Inventory Management

Receiving Clerk
A receiving clerk plays a crucial role in a firm's logistics by inspecting, verifying, and recording all incoming goods to ensure accurate inventory management and quality control.
Receiving Record (Report)
A comprehensive document created for each shipment received by a company, containing detailed information used for verification and accounting purposes.
Reorder Level
The reorder level represents the number of units of a particular item of stock to which the balance can fall before an order for replenishment is placed, ensuring efficient inventory management within a reorder-level system.
Reorder Point
The minimum level of inventory at which a new order must be placed, to prevent stockouts and ensure continuous business operations.
Reserve-Stock Control
Reserve-stock control is a technique designating appropriate inventory levels for the maintenance of business operations until new merchandise can be supplied. It considers the length of time necessary to physically replenish needed inventory.
Retail Inventory Method
The Retail Inventory Method is an inventory valuation technique used within the cost method of accounting, where similar merchandise is pooled to estimate the average percentage of cost to retail price.
Returns Inwards (Sales Returns)
Returns inwards, also known as sales returns, refer to goods returned to an organization by customers. These returns typically occur due to dissatisfaction with the product, whether due to defects, wrong shipments, or simply buyer's remorse.
Returns Outwards
Goods returned by an organization to its suppliers, typically due to dissatisfaction with the items received. This process helps manage inventory and ensures only acceptable goods are procured.
Sale or Return
Sale or return is a terms of trade in which the seller agrees to take back from the buyer any goods that have not been sold within a specified period. This strategy is commonly used in retail to reduce the risk to retailers of carrying unsold inventory.
Sales Returns
Sales returns refer to goods that customers have returned to a business, usually due to defects or dissatisfaction. This can impact a company's revenue and inventory management.
Sales Returns Book
The Sales Returns Book, also known as the Returns Inwards Book, is a specialized ledger maintained by businesses to record the return of goods sold to customers. It helps track and manage returned inventory, ensuring accurate financial accounting and inventory control.
Sales Volume
Sales volume refers to the number of units sold of each product. It is a key metric in evaluating the performance of a company’s products and its overall market position.
Scalage
Scalage refers to a percentage deduction granted in business dealings with goods that are likely to shrink, leak, or otherwise vary in the amount or weight originally stated.
Shrinkage
Shrinkage refers to the difference between the actual physical inventory and the amount that should be on hand according to the book inventory, as well as weight loss experienced in various contexts such as natural grain drying and commodity processing.
Specific Identification Inventory Method
The Specific Identification inventory method considers the sale and cost of each item specifically. It is particularly useful for investors managing securities acquired at different costs, providing flexibility in reporting taxable income.
Standing Order
A standing order is an instruction to make repeated shipments of goods without requiring individual reorder confirmations. These orders are continuous, adhering to predefined quantity and time specifications.
Stock Budgets
Stock budgets are formulated under a budgetary control system to plan the levels of materials, work in progress, and finished goods, both in volumes and values, at specified times throughout a budget period.
Stock Ledger
The accounting book in which the movements of inventories are recorded. The stock ledger records the receipts and issues of material as well as the balance in hand, in terms of both material quantities and values.
Stock Reconciliation
Stock reconciliation is a crucial process in inventory management that ensures the actual stock count aligns with recorded inventory levels, thus maintaining accurate financial records and aiding in effective business operations.
Stock Record
The stock record is an essential element in an inventory control system, documenting the movements in items of stock. This record can encompass entries in the stock ledger, which tracks stock movements in both quantities and values, or on bin cards, which focus on quantities alone.
Stock Turnover
Stock turnover, also known as inventory turnover, is a financial ratio that measures how many times a company's inventory is sold and replaced over a specific period.
Stock-Out
A stock-out occurs when the inventory of a particular item is depleted, leading to a situation where no stock remains in store available for sale or use.
Stockkeeping Unit (SKU)
A Stockkeeping Unit (SKU) is a unique identifier for each distinct product and service that can be purchased. It helps in tracking inventory and simplifying sales processes.
Stockkeeping Unit (SKU)
A Stockkeeping Unit (SKU) is a unique identifier or code, typically alphanumeric, assigned to a product to distinguish it from all other products in a merchant's inventory. It facilitates tracking, managing, and organizing stock effectively.
Stockout Cost
Stockout cost refers to the costs incurred by a firm when its current inventory is exhausted for one or more items. Lost sales revenue is a primary consequence when the firm is unable to meet current orders because of a stockout condition.
Stockpile
