Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) is the direct cost of a product to a distributor, manufacturer, or retailer. Sales revenue minus cost of goods sold is a business’s gross profit. The cost of goods sold is considered an expense in accounting. COGS are listed on a financial report.
What Is Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)?
Cost of goods sold (COGS) refers to the direct costs of producing the goods sold by a company. This amount includes the cost of the materials and labor directly used to create the good. It excludes indirect expenses, such as distribution costs and sales force costs.
Why Is Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) Important?
COGS is an important metric on financial statements as it is subtracted from a company’s revenues to determine its gross profit. Gross profit is a profitability measure that evaluates how efficient a company is in managing its labor and supplies in the production process.
Because COGS is a cost of doing business, it is recorded as a business expense on income statements. Knowing the cost of goods sold helps analysts, investors, and managers estimate a company’s bottom line. If COGS increases, net income will decrease. While this movement is beneficial for income tax purposes, the business will have less profit for its shareholders. Businesses thus try to keep their COGS low so that net profits will be higher.
Cost of goods sold (COGS) is the cost of acquiring or manufacturing the products that a company sells during a period, so the only costs included in the measure are those that are directly tied to the production of the products, including the cost of labor, materials, and manufacturing overhead.For example, COGS for an automaker would include the material costs for the parts that go into making the car plus the labor costs used to put the car together. The cost of sending the cars to dealerships and the cost of the labor used to sell the car would be excluded.
Formula and Calculation of Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)
Inventory that is sold appears in the income statement under the COGS account. The beginning inventory for the year is the inventory left over from the previous year—that is, the merchandise that was not sold in the previous year.
Any additional productions or purchases made by a manufacturing or retail company are added to the beginning inventory. At the end of the year, the products that were not sold are subtracted from the sum of beginning inventory and additional purchases. The final number derived from the calculation is the cost of goods sold for the year.The balance sheet has an account called the current assets account. Under this account is an item called inventory. The balance sheet only captures a company’s financial health at the end of an accounting period. This means that the inventory value recorded under current assets is the ending inventory.
What Are Different Accounting Methods For COGS?
The value of the cost of goods sold depends on the inventory costing method adopted by a company. There are three methods that a company can use when recording the level of inventory sold during a period: first in, first out (FIFO), last in, first out (LIFO), and the average cost method. The special identification method is used for high-ticket or unique items.
FIFO- The earliest goods to be purchased or manufactured are sold first. Since prices tend to go up over time, a company that uses the FIFO method will sell its least expensive products first, which translates to a lower COGS than the COGS recorded under LIFO. Hence, the net income using the FIFO method increases over time.
LIFO- LIFO is where the latest goods added to the inventory are sold first. During periods of rising prices, goods with higher costs are sold first, leading to a higher COGS amount. Over time, the net income tends to decrease.
Average Cost Method- The average price of all the goods in stock, regardless of purchase date, is used to value the goods sold. Taking the average product cost over a time period has a smoothing effect that prevents COGS from being highly impacted by the extreme costs of one or more acquisitions or purchases.
Special Identification Method- The special identification method uses the specific cost of each unit of merchandise (also called inventory or goods) to calculate the ending inventory and COGS for each period. In this method, a business knows precisely which item was sold and the exact cost. Further, this method is typically used in industries that sell unique items like cars, real estate, and rare and precious jewels.
What Are the Limitations of COGS?
- Allocating to inventory higher manufacturing overhead costs than those incurred
- Overstating discounts
- Overstating returns to suppliers
- Altering the amount of inventory in stock at the end of an accounting period
- Overvaluing inventory on hand
- Failing to write off obsolete inventory
How Do You Calculate Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)?
Cost of goods sold (COGS) is calculated by adding up the various direct costs required to generate a company’s revenues. Importantly, COGS is based only on the costs that are directly utilized in producing that revenue, such as the company’s inventory or labor costs that can be attributed to specific sales. By contrast, fixed costs such as managerial salaries, rent, and utilities are not included in COGS. Inventory is a particularly important component of COGS, and accounting rules permit several different approaches for how to include it in the calculation.
FAQs
Why is COGS important for businesses?
COGS is a key metric in determining a company’s profitability. It helps calculate the gross profit and provides insights into the efficiency of the production process and the pricing strategy.
What costs are included in COGS?
COGS includes direct costs directly associated with the production of goods, such as raw materials, direct labor, and manufacturing overhead.
How do you calculate COGS?
COGS is calculated by adding the direct costs of production, such as raw materials and labor, and subtracting the ending inventory from the total.
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