Purchases
Perpetual System is that system in which company continuously updates the value of inventory while in periodic system inventory valuation is done only for closing inventory when company done physical inventory calculation.
periodic inventory system
The perpetual inventory system is more complicated, requires more accounting entries and is more costly the periodic inventory system does.
Perpetual
Merchandise Inventory account
Perpetual System is that system in which company continuously updates the value of inventory while in periodic system inventory valuation is done only for closing inventory when company done physical inventory calculation.
periodic inventory system
The perpetual inventory system is more complicated, requires more accounting entries and is more costly the periodic inventory system does.
The perpetual inventory system is more complicated, requires more accounting entries and is more costly the periodic inventory system does.
Perpetual: All inventory entries directly affect inventory Periodic: All inventory entries affect other accounts, which are then closed to inventory. Example: A company purchased $100 worth of inventory on account Perpetual: Inventory (Debit) 100 Accounts Payable (Credit) 100 Periodic Purchases (Debit) 100 Accounts Payable (Credit) 100 Later with Periodic (usually at the end of the reporting period) Inventory (Debit) 100 Purchases (Credit) 100 This last entry closes purchases and updates your inventory account.
Perpetual
A perpetual system does not account for theft.
1 - Perpetual inventory system 2 -Periodic accounting system
The history of inventory systems depends on the type of inventory system being discussed. There are two main types of inventory systems, the perpetual inventory system and the periodic inventory system.
Merchandise Inventory account
Periodic inventory method calculate ending stock at the end of the accounting period, which could be Month to Date or Year to Date, while Perpetual inventory system calculates the ending stock on a continuous basis after each transaction (Purchase or Sell). Within Retail industry, periodic inventory method used for inventory valuation at the stores, whereas distributer like SuperValu (in US) follows perpetual inventory method to track inventory in their distribution centers. As a best practice, some of the retail companies are using perpetual accounting method to track inventory available in warehourses and distribution centers. In an idealistic world, perpetual inventory method can provide the true and real time inventory information, however due to complexities in consolidating all the purchases, sales, shrinkages and other market factors, it is advisable for retail companies to follow periodic accounting method to analyze and review the results before presenting the inventory valuation results to internal and external agencies like Shareholders, Income Tax Authorities, et el.
Periodic is what most small businesses use. Once a year, or whenever (periodically), a count is done, and that is how inventory levels are accounted for. When goods are purchased, the purchase price (the cost of the goods) is just dumped straight into a COGS account, rather than into an inventory (asset) account as happens with perpetual inventory (which moves the cost of goods from inventory (asset) to COGS when a sale occurs). Perpetual Inventory is continually monitored (the word perpetual means continual), so at any given time you can tell how much of each item you have on hand, because you are tracking every stock movement in real time. Companies that have RF scanners etc. are able to do this fairly easily with the technology. With periodic, you just do a count and adjust the levels through your accounting system, with the difference in sales of the item and actual levels on hand, being allocated as "shrinkage" (expense). Sure, there's variations on that (like shrinkage being a COGS account), but that's basically it. Perpetual allows you to know what you have on hand at all times, while periodic relies on physical counts.