Answer
After the grouping into pools the ending inventory is priced at the end-of-year prices and a price index number is applied to convert the total pool to the base-year price level. Such a price index might be obtained from government sources, if available, or computed from the company’s records. The pools or groupings of inventory are required where a single index number is inappropriate for all elements of the inventory. After the closing inventory and the opening inventory have been placed on the same base-year price level, any difference between the two inventories is attributable to an increase or decrease in inventory quantity at the base-year price. An increase in quantity so determined is converted to the current-year price level and added to the amount of the opening inventory as a separate inventory layer. A decrease in quantity is deducted from the appropriate layer of opening inventory at the price level in existence when the layer was added.
Work Step by Step
The dollar-value method of LIFO inventory valuation is a procedure using dollars instead of units to measure increments or reductions in inventory. The method presumes that goods in the inventory can be classified into pools or homogenous groups.