
Core rules
- Purchase only from licensed suppliers and only registered products with valid documentation.
- Inventory must be managed by batch, expiry date, and storage condition; expired or recalled stock must be quarantined and documented.
- Prescription and dispensing records must be retained for the required period and be available for inspection.
- Narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances, and precursors require special accounting, storage, and reporting.
- Pricing must respect regulated markups where they apply and must be transparent in the pharmacy system.
Worked example
A pharmacy has average stock of 3,000,000 KZT and annual cost of goods sold of 36,000,000 KZT. What is the stock turnover and days of supply?
Reasoning: turnover = cost of goods sold ÷ average stock = 36,000,000 ÷ 3,000,000 = 12 times per year. Days of supply = 365 ÷ 12 ≈ 30 days. This suggests stock is moving reasonably, but the answer is incomplete without checking expiry risk, dead stock, and whether fast-moving items are being lost to stock-outs. A high turnover can also hide understocking.
Traps that cost marks
- Confusing markup with margin: a 20% markup is not a 20% margin.
- Accepting stock without checking registration, batch, expiry, and storage conditions.
- Failing to separate quarantine, recalled, and expired products.
- Treating narcotics records as ordinary inventory records.
- Ignoring supplier licence scope and cold-chain documentation.
Exam focus
Show the formula, state the operational risk, and name the control that prevents it.