LOS h: Calculate and interpret ratios used to evaluate inventory management.

Neither metric is directly relevant in evaluating the stability of a firm’s inventory levels. Determining stability would presumably require other information such as purchase and sales levels, for example. The inventory turnover ratio and the number of days in inventory can be used to evaluate the relative age of a firm’s inventory as well as the effectiveness of a firm’s inventory management.

Low inventory turnover (high number of days in inventory) may be a sign of slow-moving or obsolete inventory, especially when coupled with low or declining revenue growth compared to the industry. Low inventory value compared to cost of goods sold, however, implies a high inventory turnover ratio. This suggests much less risk of obsolescence.

Using LIFO cost of goods sold (COGS) gives a more accurate measure of future earnings because the LIFO COGS is more representative of the current cost of product sold as compared to using FIFO therefore net income will be more accurately represented.