Cost of Goods Sold

A figure of cost of goods sold reflecting the cost of the product or good that a company sells to generate revenue, appearing on the income statement, as an expense. Also, referred to as “cost of sales”. It is essentially a cost of doing business, such as the amount paid to purchase raw materials in order to manufacture them into finished goods. For example, if a $10 widget costs $6 to make, then the cost of goods sold is $6 per widget. That is, the cost of goods sold is equal to the beginning inventory plus the cost of goods purchased during some period minus the ending inventory. However, the meaning of the cost of goods sold differs from one company to another company. There are three types of companies such as merchandising, manufacturing, and service.

The merchandising company such as retail stores and wholesalers sells goods that are usually same physical form as what the company acquires them. Therefore, those acquisition cost would be the cost of goods sold in merchandising company. The acquisition cost includes not only the cost of acquiring the merchandise but also the cost of making the goods ready for sale such as shipping costs. Let’s think of the following situation during the period. In addition to the beginning inventory, a company purchased additional merchandise so the amount of goods available for sale became the beginning inventory plus additional purchased merchandise. At the end of the period, the company wants to determine the amount of the cost of goods sold and ending inventory. How do they determine the amount of the cost of goods sold and ending inventory? There are two types of approaches: periodic inventory method and perpetual inventory method. The periodic inventory method is the following.

(Cost of goods sold) = (Goods available for sales) – (Ending inventory)

In the periodic inventory method, we determine the amount of ending inventory at the end of period, and then subtract the ending inventory from the goods available for sale.

On the other hand, the perpetual inventory method is the following.

(Ending inventory) = (Goods available for sales) – (Cost of goods sold)

In the perpetual inventory method, we determine the amount of cost of goods sold, and then subtract the cost of goods sold from the goods available for sale. Therefore, we have to keep a record for inventory constantly. Although this record keeping is burdensome for some company, there are important advantages.