Obsolete Inventory Definition

For young businesses, avoiding obsolete inventory could be a critical step on the path to stronger unit margins. The $1,500 net value of the inventory less the $800 proceeds from the sale has created an additional loss on disposal of $700, which is charged to the cost of goods sold account. If your company manufactures products that are no longer legal or compliant with the law, it will be challenging to sell them. This means that manufacturers must keep track of their inventory to ensure they are not spending too much money on unsellable products. One of the main reasons could be an overall decline in demand for the goods you produce. Another reason could be the intense competition in the industry, where you cannot just catch up with your competitors.

The companies which apply the perpetual inventory system are less likely to have such problems. This system helps to have updated stock information per each sales transaction. The same is true if you start using automated eCommerce business automation for the overall management control. If you write down ​$10,000​ of inventory to ​$2,000​, you make an Inventory Reserve journal entry for ​$8,000​. Ultimately, your inventory may have become so obsolete that there’s no demand for it whatsoever.

• Companies can avoid obsolete inventory by improving forecasting techniques, using a more adequate inventory management system, making smart purchasing decisions, and accurately predicting lead times.
• Obsolete inventory is usually caused either by a lack of consumer demand or because a business purchased too much of a product.
• Inventory is at the heart of an online business, so it’s important to have access to data that provides insights into how well your supply chain is performing.
• Damaged goods is a type of dead stock and is sometimes considered obsolete if the product is unfixable and therefore, loses its value.
• This can result in action to dispose of the obsolete items, perhaps returning a small amount of cash to the business.

Writing off inventory is a complicated accounting process with tax implications that should be performed with the help of an experienced accountant. That said, the general process of calculating a potential write-off is simple enough to understand. Unlike running a sale on bundling inventory, liquidation will not aim to cover costs. Have you ever shopped for Halloween candy on November 1st or red roses on February 15th? Demand for them has plummeted, sending their value to a fraction of what it was. But candy still tastes good, and roses are still pretty—leaving sellers in a position to still move the products, even for less than they had hoped.

Slow-Moving Inventory FAQs

If even a highly-experienced liquidator refuses your inventory, writing off the obsolete products may be your best bet. While businesses will often liquidate all of their inventory before closing shop, a company can always consider liquidating a certain segment of their inventory that’s fallen into obsolescence. To liquidate inventory, you’ll want to work with a surplus reseller specializing in moving “unwanted” inventory. Let’s explore the effects of obsolete inventory on small-business owners, then look at ways to get rid of it—and avoid it in the future.

• Rather, purchasing decisions and market conditions are what typically, inadvertently causes goods to become obsolete.
• This gives companies an incentive to fudge, delaying recognition or reporting it in small increments.
• Small-business owners can identify obsolete inventory by calculating the number of months a product has been on hand.
• An additional approach for determining whether a part is obsolete is reviewing engineering change orders.

The journal entry removes the value of the obsolete inventory both from the allowance for obsolete inventory account and from the inventory account itself. When an expense account is debited, this identifies that the money spent on the inventory, now obsolete, is an expense. A contra asset account is reported on the balance sheet immediately below the asset account to which it relates, and it reduces the net reported value of the asset account. In the past, if the inventory was held for too long, the goods may have reached the end of their product life and become obsolete. Currently, with technology, the state of abundance, and customers’ high expectations, the product life cycle has become shorter and inventory becomes obsolete much faster.

How bad is obsolete inventory?

A contra asset account may include an allowance for obsolete inventory and an obsolete inventory reserve. When the inventory write-down is small, companies typically charge the cost of goods sold account. However, when the write-down is large, it is better to charge the expense to an alternate account. Companies report inventory obsolescence by debiting an expense account and crediting a contra asset account. This means that if you have a high number of days of outstanding inventory, it is more likely that your stock will become obsolete.

How to Handle Obsolete Inventory

Lenders may be less likely to offer business loans to companies with a high level of obsolete products. The allowance for obsolete inventory account is a reserve that is maintained as a contra asset account so that the original cost of the inventory can be held on the inventory account until it is disposed of. When the obsolete inventory is finally disposed of, both the inventory payments by wave asset and the allowance for obsolete inventory is cleared. Being proactive is critical when it comes to inventory obsolescence, and having a partner like Katana Cloud Manufacturing can help. Katana’s manufacturing and inventory management software is an all-in-one platform that allows you to better understand how, why, and where your products are becoming obsolete.

How do you test if inventory is obsolete?

An additional approach for determining whether a part is obsolete is reviewing engineering change orders. These documents show those parts being replaced by different ones, as well as when the changeover is scheduled to take place. You can then search the inventory database to see how many of the parts being replaced are still in stock, which can then be totaled, yielding another variation on the amount of obsolete inventory on hand. If a computer system includes a bill of materials, there is a strong likelihood that it also generates a “where used” report, listing all the bills of material for which an inventory item is used. If there is no “where used” listed on the report for an item, it is likely that a part is no longer needed. By examining a company’s level of obsolete inventory, we have an idea of how well its goods are selling.

Write off inventory

Slow-moving items and dead stock can take up valuable storage space that could be used to store a higher volume of faster-selling products. A business may purchase too much of a product due to poor company forecasting, an inefficient inventory management system, or inaccurate lead times. There are several ways a small-business owner may choose to handle obsolete inventory.

Experience the simplest inventory management software.

You can choose to bundle the slow-moving product together with the best sellers. Most of the customers enjoy buying product bundles, as they are more valuable in terms of having more in a group. When you cannot sell your inventory for a long time, it starts losing its value in the market. In this case, the companies should recognize the fall in value and either write-down or write-off as of the generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) rules. Whatever the reason is for your obsolete stock or deadstock in your warehouses, you should be quick to get rid of it.