#cost-of-goods-sold
Cost of Goods Sold
Learn how to calculate and track cost of goods sold for inventory valuation
Independent Bookstore Bookkeeping: How to Protect a 2-10% Net Margin
Independent bookstores net just 2-10% per the ABA's ABACUS survey, even with 40-50% gross margins. A practical bookkeeping guide to the transaction types that erode that margin — sale-or-return vendor credits, expiring co-op advertising funds, consignment and trade-credit liabilities — plus the 4-6x inventory turnover benchmark that predicts trouble early.
Right to Repair 2026: How Parts-Pairing Bans Open a Door for Independent Repair Shops
As of January 1, 2026, Colorado, Washington, and Oregon ban software-based parts pairing on electronics and appliances, forcing manufacturers to open OEM parts and diagnostic access to independent repair shops — here's what the new rules mean for compliance and inventory bookkeeping.
Bookkeeping for VR Arcades: Deferred Deposits, Per-Station Depreciation, and Revenue by Stream
How VR arcades and location-based entertainment venues should keep their books — split revenue across six streams, book party deposits as deferred-revenue liabilities, depreciate each $50,000+ station separately, and track revenue per available station hour, the LBE equivalent of a hotel's RevPAR.
Comic Book and Trading Card Shop Bookkeeping: Why Your Inventory Isn't Really Your Inventory
How comic and TCG shops should book consignment splits, buylist store credit, and graded-card cost basis — consigned goods stay off the balance sheet, store credit is a liability until redeemed, and high-value singles need specific identification, not average costing. Plus where the IRS draws the hobby-vs-dealer line, from the nine-factor §1.183-2(b) test to the 28% collectibles rate.
FTC 'Made in USA' Warning Letters: A 2026 Compliance Guide for Small Manufacturers
Seven manufacturers received FTC warning letters on July 6, 2026 over unqualified "Made in USA" claims. This guide covers the "all or virtually all" standard under 16 CFR Part 323, the $53,088-per-violation penalty, qualified-claim wording, and the substantiation file every small manufacturer should keep.
Multichannel Inventory Reconciliation: Why Shopify, Amazon, and POS Stock Counts Drift Apart
Inventory distortion costs retailers $1.77 trillion a year in stockouts and overstock, and multichannel sellers on Shopify, Amazon, and POS are especially exposed to sync lag, phantom inventory, and manual reconciliation errors—this guide covers real-time sync, cycle counts, and reorder-point formulas to fix it.
Print-on-Demand Bookkeeping: COGS, Fulfillment Fees, and Sales Tax Nexus Explained
Print-on-demand sellers who are merchants of record (Shopify with Printful or Printify) owe sales tax themselves and can deduct real COGS, while royalty-based marketplace sellers (Redbubble, Amazon Merch, Etsy) owe no sales tax because the platform is a marketplace facilitator and have no deductible COGS at all.
Board Game Cafe Bookkeeping: Cover Charges, Food, Retail & Game Library Depreciation
Board game cafes blend three businesses — admission fees, food and beverage, and retail — and each needs its own revenue and COGS account; the game library itself should be capitalized and depreciated over 3-5 years, not expensed, while shrink-wrapped retail copies stay inventory.
Days Inventory Outstanding (DIO): Formula, Benchmarks, and Why It Matters
Days Inventory Outstanding (DIO) measures the average number of days it takes a business to sell through its inventory, calculated as average inventory divided by cost of goods sold, multiplied by the number of days in the period.
Disc Golf Course Bookkeeping: Deferred Revenue, Depreciation, and Pro Shop Margins
Disc golf courses run four businesses in one — real estate, retail, memberships, and events — and each needs separate accounting for deferred membership revenue, 15-year land improvement depreciation, and pro shop cost of goods sold.
E-Bike and Scooter Rental Fleet Bookkeeping: Depreciation, Per-Ride Economics, and the Path to Breakeven
A chart-of-accounts and depreciation framework for e-bike and scooter rental fleets, showing how to track vehicles by acquisition cohort, calculate gross margin per ride, and model a realistic path to breakeven by year three.
EV Charging Station Bookkeeping: The Real Math Behind Per-kWh Margins, Demand Charges, and Payback Period
Demand charges can account for 30–70% of a commercial electricity bill and add roughly $9,000 to a single month when six DC fast chargers peak simultaneously — yet most operators blend them into one utilities account. How to book charging revenue against per-kWh COGS, track the Section 30C credit that now sunsets June 30, 2026, and model realistic payback periods for Level 2 ($4,500–$12,000/port) and DC fast chargers ($90,000–$200,000/port).