#inventory
Inventory
Inventory tracking, valuation, and management for businesses
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.
Why Profitable Businesses Run Out of Cash: The Cash Conversion Cycle, Explained
A worked guide to the cash conversion cycle and the three working-capital levers — DIO, DSO, and DPO — with industry benchmarks, the Amazon and Dell negative-CCC playbook, and the bookkeeping foundation small businesses need to shorten the gap.
The Cash Conversion Cycle: How Small Businesses Free Cash Trapped in Operations
A practical walkthrough of the cash conversion cycle (DIO + DSO − DPO) for small businesses — how to calculate each component, what counts as a healthy CCC by industry, and the order to pull the three levers that free trapped working capital without breaking supplier or customer relationships.
Consignment Accounting: Who Owns the Goods, and Who Books the Sale
In a consignment arrangement the consignor owns the goods and reports the full retail sale plus the commission expense; the consignee is an agent and books only its commission as revenue. Goods stay on the consignor's balance sheet until the end customer buys them.
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.
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.
Inventory Shrinkage and Cycle Counting for Small Retailers and Warehouses
A practical guide for small retailers and warehouses to compute their shrink rate, design an ABC-based cycle count program, book shrinkage adjustments to the ledger, and turn variance patterns into loss-prevention action.
The Quiet Margin Leak: How Retailers and Warehouses Measure Shrinkage and Fix It With Cycle Counting
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.
Lower of Cost or Net Realizable Value: How to Write Down Obsolete Inventory
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.
Lower of Cost or Net Realizable Value (LCNRV): How to Write Down Obsolete Inventory and Stop Overstating Your Balance Sheet
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: Contra-Revenue Accounting Under ASC 606
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.