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#cost-of-goods-sold

Cost of Goods Sold

Learn how to calculate and track cost of goods sold for inventory valuation

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Bait and Tackle Shop Bookkeeping: Live Bait Mortality, Dealer Licenses, and Pass-Through Sales

Bait and tackle shops run three revenue models through one register — perishable live bait, hard goods, and state fishing-license sales. Live bait mortality should be booked as shrinkage expense (tracked by species and supplier), bait-dealer licenses are recurring compliance costs tiered by sales volume in states like Wisconsin, and license sales are commission revenue (typically 4.75%–5%) with the state's share held as a liability, never income.

mike

bookkeepingsmall-businessinventory

Billboard and Outdoor Advertising Bookkeeping: Yield, Volume, and Why Your Ground Lease Is COGS

A bookkeeping guide for small billboard and out-of-home (OOH) operators — why yield and volume must be tracked separately, why ground leases belong in COGS tagged by board, how static and digital faces differ on depreciation and revenue recognition, and the five KPIs worth reviewing, including 85%+ utilization targets and a ~2.5-year payback benchmark on new digital builds.

mike

bookkeepingsmall-businesscost-of-goods-sold

Print-on-Demand Bookkeeping: COGS, Royalties, and Sales Tax by Platform

Print-on-demand sellers run two different businesses — integration channels (Etsy + Printify) with real COGS, and marketplace channels (Redbubble, Amazon Merch) with none. This guide covers how to reconcile 1099-K gross figures, avoid double-counting platform fees, handle marketplace-facilitator sales tax, and structure a per-channel chart of accounts to track margins that range from 20% to 70%.

mike

bookkeepingcost-of-goods-soldsales-tax

Where Did $90 Billion in Inventory Just Go? A Small Retailer's Guide to Booking Shrinkage Correctly

U.S. retailers lost $90–112 billion to inventory shrinkage in the latest reporting cycle, an average shrink rate near 1.6% of sales. This guide shows small retailers how to book shrink in a dedicated expense account instead of burying it in COGS — with the exact journal entries, cycle-counting schedules, materiality thresholds, and the process fixes behind the ~70% of shrink that isn't theft.

mike

inventorysmall-businessbookkeeping

Roller Skating Rink Bookkeeping: How to Account for Five Businesses Under One Roof

A roller rink runs admissions, skate rentals, birthday parties, concessions, and merchandise under one roof — and well-run rinks post 20–35% margins while others limp at 10% on the same traffic. This guide shows how to split the chart of accounts by revenue stream, hold party deposits as deferred-revenue liabilities until the event happens, capitalize the rental fleet, and track KPIs like revenue per visit and ancillary revenue share.

mike

bookkeepingsmall-businessrevenue-recognition

Bookkeeping for Ammunition Reloading Supply Shops: Component Sales, FAET, and Lot-Level Inventory

A reloading supply shop that only sells bullets, brass, primers, and powder owes no federal ammunition excise tax — but loading and selling finished ammunition triggers an 11% FAET liability filed quarterly on TTB Form 5300.26. This guide covers the chart of accounts, lot-number FIFO inventory tracking, and hazmat freight costing that keep a component retailer or hybrid manufacturer compliant.

mike

bookkeepingsmall-businessinventory
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