A stockpile is a reserve supply of raw materials or goods accumulated to meet continuous or future demands and overcome potential shortages. Businesses often maintain stockpiles to ensure smooth operations during unforeseen disruptions in supply chains.
Stockroom
A stockroom is an area or room where stock of goods, materials, and other supplies are maintained, often used in commercial and industrial settings for inventory management, storage, and organization.
Stocktaking
Stocktaking is the process of counting and evaluating stock-in-trade, typically carried out at an organization's year end to value the total stock for final accounting purposes.
Store Card
A store card is a specific type of card used within a particular store or organization to record and control inventory movements and levels.
Store Requisition
A store requisition is a document generated by user departments or individuals in an organization to request raw materials or supplies from the store or warehouse. It facilitates the internal movement and management of inventory within a company.
Stores in Accounting
Stores in accounting refer to the part of an organization where various inventories are stored, which can include stationery stocks, maintenance components, production tools, raw materials, work in progress, and finished goods.
Stores Issue Note (SIN)
Abbreviation for Stores Issue Note, a document used in inventory and material management to authorize the withdrawal of materials from storage.
Stores Issue Note (SIN)
A Stores Issue Note (SIN) is a document used in inventory management to authorize the release or issue of inventory items from the warehouse to the production department or other requesting departments.
Stores Returns Note (SRN)
A Stores Returns Note (SRN) is a document used in accounting and inventory management to record the return of goods or materials back to the warehouse or supplier. This notation is crucial for adjustments in inventory levels and accurate record-keeping in financial and material management systems.
Supply Chain Management (SCM)
Supply Chain Management (SCM) involves tracking the movement and demand for components used in manufacturing across various suppliers to provide insight and the ability to respond promptly to changes. SCM aims to optimize production, decrease manufacturing time, minimize inventory, streamline order fulfillment, and reduce costs.
Taking Inventory
Taking inventory involves the physical counting and valuation of stock in trade. Typically performed at year-end, it can also be conducted more frequently or at different times.
Tally
A tally is a count of specific items or occasions, often used in contexts like voting, inventory counting, and record keeping. It is a fundamental method of tracking occurrences to aid decision-making and analysis.
Tallyman
A tallyman is an individual who either supplies goods on credit to be paid for in installments or one who tallies or keeps a count of items, such as votes or cargo.
Tare Weight
Tare weight refers to the weight of an empty container, such as an empty truck or packing material, and is used in logistics to measure the net weight of goods.
Threshold-Point Ordering
Threshold-point ordering refers to the minimum inventory levels at which new orders must be placed to ensure continuous supply and meet expected demand based on anticipated usage. This technique aims to optimize inventory management.
Trade Loading
Trade loading, also known as channel stuffing, is a practice where manufacturers or suppliers induce more products into the distribution channel than the end customer demand, often through aggressive sales tactics, to inflate short-term sales and revenue figures.
Unit Price
The price paid per unit of item purchased or charged per unit of product sold, representing the cost associated with a single unit of a product or service.
Visibility in Supply Chain Management
Visibility refers to the immediate insights that managers gain into a business operation through effective supply chain management. It involves tracking and managing all aspects of the supply chain process, from procurement of raw materials to delivery of the final product.
Volume Merchandise Allowance
A manufacturer's discount offered to a retailer or wholesaler for buying large quantities of merchandise, encouraging bulk purchasing and long-term business relationships.
Warehouse
A warehouse is a structure designed for the storage of commercial inventory, used primarily by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, and transport businesses.
Weighted Average Cost
A method of valuing inventory that calculates the cost of goods sold and ending inventory based on the average cost of all units available for sale during the period.
Work in Process (WIP)
Work in Process (WIP) refers to the materials and components that have begun their journey in the production process but are not yet completed products. It is an essential concept in manufacturing and inventory management.
Work in Process (WIP)
Work in Process (WIP), also known as work in progress, refers to the partially finished goods within a manufacturing operation. These items are in the production line but are not yet complete. The valuation of WIP typically follows financial principles and methods such as FIFO (First-In, First-Out), LIFO (Last-In, First-Out), or average cost method.
Work in Progress (WIP)
Work in Progress (WIP) refers to the goods that are partially completed in a manufacturing process and are still undergoing the necessary transformation to become full-fledged finished products. It is a vital part of inventory management and accounting in production-focused industries.
Working Capital
Working capital is essential for financing the day-to-day operations of a company, calculated as the difference between current assets and current liabilities.

Accounting Terms Lexicon

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