Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)

What is Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)?

Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) measures the “direct cost” incurred in the production of any goods or services. It includes material cost, direct labor cost, and direct factory overheads, and is directly proportional to revenue. As revenue increases, more resources are required to produce the goods or service. COGS is often the second line item appearing on the income statementIncome StatementThe Income Statement is one of a company's core financial statements that shows their profit and loss over a period of time. The profit or loss is determined by taking all revenues and subtracting all expenses from both operating and non-operating activities.This statement is one of three statements used in both corporate finance (including financial modeling) and accounting., coming right after sales revenueSales RevenueSales revenue is the income received by a company from its sales of goods or the provision of services. In accounting, the terms "sales" and "revenue" can be, and often are, used interchangeably, to mean the same thing. Revenue does not necessarily mean cash received.. COGS is deducted from revenue to find gross profit.Gross ProfitGross profit is the direct profit left over after deducting the cost of goods sold, or "cost of sales", from sales revenue. It's used to calculate the gross profit margin and is the initial profit figure listed on a company's income statement. Gross profit is calculated before operating profit or net profit.

Cost of goods sold consists of all the costs associated with producing the goods or providing the services offered by the company. For goods, these costs may include the variable costs involved in manufacturing products, such as raw materials and labor. They may also include fixed costs, such as factory overhead, storage costs, and depending on the relevant accounting policies, sometimes depreciation expense.

COGS does not include general selling expenses, such as management salaries and advertising expense. These costs will fall below the gross profit line under the selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenseSG&ASG&A includes all non-production expenses incurred by a company in any given period. This includes expenses such as rent, advertising, marketing, accounting, litigation, travel, meals, management salaries, bonuses, and more. On occasion, it may also include depreciation expense section.

Purpose of Cost of Goods Sold

The basic purpose of finding COGS is to calculate the “true cost” of merchandise sold in the period. It doesn’t reflect the cost of goods that are purchased in the period and not being sold or just kept in inventory. It helps management and investors monitor the performance of the business.

Accounting for Cost of Goods Sold

IFRSIFRS StandardsIFRS standards are International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) that consist of a set of accounting rules that determine how transactions and other accounting events are required to be reported in financial statements. They are designed to maintain credibility and transparency in the financial world and US GAAP allow different policies for accounting for the cost of goods sold. Very briefly, there are four main types of cost of goods sold classifications.

1. First-in-first-out (FIFO)First-In First-Out (FIFO)The First-In First-Out (FIFO) method of inventory valuation accounting is based on the practice of having the sale or usage of goods follow the same order in which they are bought. In other words, under the FIFO method, the earliest purchased or produced goods are removed and expensed first. The most recent costs remain
2. Last-in-first-out (LIFO)Last-In First-Out (LIFO)The Last-in First-out (LIFO) method of inventory valuation is based on the practice of assets produced or acquired last being the first to be expensed. In other words, under the LIFO method, the latest purchased or produced goods are removed and expensed first. Therefore, the old inventory costs remain on the
3. Weighted average
4. Specific identification

The first two are self-explanatory. Under FIFO, COGS consists of earlier costs, whereas under LIFO, COGS consists of later costs. For example, assume that a company purchased materials to produce four units of their goods. The first three units cost $5 to produce. However, due to rising material prices, the last unit costs $10 to produce. In the subsequent period, the company sells three units. Under FIFO, COGS would consist of the first three units produced, totaling $5 x 3 = $15. Under LIFO, COGS would consist of the last three units produced, totaling $10 x 1 + $5 x 2 = $20.

Under weighted average, the total cost of goods available for sale is divided by units available for sale to find the unit cost of goods available for sale. This is multiplied by the actual number of goods sold to find the cost of goods sold. In the above example, the weighted average per unit is $25 / 4 = $6.25. Thus, for the three units sold, COGS is equal to $18.75.

Specific identification is special in that this is only used by organizations with specifically identifiable inventory. Costs can be directly attributed and are specifically assigned to the specific unit sold. This type of COGS accounting may apply to car manufacturers, real estate developers, and others.

Depending on the COGS classification used, ending inventory costs will obviously differ.

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Thank you for reading this guide to accounting for the cost of goods sold. CFI is the official provider of the Financial Modeling & Valuation Analyst (FMVA)™ certificationFMVA® CertificationJoin 350,600+ students who work for companies like Amazon, J.P. Morgan, and Ferrari . To prepare for the FMVA curriculum, these additional CFI resources will be helpful:

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