LIFO Inventory Calculator - COGS and Ending Value

Last-in, first-out inventory costing assigns the most recent purchase costs to units sold and leaves older costs in ending inventory. Merchandisers, manufacturers, and accounting students use LIFO to see how rising purchase prices lift cost of goods sold and hold down the balance-sheet value of stock. The LIFO inventory calculator reads purchase layers from oldest to newest, peels units sold from the newest layer backward, and reports COGS, remaining units, remaining inventory value, and gross profit when you provide a sale price. Enter layers as quantity@unitCost or quantity x unitCost, separated by commas, in chronological order. Units sold cannot exceed the sum of layer quantities. The engine starts at the last layer and works backward until the sale is fully costed. Ending inventory units are unsold quantities left in earlier layers. Ending inventory value multiplies those leftover quantities by their original unit costs. Gross profit is units sold times sale price minus COGS. If sale price is blank, it is treated as zero and gross profit equals negative COGS. In a period of rising costs, LIFO COGS is higher than FIFO COGS because recent, more expensive units are sold first. Taxable income is therefore lower in many jurisdictions that still allow LIFO, while the inventory asset looks cheaper. The opposite happens when costs fall. Use the LIFO inventory calculator to grade a homework set, to estimate the LIFO effect versus a known FIFO result, or to brief operations on how a late-period purchase at a higher cost will hit margin if those units are deemed sold. Layer identity matters. Do not merge purchases that occurred at different costs if you need a textbook-accurate COGS. The calculator does not apply LIFO liquidation exceptions, dollar-value LIFO pools, or lower-of-cost-or-net-realizable-value. Shipping-in, purchase discounts, and returns should be baked into the unit costs you type. Units sold are physical units, not dollars of sales. IFRS does not allow LIFO; U.S. GAAP still does for companies that elect it, with additional disclosure. This page is a unit-layer illustration, not a tax election or an audit workpaper. Reconcile quantities to the perpetual or periodic count you actually keep. If a sale would liquidate old layers, the resulting COGS mix may not be repeatable next period when new purchases rebuild the stack.