#cost-of-goods-sold
Cost of Goods Sold
Learn how to calculate and track cost of goods sold for inventory valuation
The Independent Used Car Dealer's Bookkeeping Playbook: Floorplan Notes, F&I Chargeback Reserves, Recon WIP, and the Buyers Guide That Costs $51,744 to Get Wrong
How independent used car dealers should book floorplan notes payable, capitalize reconditioning costs under IRC 263A, estimate F&I chargeback reserves under ASC 606, track BHPH notes receivable, and stay compliant with the FTC Buyers Guide rule and IRS Form 8300.
Laundromat Bookkeeping: Coin, Card, and Mobile-Pay Reconciliation, Utility COGS, and Section 179
A bookkeeping framework for coin-op and wash-dry-fold laundromats — channel-separated revenue, utilities tracked as COGS, per-machine profitability, Section 179 timing on equipment refreshes, and cash controls that surface both theft and failing machines.
Auto Repair Shop Bookkeeping: Flat-Rate Hours, Parts Matrix, Comebacks, Warranty AR, and EPA Fees
Independent auto repair shops earn from labor, parts, sublet work, and environmental fees — each with different margins and bookkeeping rules. This guide builds a chart of accounts that separates flat-rate labor from clock hours, applies a tiered parts markup matrix targeting 55–58% gross profit, tracks comeback expense and warranty receivables aging, codes sublet work cleanly, and records EPA hazmat and shop supply fees as their own revenue and cost lines.
Jewelry Store Bookkeeping: SKU-Level Costing, Memo Goods, Layaway, and Form 8300
A working playbook for independent jewelers covering per-piece SKU costing, lower-of-cost-or-market write-downs on metal price drops, memo and consignment inventory, ASC 606 repair and custom revenue, layaway deposit liabilities, and Form 8300 cash reporting without triggering structuring allegations.
Markup vs. Margin: The Pricing Mistake That Quietly Costs Small Businesses 7 Points of Profit on Every Sale
Markup and margin share a numerator but not a denominator, and the gap can quietly cost a contractor $99,000 a year. A plain-language guide to the conversion math, a target-margin lookup table, and why retailers, contractors, and restaurants keep underpricing jobs.
Optometry Practice Bookkeeping: Medical vs. Vision Billing, Inventory, and Practice-Value KPIs
Independent optometry practices earn from five distinct profit centers — routine vision plans, medical insurance, frames, lenses, and contact lenses — each with different margins and billing pathways. This guide shows how to build a chart of accounts that separates VSP/EyeMed routine revenue from medical billing, capitalize frame inventory, treat contact lens supplies as deferred revenue under ASC 606, and surface the KPIs (revenue per exam, optical capture rate, normalized EBITDA) that lenders and acquirers ask about.
Brewery Bookkeeping: Cost Per Barrel, TTB Excise Tax, and the Shrinkage That Makes COGS Lie
How to build a craft brewery's books so cost of goods sold tells the truth—a production chart of accounts, a true cost-per-barrel formula using net barrels, TTB excise tax rates ($3.50/barrel on the first 60,000), and the 3–8% shrinkage that inflates margin if ignored.
Bookkeeping for Interior Designers: Retainers, Markup, and the Hidden Math That Keeps Your P&L Honest
Interior design firms run four revenue streams through one chart of accounts and end up paying tax on phantom profits. Treat retainers as a liability, run products through revenue and COGS together, book vendor cost as COGS (never list price), and reconcile every PO before close.
Distillery Accounting and TTB Bonded Inventory: A Craft Distiller's Guide to Proof Gallons, Excise Tax, and Form 5110.40
How craft distilleries should account for bonded inventory, capitalize aging costs, and reconcile TTB Form 5110.40 to the general ledger — including the $2.70 CBMA reduced rate, controlled-group traps, and why federal excise tax belongs in COGS, not operating expense.
Markup Versus Margin: The Pricing Math Small Businesses Get Wrong
A 50% markup is a 33.3% margin, not a 50% margin — markup divides profit by cost, margin divides it by selling price. This guide gives the conversion formulas, a reference table, and shows how the mix-up quietly costs small businesses thousands.
Vending Machine Route Bookkeeping: Reconciling Cash, Tracking COGS, and Knowing the True Profit of Every Location
How to keep books for a vending route at the machine level — reconciling DEX cash counters against deposits, tracking COGS and site commissions per location, and computing the contribution margin that tells you which machines to keep, optimize, or pull.
Bookkeeping for Food Truck Owners: Cash Sales, COGS, and Sales Tax
A step-by-step bookkeeping system for food trucks — separating business money, building a truck-specific chart of accounts, running a daily cash close, tracking food cost at 25–30% of revenue, and treating collected sales tax as a liability rather than income.