#inventory
Inventory
Inventory tracking, valuation, and management for businesses
Private-Label Pet Food Bookkeeping: Costing a Co-Packer's Formulation Fees, MOQs, and Recall Reserves Before You Ever Sell a Bag
Private-label pet food carries costs no co-packer invoice shows — kibble MOQs of 20,000–40,000 lbs, per-state AAFCO registration fees from $30 to $3,500 a year, and recall exposure running 3–5× direct costs. How to structure a chart of accounts, amortize per-SKU formulation fees, and fund a recall reserve before your first production run.
Bookkeeping for Reptile and Exotic Pet Breeders: Breeding Stock, Clutch Valuation, and the Hobby-Loss Trap
How reptile and exotic pet breeders should handle taxes and bookkeeping — the IRS nine-factor hobby-loss test, the one-time depreciate-vs-inventory election for breeding stock, why unhatched eggs aren't inventory, the unit-livestock-price method for hatchlings, and why a die-off of self-raised animals usually isn't deductible.
The SBA's New MARC Loan: A Practical Guide to Revolving Credit for Manufacturers
The SBA's new MARC loan gives NAICS 31-33 manufacturers up to $5 million in revolving working capital secured by business assets only, priced around prime plus 3.25%, with no personal real estate collateral and no borrowing base certificates required.
The SEC's Key Tronic Settlement: What Fake WIP Entries and Out-of-Period Adjustments Teach Small Manufacturers
The SEC found Key Tronic's Oakdale plant inflated pre-tax income by ~$981,000 with fake "Monster Job" WIP entries — cutting one quarter's income 47% when corrected. Here's how the scheme exploited absorption costing, why the company paid no penalty, and the inventory controls small manufacturers should copy.
Storage Unit Auction Reselling: How to Book a Lot You've Never Seen Inside
How storage unit auction resellers allocate one lump-sum bid across an entire unit of unknown items — dividing by item count or by relative fair market value — plus the cash-method small-business inventory election, a lot-based chart of accounts, hobby-vs-business rules, and sales tax registration.
Storage Unit Auction Reselling Bookkeeping: How to Price a Lot You've Never Opened
How to keep books for storage-unit auction flips — allocate one winning bid across dozens of items with the relative fair value method, deduct COGS only when items sell, use the Section 471(c) small-business exception, and report income even below the $20,000/200-transaction 1099-K threshold.
Vending Machine Route Bookkeeping: Why Your Total Revenue Number Is Lying to You
Route-wide revenue totals hide losing machines. How vending operators track profit per machine: 5–25% location commissions on gross vs. net, cashless fees that reach 8–10% on sub-$2.25 transactions, and monthly per-machine shrinkage reconciliation.
Etsy's DDP Mandate: What Non-US Sellers Must Change About Pricing and Bookkeeping
As of July 9, 2026, Etsy requires non-US sellers shipping to US buyers to use Delivered Duty Paid (DDP) — prepaying US tariffs and building them into the listing price — or lose Purchase Protection. This guide covers re-pricing by tariff category and why prepaid duties belong in inventory cost and COGS, not overhead.
Inventory Turnover Ratio Explained: Formula, Industry Benchmarks, and How to Improve It
Inventory turnover ratio = COGS ÷ average inventory, and it shows how many times a business sells through its stock each year. This guide covers the formula, converting turnover to days sales of inventory, industry benchmarks from 2–4 turns (industrial parts) to 10–20+ (grocery), and why slow-moving stock costs 20–30% of its value annually to hold.
Ghost Kitchen Bookkeeping: How to Stop Three Virtual Brands From Wrecking One P&L
Delivery platforms take an effective 30–40% of each order once commissions, promotions, and processing fees stack up — and a multi-brand ghost kitchen that books only net deposits can't tell which concept is profitable. This guide covers per-brand revenue categorization, three methods for allocating shared rent, utilities, and labor (square footage, revenue share, labor hours), per-brand food cost tracking, and a six-step monthly close checklist.
Co-Packer Bookkeeping for Food and Beverage Brands: Finding Your True Cost Per Unit
A co-packer's quoted per-unit price can understate real landed cost by 36% once fixed per-run charges, setup fees, and MOQ economics are counted. How food and beverage brands should classify contract-manufacturing costs as COGS, handle turn-key vs. tolling arrangements, and avoid the 5–10 point gross-margin overstatement that misclassification causes.
Ag Equipment Dealership Bookkeeping: Floor-Plan Interest, Trade-In Valuation, and Parts Absorption
How ag equipment dealerships should track floor-plan interest per unit, re-mark trade-in inventory as used tractor prices fall, and measure parts-department absorption rate — where the national average sits in the mid-60s percent and under 50% signals trouble.