Inventory accounting
Fundraiser
This example demonstrates accounting for a fundraiser where members sold meat-sticks and chocolate bars. The local organization would check out inventory, sell it, and then pay the regional organization back for the fundraising goods they sold.
In this particular example chocolate bars are sold for $2 and meat-sticks are sold for $1. The local organization gets to keep 30% of the proceeds.
The role of the first three accounts are fairly straight-forward.
assets:cash tracks money in the cash box. assets:inventory tracks
the unsold meat and chocolate stock. liabilities:supplier tracks
the money owed to the supplier.
The interesting account is income:fundraiser. This account summarizes
the effect of the fundraiser on the organization. In our example the
initial effect on the organization is that it acquired $61.60 of debt,
24 meat-sticks, and 32 chocolate bars. As the fundraiser progresses, this
account will hold only the $26.40 of income.
In the real use-case, the members of the organization would check out product to sell. Additional transactions can be used to transfer stock from the organization's inventory accounts to member-specific accounts.
account assets:cash ; cash
account assets:inventory ; product inventory
account liabilities:supplier ; money owed to supplier
account income:fundraiser ; income attributed to the fundraiser
commodity MEAT ; meat-sticks
commodity CHOC ; chocolate bars
commodity USD ; US dollars
; Price of the fundraiser goods at the supplier's price
P 1-1 MEAT 0.70 USD
P 1-1 CHOC 1.40 USD
1-1 * Supplier | Pick up inventory
assets:inventory 24 MEAT
assets:inventory 32 CHOC
liabilities:supplier -61.60 USD
income:fundraiser
1-2 * Alice | Sold some goods
assets:inventory -20 MEAT
assets:inventory -12 CHOC
assets:cash 44 USD
income:fundraiser
1-3 * Bob | Sold more things
assets:inventory -4 MEAT
assets:inventory -20 CHOC
assets:cash 44 USD
income:fundraiser
1-4 * Supplier | Pay balance
liabilities:supplier 61.60 USD
assets:cash -61.60 USD
With a daily balance change and historical balance reports we can see the effect of each transaction. Over time we'll be converting inventory into profits.
$ hledger bal -D --pretty
Balance changes in 2021-01-01..2021-01-04:
║ 2021-01-01 2021-01-02 2021-01-03 2021-01-04
══════════════════════╬══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
assets:cash ║ 0 44.00 USD 44.00 USD -61.60 USD
assets:inventory ║ 32 CHOC, 24 MEAT -12 CHOC, -20 MEAT -20 CHOC, -4 MEAT 0
income:fundraiser ║ -32 CHOC, -24 MEAT, 61.60 USD 12 CHOC, 20 MEAT, -44.00 USD 20 CHOC, 4 MEAT, -44.00 USD 0
liabilities:supplier ║ -61.60 USD 0 0 61.60 USD
──────────────────────╫──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
║ 0 0 0 0
hledger bal -DH --pretty
Ending balances (historical) in 2021-01-01..2021-01-04:
║ 2021-01-01 2021-01-02 2021-01-03 2021-01-04
══════════════════════╬═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
assets:cash ║ 0 44.00 USD 88.00 USD 26.40 USD
assets:inventory ║ 32 CHOC, 24 MEAT 20 CHOC, 4 MEAT 0 0
income:fundraiser ║ -32 CHOC, -24 MEAT, 61.60 USD -20 CHOC, -4 MEAT, 17.60 USD -26.40 USD -26.40 USD
liabilities:supplier ║ -61.60 USD -61.60 USD -61.60 USD 0
──────────────────────╫─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
║ 0 0 0 0
To see the same information in terms of the cash-value of the inventory
that we're holding we can use the -V flag. From this view we can see the
income realized by the fundraiser as it progresses, and the cash value
of our current inventory.
hledger bal -DV --pretty
Balance changes in 2021-01-01..2021-01-04, valued at period ends:
║ 2021-01-01 2021-01-02 2021-01-03 2021-01-04
══════════════════════╬════════════════════════════════════════════════
assets:cash ║ 0 44.00 USD 44.00 USD -61.60 USD
assets:inventory ║ 61.60 USD -30.80 USD -30.80 USD 0
income:fundraiser ║ 0 -13.20 USD -13.20 USD 0
liabilities:supplier ║ -61.60 USD 0 0 61.60 USD
──────────────────────╫────────────────────────────────────────────────
║ 0 0 0 0
$ hledger bal -DHV --pretty
Ending balances (historical) in 2021-01-01..2021-01-04, valued at period ends:
║ 2021-01-01 2021-01-02 2021-01-03 2021-01-04
══════════════════════╬════════════════════════════════════════════════
assets:cash ║ 0 44.00 USD 88.00 USD 26.40 USD
assets:inventory ║ 61.60 USD 30.80 USD 0 0
income:fundraiser ║ 0 -13.20 USD -26.40 USD -26.40 USD
liabilities:supplier ║ -61.60 USD -61.60 USD -61.60 USD 0
──────────────────────╫────────────────────────────────────────────────
║ 0 0 0 0
For our fundraiser the members got credit for their contribution to the fundraiser. By pivoting by payee we can see the gross revenue and inventory sold by each member. The row for the supplier shows the total inventory acquired and cost paid.
hledger bal income:fundraiser --pivot=payee --pretty -Y
Balance changes in 2021:
║ 2021
══════════╬═══════════════════════════════
Alice ║ 12 CHOC, 20 MEAT, -44.00 USD
Bob ║ 20 CHOC, 4 MEAT, -44.00 USD
Supplier ║ -32 CHOC, -24 MEAT, 61.60 USD
──────────╫───────────────────────────────
║ -26.40 USD
To see the net revenue attributed to each member, we can generate the same report valued by the cost of the goods.
hledger bal income:fundraiser --pivot=payee --pretty -YV
Balance changes in 2021, valued at period ends:
║ 2021
═══════╬════════════
Alice ║ -13.20 USD
Bob ║ -13.20 USD
───────╫────────────
║ -26.40 USD