You booked a three-day pop-up at $800, plus 8% of sales over $5,000, in a city where you already pay sales tax, and you moved 40 units from your online warehouse to the pop-up. Your ledger shows rent as $800 and sales as $10,000, but the percentage rent, the inventory transfer, and the multi-city sales tax are all missing.
Short-Term Leases: Expense, Not ROU
Under ASC 842, a lease of 12 months or less, without a purchase option you are reasonably certain to exercise, can be elected as a short-term lease: no ROU asset, no liability — just expense straight line: Dr Rent Expense — Pop-Up $800 / Cr Cash $800. Each pop-up is a separate lease. Don't create an ROU for a three-day market.
Percentage-of-Sales Rent
Many pop-ups and markets charge base plus a percentage — e.g., 8% of sales over $5,000. That percentage is variable lease cost, not known at commencement. Book it as incurred: after the weekend, Dr Rent Expense — Percentage $400 for $5,000 over the threshold × 8% = $400. The landlord's report and your POS gross must tie before you book.
Inventory That Tours
Moving 40 units from your online warehouse to the pop-up is not a sale — it is an inventory transfer: Dr Inventory — Pop-Up / Cr Inventory — Warehouse at cost, not at retail. Only when sold at the pop-up does COGS hit: Dr COGS / Cr Inventory — Pop-Up.
Track inventory by location, not just by SKU. A pop-up that shows 40 units sent and 32 sold has 8 on hand to return. A ledger that books the transfer as a sale shows 40 sold and an 8-unit shrinkage that never happened.
Keep Your Finances Organized From Day One
A pop-up tour is a set of short leases and moving inventory. Expense the lease when it occurs, keep percentage rent variable, and move inventory at cost.
Beancount.io keeps each pop-up as a cost object with lease, sales, and inventory transfer as separate legs, version-controlled and comparable across cities. Get started for free and make the next city priced before the lease is signed.