Controlling costs is an integral function of all managers, but companies often hire personnel to specifically oversee cost control. As you’ve learned, controlling costs is vital in all industries, but at Hilton Hotels, they translate this into the position of Cost Controller. Gearhead Outfitters, founded by Ted Herget in 1997 in Jonesboro, AR, is a retail chain which sells outdoor gear for men, women, and children. The company’s inventory includes clothing, footwear https://business-accounting.net/ for hiking and running, camping gear, backpacks, and accessories, by brands such as The North Face, Birkenstock, Wolverine, Yeti, Altra, Mizuno, and Patagonia. Ted fell in love with the outdoor lifestyle while working as a ski instructor in Colorado and wanted to bring that feeling back home to Arkansas. The company has had great success over the years, expanding to numerous locations in Ted’s home state, as well as Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Missouri.

The biggest difference is that a customer returns merchandise in a sales return and keeps the merchandise in a sales allowance. Returning merchandise requires more than an accountant making journal entries or a clerk restocking items in a warehouse or store. An ethical accountant understands that there must be internal controls governing the return of items. All transactions require both operational and accounting actions to ensure that the amounts have been recorded in the accounting records and that operational requirements have been met.

1. The nursery would also record a corresponding entry for the inventory and the cost of goods sold for the 100 returned plants.
2. So, “2/10, n/30” reads as, “The company will receive a 2% discount on their purchase if they pay in 10 days.
3. Merchandisers often report only the net sales amount on the income statement.
4. Whether the business is a service or a merchandising company, it tracks sales from customers, purchases from manufacturers or other suppliers, and costs that affect their everyday operations.
5. To continue with the example, Koeller Manufacturing calculated that the cost of goods manufactured was $95,000, which is carried through to the Schedule of Cost of Goods Sold (Figure 2.9).

Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) is a financial metric that highlights the cost efficiency of a merchandiser and is reported on the income statement. Overall, merchandisers are integral components of the global supply chain, ensuring that merchandise reaches the hands of consumers in an efficient and cost-effective manner. The Purchases account is an income statement account that accumulates the cost of merchandise acquired for resale.

Calculate the price of your order

Merchandisers are essential players in the world of commerce, facilitating the flow of goods from manufacturers to consumers. They can be categorized as retailers and wholesalers, each with distinct roles and target markets. Understanding the operating cycle of a merchandiser is crucial for managing inventory effectively and ensuring profitability.

To track merchandise inventory and cost of goods sold in real time, a perpetual inventory system is used; the balance in each of Merchandise Inventory and Cost of Goods Sold is always up-to-date. In a periodic inventory system, a physical count of the inventory must be performed in order to determine the balance in Merchandise Inventory and Cost of Goods Sold. A merchandising company, or merchandiser, differs in several basic ways from a company that provides services.

Because the manufacturing process can be highly complex, manufacturing firms constantly evaluate their production processes to determine where cost savings are possible. You may have noticed our discussion of credit sales did not include third-party credit card transactions. This is when a customer pays with a credit or debit card from a third-party, such as Visa, MasterCard, Discover, or American Express.

The purchase of merchandise inventory may also involve the payment of transportation and handling costs. These are all costs necessary to prepare inventory for sale, and all such costs are included in the Merchandise Inventory account. There are two kinds of purchase discounts, cash discounts and trade discounts. Cash discount provides a discount on the final price after purchase if a retailer pays within a discount window. On the other hand, a trade discount is a reduction to the advertised manufacturer’s price that occurs during negotiations of a final purchase price before the inventory is purchased.

If the $3,900 had already been paid, a credit would be made to Cash and $100 refunded to the customer. The Sales Returns and Allowances account is a contra revenue account and is therefore deducted from Sales when preparing the income statement. Upon receipt, the customer discovers the plants have been infested with bugs and they send all the plants back. Please note that the entire $1,000 account receivable created is eliminated under both payment options.

What is an Operating Cycle?

The bulk of the expenses incurred by Whichard & Klein are in personnel and administrative/office costs, which are very common among businesses that have services as their primary source of revenue. Purchase Returns and Allowances is a contra expense account and the balance is deducted from Purchases when calculating cost of goods sold on the income statement. The next section the operating cycle of a merchandiser is describes how the sale of merchandise is recorded as well as the related costs of items sold. The nursery would also record a corresponding entry for the inventory and the cost of goods sold for the 100 returned plants. At issue is that the employee of the outside organization is placed in a conflict between their personal interests and the interest of their employer.

5 Merchandising Income Statement

A service company does not have an expense called cost of goods sold since it does not sell goods. Because a merchandiser has cost of goods sold expense and a service business does not, the income statement for a merchandiser includes different details. A merchandising income statement highlights cost of goods sold by showing the difference between sales revenue and cost of goods sold called gross profit or gross margin. The basic income statement differences between a service business and a merchandiser are illustrated in Figure 5.1. When a customer returns the merchandise, a retailer issues a credit memo to acknowledge the change in contract and reduction to Accounts Receivable, if applicable. The retailer records an entry acknowledging the return by reducing either Cash or Accounts Receivable and increasing Sales Returns and Allowances.

10 Made payment to Sidecki Wholesalers for goods purchased on March 3, less return and discount. 9 Purchased merchandise inventory on account from Teaton Wholesalers, \(6,000. Terms 2/10, n/30, FOB destination. Mar. 3 Purchased merchandise inventory on account from Sidecki Wholesalers, \(3,500. Terms 2/15, n/EOM, FOB shipping point. Apr. 10 Garman Packing Supplies buys \(175,000 worth of merchandise inventory on account with credit terms of 1/10, n/30. An Operating Cycle (OC) refers to the days required for a business to receive inventory, sell the inventory, and collect cash from the sale of the inventory. This cycle plays a major role in determining the efficiency of a business.

The perpetual inventory system maintains a continuous, real-time balance in both Merchandise Inventory, a balance sheet account, and Cost of Goods Sold, an income statement account. As a result, the Merchandise inventory general ledger account balance should always equal the value of physical inventory on hand at any point in time. Additionally, the Cost of Goods Sold general ledger account balance should always equal the total cost of merchandise inventory sold for the accounting period. An alternate system is considered below, called the periodic inventory system.

A periodic inventory system maintains a Merchandise Inventory account but does not have a Cost of Goods Sold account. The Merchandise Inventory account is updated at the end of the accounting period as a result of a physical inventory count. In the perpetual inventory system, the Merchandise Inventory account is continuously updated and is adjusted at the end of the accounting period based on a physical inventory count.

Secure Payment

Cash would decrease if the customer had already paid for the merchandise and cash was thus refunded to the customer. Accounts Receivable would decrease if the customer had not yet paid on their account. Like Sales Discounts, the sales returns and allowances account is a contra revenue account with a normal debit balance that reduces the gross sales figure at the end of the period. Gross sales is the original amount of the sale without factoring in any possible reductions for discounts, returns, or allowances. Once those reductions are recorded at the end of a period, net sales are calculated. Net sales (see Figure 6.7) equals gross sales less sales discounts, sales returns, and sales allowances.

For example, when a shoe store sells 150 pairs of athletic cleats to a local baseball league for $1,500 (cost of $900), the league may pay with cash or credit. If the baseball league elects to pay with cash, the shoe store would debit Cash as part of the sales entry. If the baseball league decides to use a line of credit extended by the shoe store, the shoe store would debit Accounts Receivable as part of the sales entry instead of Cash. With the sales entry, the shoe store must also recognize the $900 cost of the shoes sold and the $900 reduction in Merchandise Inventory.