#inventory
Inventory tracking, valuation, and management for businesses
Inventory shrinkage is the gap between recorded and physical stock. This guide explains how to calculate a shrink rate, why cycle counting and ABC analysis beat the annual physical count, and how to record the adjustment with a dedicated expense account.
LCNRV requires reporting inventory at the lower of its cost or net realizable value (NRV = selling price − completion costs − selling costs). Once written down under U.S. GAAP, inventory cannot be written back up.
A practical walkthrough of the LCNRV rule under ASC 330 — how to calculate net realizable value, book the write-down, handle obsolete or damaged inventory, and avoid the phantom-profit trap of overstated inventory on the balance sheet.
Sales returns and allowances are contra-revenue, not expenses. This guide shows the journal entries, ASC 606 refund liability and right-of-return asset, and how to estimate returns at period-end so net sales and gross margin stay honest.
Standard costing assigns a predetermined cost to each product, then measures the gap against actual results. This guide shows how to set defensible standards and calculate material, labor, and overhead variances to drive pricing and purchasing decisions.
A practical guide to the tangible personal property (TPP) tax that 38 U.S. states require small businesses to file every January, covering de minimis thresholds in 12 states, freeport inventory exemptions in 8 inventory-tax states, ghost-asset overpayment, and the annual asset-register workflow that keeps your bill honest.
For tax year 2026, businesses with a three-year average of gross receipts at or below $32 million can elect Section 471(c) to skip UNICAP, treat inventory as non-incidental materials and supplies, and file Form 3115 — often producing a one-time Section 481(a) deduction in the year of change.
Prime cost combines food, beverage, and labor as a percentage of sales—target 55–60% for quick-service and 60–65% for full-service. Tracking it weekly instead of monthly catches portioning and scheduling problems within seven days, while a 4% food cost variance on $1M in sales quietly costs $40,000 a year.
A working operator's guide to calculating restaurant prime cost every seven days, the 55–65% benchmark by service segment, the five leaks weekly tracking surfaces first, and the bookkeeping setup the cadence requires.
How online sellers allocate landed costs across SKUs, track FBA reserved inventory across fulfillment centers, reconcile marketplace settlements line by line, and prevent phantom COGS adjustments at year-end across 3PLs and multi-channel fulfillment.
Multi-channel sellers routinely lose 22 margin points to phantom COGS — unallocated landed costs, FBA reserved inventory, and netted marketplace settlements posted as revenue. A four-step playbook to keep e-commerce books honest from supplier invoice to year-end true-up.
Section 263A forces producers and resellers above the $32 million 2026 gross-receipts threshold to capitalize warehouse rent, purchasing, and mixed service costs into inventory. Here is how the exemption, simplified methods, and Form 3115 method changes actually work.
