Margin Starts With
What a Unit Really Cost.
Inventory held on the balance sheet, cost of goods recognized when you sell rather than when you buy, and a landed cost that includes freight, duty and handling.
Work It Out Yourself
What Does a Unit Really Cost You?
Enter one shipment. Nothing is submitted, and the arithmetic is shown underneath.
A Common Shortcut
Expensing Inventory When You Buy It
Buy $60,000 of inventory in March and expense it immediately, and March shows a $20,000 loss while April and May look like record months. None of those three figures is true.
Hold the inventory on the balance sheet and recognize its cost as each unit sells, and all three months show what actually happened: the same $20,000 gross profit, month after month. That is the version you can price, plan and borrow against.
Illustrative: $40,000 of sales a month, with the March purchase selling through evenly over three months.
| Gross Profit | March | April | May |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inventory Expensed When Purchased | |||
| Sales | $40,000 | $40,000 | $40,000 |
| Cost Recorded | $60,000 | $0 | $0 |
| Gross Profit | −$20,000 | $40,000 | $40,000 |
| COGS Recognized When Sold | |||
| Sales | $40,000 | $40,000 | $40,000 |
| Cost of Goods Sold | $20,000 | $20,000 | $20,000 |
| Gross Profit | $20,000 | $20,000 | $20,000 |
What You Get
Inventory That Ties to the Ledger
Inventory on the Balance Sheet
Held as the asset it is until it sells, rather than expensed the day it arrives.
COGS at the Point of Sale
Cost recognized as units sell, so each month’s margin matches that month’s sales.
Landed Cost Allocated
Freight, duty, brokerage and handling added to unit cost, shipment by shipment.
3PL and Stock Reconciliation
Warehouse and FBA counts tied to the ledger, with shrinkage and write-offs recorded, not buried.
Margin by SKU and Channel
The same product can earn very different margins on Amazon and Shopify. You will see both.
Purchase Order Tracking
Orders matched to receipts and supplier invoices, so you know what is paid for, in transit and on hand.
How It Is Set Up
Agreed Once, Applied Every Month
Costing Method
FIFO, weighted average or another method, agreed with your accountant, because the choice has tax consequences.
Opening Inventory
A starting count and valuation established and tied to the balance sheet.
Landed Cost Rules
How freight, duty and handling are allocated, written down and applied consistently.
Monthly Tie-Out
Inventory reports reconciled to the ledger at every close, with differences explained.
Pricing
$250 a Month, Added to Any Tier
Inventory and COGS is an add-on to the monthly bookkeeping tier, alongside the e-commerce add-on for your sales channels.
If inventory has been expensed on purchase until now, restating it is part of a fixed-price cleanup project, quoted from the diagnostic.
Questions
Inventory and COGS, Specifically
Which Costing Method Should We Use?
That is a decision for your accountant, because it affects tax. We implement whichever method is chosen, consistently, and document it.
Do You Handle Amazon FBA Inventory?
Yes. FBA stock is still your inventory. It is reconciled from Amazon’s inventory reports alongside any 3PL or own-warehouse stock, with reimbursements for lost or damaged units recorded.
What Happens When Duty Rates Change?
Landed cost is calculated per shipment, using the duty actually paid on that shipment. When rates change, the next shipment carries the new cost and your margin reports show the effect.
Do We Need Inventory Software?
Not always. We work with what you have and tell you plainly if your volume has outgrown spreadsheets.
Also Available
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