What do we do with freight in in a periodic inventory system?

Under periodic inventory system inventory account is not updated for each purchase and each sale. All purchases are debited to purchases account. At the end of the period, the total in purchases account is added to the beginning balance of the inventory to compute cost of goods available for sale. The ending inventory is determined at the end of the period by a physical count and subtracted from the cost of goods available for sale to compute the cost of goods sold.

The general formula to compute cost of goods sold under periodic inventory system is given below:

Cost of goods sold (COGS) = Beginning inventory + Purchases – Closing inventory

Example

The following information belongs to John company, a retailer of high-end fashion products:

  • Inventory balance on January 1, 2016: $600,000
  • Purchases made during the year 2016: $1,200,000
  • Inventory balance on December 31, 2016: $500,000

Required: Compute cost of goods sold for the year 2016 assuming the company uses a periodic inventory system.

Solution:

Cost of goods sold (COGS) = Beginning inventory + Purchases – Closing inventory
= $600,000 + $1,200,000 – $500,000
= $1,300,000

Journal entries in a periodic inventory system:

(1). When goods are purchased from supplier:

What do we do with freight in in a periodic inventory system?

(2) When expenses are incurred to obtain goods for sale – freight-in, insurance etc:

What do we do with freight in in a periodic inventory system?

(3). When goods are returned to supplier:

What do we do with freight in in a periodic inventory system?

(4). When payment is made to supplier:

What do we do with freight in in a periodic inventory system?

(5). When goods are sold to customers:

What do we do with freight in in a periodic inventory system?

(6). When goods are returned by customers:

What do we do with freight in in a periodic inventory system?

(7). When cash is collected from customers:

What do we do with freight in in a periodic inventory system?

(8). At the end of the period:

What do we do with freight in in a periodic inventory system?

Example:

The following information belongs to Paradise Hardware Store:

Beginning inventory: 200 units at $12 = $2,400
Purchases made during the period: 1800 units at $12 = $21,600
Sales made during the period: 1200 units at $24 = $28,800
Ending inventory: 800 units at $12 = $9,600

Required: Make journal entries to record above transactions assuming a periodic inventory system is used by Paradise Hardware Store.

Solution:

What do we do with freight in in a periodic inventory system?

* (21,600 + 2,400) – 9,600

Periodic inventory system is usually used by companies that buy and sell a wide variety of inexpensive products.

A disadvantage of periodic inventory system is that overages and shortages of inventory are buried in cost of goods sold because no accounting record is available against which to compare physical count of inventory.

More from Inventory costing methods (explanations):

How do you account for freight on inventory?

What is the journal entry to record freight-in? Freight-in is capitalized onto the balance sheet since it's considered a production cost. Therefore, when freight-in is incurred, the company would debit inventory (freight-in) and credit cash (cash outflow to pay the expense).

How do you record freight costs in the periodic table?

The freight-in journal entry can be made using the periodic inventory system by debiting the freight-in account and crediting the cash account. Like the purchase account, the freight-in account is a temporary account that will be cleared when the firm calculates the cost of goods after the accounting period.

Do you include freight out in inventory?

Freight Out Once a business has goods in its possession, it can't include any further freight charges in inventory cost. For example, if a company ships goods among its stores, the costs of doing so can't be included in inventory.

What is the account used to record freight on purchases in a periodic inventory?

The account called Purchases is only used with the periodic inventory system. It is a temporary account used in the periodic inventory system to record the purchases of merchandise for resale. This account reports the gross amount of purchases of merchandise.