Inventory Accounting and Costing

Whether you are a trader, manufacturer, contractor or a service provider, inventory has a major impact on your net income and on the balance sheet. In this course, participants are guided step by step through best practices of the purchasing process, the allocation of direct costs, indirect costs and production costs and comparisons between the different cost flow assumptions such as FIFO, LIFO and weighted average cost along with their impact on the financials and the physical counting of goods. We will discuss the importance of having accurate inventory figures reflect the net realizable value, use Excel and pivot tables to analyze inventory balances, calculate values of obsolete inventory and simulate calculations of weighted average cost.

The course uses a mix of interactive techniques such as brief presentations by the consultant, group exercises and case studies using Excel to apply knowledge acquired throughout the course followed by participants' presentations of the result.

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• List different types and reasons to hold inventory and construct the overall inventory cycle from purchase to sales
• Justify differences between perpetual and periodic inventory methods and evaluate inventory cost allocation techniques
• Recognize and correctly measure inventory under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)
• Explain the proper use of write downs, write backs and impact of change in inventory accounting policies on financial statements
• Apply professional judgment in accounting for inventory not on hand
• Categorize different inventory cost flow assumptions and describe how they affect the company’s financial position and income statement
• Outline the various approaches for cost accounting
• Use Excel and pivot table tools and techniques to analyze inventory and calculate weighted average costs

Inventory professionals, including supervisors, account managers, purchasing and facility supervisors and coordinators, financial controllers, new employees handling inventory, internal auditors, warehouse assistants and managers, and operations managers.

• Accounting for inventory transactions
• Financial reporting of inventory balances
• Applying professional judgment for special cases
• Analyzing inventory movement
• Using Excel and pivot tables

This is a hands-on training course using laptops which will be made available by Arab for the duration of the training. For courses outside the UAE, participants should bring their won laptops equipped with a fully functional version of MS Excel 2010/2013.