Merchandising transactions are those transactions that deal with inventory, including the purchase of inventory and the sale of inventory. We will discuss related topics, including sales discounts, purchase discounts, sales return and allowances, shrinkage, and the cost of goods sold calculation. We will also compare and contrast a perpetual inventory system and periodic inventory system, listing and describing the pros and cons of each, explaining when each may be most appropriate in practice.

In addition to instructional video, this course will include downloadables. The PDF files allow us to download reference information we can use offline and as a guide to help us work through the material.

Excel practice files will be preformatted so that we can focus on the adjusting process and learning some of the basics of Excel, like addition, subtraction, and cell relationships.

Instructor: You will be learning from somebody who has technical experience in accounting concepts and in accounting software like QuickBooks, as well as experience teaching and putting together a curriculum.

You will be learning from somebody who is a:

• CPA - Certified Public Accountant
• CGMA - Chartered Global Management Accountant
• Master of Science in Taxation
• CPS - Certifies Post-Secondary Instructor
• Curriculum development export

As a practicing CPA, the instructor has worked with many technical accounting issues and helped work through them and discuss them with clients of all levels.

As a CPS and professor, the instructor has taught many accounting classes and worked with many students in the fields of accounting, business, and business applications.

The instructor also has a lot of experience designing courses and learning how students learn best and how to help students achieve their objectives. Experience designing technical courses has also benefit in being able to design a course in a logical fashion and deal with problems related to technical topics and the use of software like QuickBooks Pro.

What will you learn in this course?

• Accounting fundamentals: We will review the fundamentals and the core concepts we always need to fall back on and practice fundamentals, including the double-entry accounting process and the relationship of the financial statements. These are topics we can almost always still learn something new on even when we believe we have them fully understood. 
• Merchandising transaction
  • Purchase of merchandise or inventory
  • Sale of merchandise or inventory
• Perpetual and periodic inventory system
  • We will compare and contrast the perpetual and periodic inventory systems
• Sales discount and purchase discount
  • It is easy to get a sales discount and purchase discount confused and mixed up. We will discuss both transactions and how to record them. 
• Inventory shrinkage and sales returns
  • Inventory shrinkage with loss of inventory, the problem is how to know it is lost and how to record the loss. Sales return is when inventory is returned after a sale. We will record transactions related to sales returns. 
• Financial statements - Merchandising company
  • Financial statements, especially the income statement, are typically more complex for merchandising companies than service companies.
• Comprehensive problems
  • We will have to comprehensive problems, focused on financial transactions, more of a mid-sized problem. The second comprehensive problem will cover the full accounting cycle for a merchandising company, the recording of financial transactions, adjusting entries, financial statements, and closing process.