days in inventory
(noun)
the average value of inventory divided by the average cost of goods sold per day
Examples of days in inventory in the following topics:
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Inventory Management
- In the context of accounting, inventory or stock is considered an asset.
- Time: The time lag in the supply chain from supplier to user requires the availability of a certain amount of inventory for use during this lead time.
- In practice, inventory is maintained for consumption during variations in lead time, and lead time itself can be addressed by ordering a specified number of days in advance.
- Uncertainty: Inventories are maintained as buffers to meet uncertainties in demand, supply, and movement of goods.
- In contrast, bulk buying, movement, and storage translate into economies of scale and inventory.
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Efficiency Metrics
- Efficiency ratios for inventory are used to measure how effectively a business uses its inventory resources in comparison to its industry or competitors.
- In addition, excess inventory increases the risk of losses due to price declines or inventory obsolescence.
- The inventory turnover ratio is a measure of the number of times inventory is sold or used in a time period, such as a year.
- A high turnover rate may indicate inadequate inventory levels, which may lead to a loss in business as the inventory is too low.
- The inventory conversion ratio is a measure of the number of days in a year it takes to sell inventory or convert it into cash.
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Inventory Management
- However, in practice, inventory is to be maintained for consumption during variations in lead time.
- Lead time itself can be addressed by ordering that many days in advance.
- So bulk buying, movement and storing brings in economies of scale, thus inventory.
- Manufacturers', distributors', and wholesalers' inventory tends to cluster in warehouses.
- Retailers' inventory may exist in a warehouse or in a shop or store accessible to customers.
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Nature of Inventory
- Inventories are maintained as buffers to meet uncertainties in demand, supply, and movements of goods.
- However, in practice, inventory is to be maintained for consumption during 'variations in lead time'.
- Lead time itself can be addressed by ordering that many days in advance.
- So bulk buying, movement and storing brings in economies of scale, thus inventory.
- It listed the available inventory on a daily basis from 7/20/2006 to 5/9/2006 (up to the day it was posted!
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Internal Controls
- Companies should store inventory in secure, spacious warehouses so that inventory is not stolen or damaged.
- When the company receives that material, the amount should be noted in the inventory management system.
- To conduct a cycle count, an auditor will select a small subset of inventory, in a specific location, and count it on a specified day.
- Cycle counting should only be performed in facilities with a high degree of inventory accuracy.
- Clerk conducting physical inventory count using a handheld computer in a Tesco Lotus supermarket in Sakon Nakhon, Thailand
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Inventory Turnover Ratio
- Inventory turnover is a measure of the number of times inventory is sold or used in a time period, such as a year.
- In accounting, the Inventory turnover is a measure of the number of times inventory is sold or used in a time period, such as a year.
- The average days to sell the inventory is calculated as follows:
- Average days to sell the inventory = 365 days / Inventory turnover ratio
- Calculate inventory turnover and average days to sell inventory for a business
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Inventory decisions
- Each of these nine decision areas will be discussed in this section.
- The key question that must be answered for inventory is "How much?
- " Understanding the best inventory levels to carry is critical to the organization because too much inventory and too little inventory are both costly to the organization.
- Inventory that exceeds what is needed to satisfy customer demand imposes unnecessary costs such as storage, deterioration, obsolescence, theft, and money tied up in inventory that cannot be used for other purposes.
- For example, a restaurant that specializes in serving fresh fish needs to make careful purchasing decisions so it has enough fresh fish each day to serve its customers, but not so much that unsold fish must be severely discounted or discarded at the end of the day.
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Perpetual vs. Periodic Counting
- A company using the perpetual inventory system would have a book inventory that is exactly (within a small margin of error) the same as the physical (real) inventory.
- Physical inventories are conducted at set time intervals; both cost of goods sold and the inventory are adjusted at the time of the physical inventory.
- In earlier periods, non-continuous or periodic inventory systems were more prevalent.
- These errors lead to systematic errors in replenishment.
- While the perpetual inventory method provides a close picture of the true inventory information, it is a good idea for companies using a perpetual inventory system to do a physical inventory periodically.
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Impact of Modifying Inputs on Business Operations
- For example, 2%,30 Net 31 terms mean that the payor will deduct 2% from the invoice if payment is made within 30 days.
- If the payment is made on Day 31 then the full amount is paid.
- Modifying any one of these inputs can lead to major changes in forecasts.
- Similarly, drastic differences in expected values and actual values in regard to these inputs can cause problems for a company, possibly even leading to insolvency.
- Companies that rely on the sale of physical goods -- i.e., those that must carry inventory -- must manage inventory in such as way as to decrease expenses as much as possible.
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Reporting Inventories
- In a business accounting context, the word inventory is used to describe the goods and materials that a business holds for the ultimate purpose of resale.
- It maintains a separate account in the subsidiary ledger for each good in stock, and the account is updated each time a quantity is added or taken out.
- In the periodic inventory system, sales are recorded as they occur but the inventory is not updated.
- However, the change in inventory is a component of in the calculation of cost of goods sold, which is reported on the income statement.
- In that situation the beginning and ending inventory does appear on the income statement.