Chapter 12
Managing Inventory and Other Assets
In This Chapter
Recording the buying and selling of widgets, lingerie, haggis and much more
Doing a head count of what’s in stock
Balancing up your inventory account
Buying and selling motor vehicles, new equipment and other assets
Calculating depreciation and keeping tabs on asset values
When I was writing this chapter for the first edition, Finbar, my (then) 10-year-old son, was looking over my shoulder. ‘What’s depreciation?’ he asked curiously, reading my detailed explanations about assets and asset values, and different ways to calculate depreciation. ‘It’s when something gets old’, I replied somewhat distractedly, ‘and it isn’t worth so much anymore. Depreciation is how you account for the decline in value of something.’
‘Hmm’, replied Finbar. ‘Does that mean you’re depreciating?’ ‘No’ came my terse response. ‘I don’t depreciate. I appreciate, meaning I’m more valuable and more beautiful with every year that passes.’ ‘No need to ...