Periodic inventory is a system of

inventory Inventory (American English) or stock (British English) refers to the goods and materials that a business holds for the ultimate goal of resale, production or utilisation. Inventory management is a discipline primarily about specifying the sha ...

in which updates are made on a periodic basis. This differs from perpetual inventory systems, where updates are made as seen fit. In a periodic inventory system no effort is made to keep up-to-date records of either the inventory or the cost of goods sold. Instead, these amounts are determined only periodically - usually at the end of each year. This physical count determines the amount of inventory appearing in the balance sheet. The cost of goods sold for the entire year then is determined by a short computation.

References

* Robert F. Malik, Jan R. Williams, Susan F. Haka & Mark S. Bettner. ''Financial accounting'', eleventh edition,

McGraw-Hill McGraw Hill is an American educational publishing company and one of the "big three" educational publishers that publishes educational content, software, and services for pre-K through postgraduate education. The company also publishes refere ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Periodic Inventory Inventory