Master Thesis, School of Management and Economics, Växjö University, Advanced Concepts in Logistics Management, FED370, Spring 2006 Authors: Lina Friberg, Sofia Nilsson and Sofia Wärnbring Tutor: Petra Andersson Examiner: Lars-Olof Rask Title: Inventory Valuation - difficulties; what & why? Background: It is important to value inventories accurately in order to meet shareholder needs and demands for financial information. For manufacturing companies, inventories usually represent approximately 20 to 60 percent of their assets; hence it affects companies’ profits. It is essential in which way assets are valued, however, it will be a waste of time if the record accuracy level is poor. Research Questions: Why do companies experience problems when valuing inventories? In order to answer this research question, the following question also has to be answered: What problems can be identified? Purpose: The purpose of this master thesis is to describe and explain difficulties when valuing inventories. Limitations: We are not considering work-in-process and finished goods inventories, only raw material inventory. Neither are we looking at the companies’ internal calculation system, as we believe this will not be relevant for raw material. Method: We chose a positivistic view since we were studying our problem from a process perspective. A case study approach was suitable for us as our thesis was written in the form of a project, and we combined our empirical and theoretical data through the deductive approach. Conclusions: The problem of inventory valuation does not exist in the pricing aspect. Most problems are connected to quantity. Especially the daily routines were found to be insufficient, thus creating inaccuracies between the physical quantity in inventory and the quantity displayed in the system. Company B, the larger company, was found not to have as many problems as the smaller Company A has. Continued research: We believe an overall picture regarding valuation is needed, including the work-in-process and the finished goods inventories. Moreover, deficiencies are often not just found in the processes, but also the humans involved, and how they are motivated to secure accuracy. In addition, an implementation of cycle counting could be interesting to investigate.

<p>Master Thesis, School of Management and Economics, Växjö University, Advanced Concepts in Logistics Management, FED370, Spring 2006</p><p>Authors: Lina Friberg, Sofia Nilsson and Sofia Wärnbring</p><p>Tutor: Petra Andersson</p><p>Examiner: Lars-Olof Rask</p><p>Title: Inventory Valuation - difficulties; what & why?</p><p>Background: It is important to value inventories accurately in order to meet shareholder needs and demands for financial information. For manufacturing companies, inventories usually represent approximately 20 to 60 percent of their assets; hence it affects companies’ profits. It is essential in which way assets are valued, however, it will be a waste of time if the record accuracy level is poor.</p><p>Research Questions: Why do companies experience problems when valuing inventories? In order to answer this research question, the following question also has to be answered: What problems can be identified?</p><p>Purpose: The purpose of this master thesis is to describe and explain difficulties when valuing inventories.</p><p>Limitations: We are not considering work-in-process and finished goods inventories, only raw material inventory. Neither are we looking at the companies’ internal calculation system, as we believe this will not be relevant for raw material.</p><p>Method: We chose a positivistic view since we were studying our problem from a process perspective. A case study approach was suitable for us as our thesis was written in the form of a project, and we combined our empirical and theoretical data through the deductive approach.</p><p>Conclusions: The problem of inventory valuation does not exist in the pricing aspect. Most problems are connected to quantity. Especially the daily routines were found to be insufficient, thus creating inaccuracies between the physical quantity in inventory and the quantity displayed in the system. Company B, the larger company, was found not to have as many problems as the smaller Company A has.</p><p>Continued research: We believe an overall picture regarding valuation is needed, including the work-in-process and the finished goods inventories. Moreover, deficiencies are often not just found in the processes, but also the humans involved, and how they are motivated to secure accuracy. In addition, an implementation of cycle counting could be interesting to investigate.</p>

Master of Science / Department of Industrial & Manufacturing Systems Engineering / John English / This research builds upon previous efforts to explore the use of Statistical Process Control (SPC) in lieu of cycle counting. Specifically a three pronged effort is developed. First, in the work of Huschka (2009) and Miller (2008), a mixture distribution is proposed to model the complexities of multiple Stock Keeping Units (SKU) within an operating department. We have gained access to data set from a large retailer and have analyzed the data in an effort to validate the core models. Secondly, we develop a recursive relationship that enables large samples of SKUs to be evaluated with appropriately with the SPC approach. Finally, we present a comprehensive set of type I and type II error rates for the SPC approach to inventory accuracy monitoring.

Approved for public release; distribution in unlimited. / Management of the Naval integrated supply system depends on data to provide reliable information on the quantities of items in stock at any given time. Because of the high volume of transactions that continually alter data in the inventory system, inventory record errors are practically unavoidable. The purpose of this thesis is to determine the effects of inventory data errors on both cost and effectiveness of operations at a Naval inventory site. The methodology adopted for research consists of a series of multiple-item, single-warehouse, Monte Carlo simulations, focused on one U.S. Navy inventory site, using estimates of inventory data accuracy obtained at that site. Results of the simulations show that inventory costs can be decreased and customer demand effectiveness increased by decreasing the magnitude of inventory record errors to less than ten percent. It is therefore recommended that the Navy expand its inventory accuracy goal to require that no item have an inventory record error magnitude greater than ten percent. Inventory costs and effectiveness in meeting demand for Naval material were not found to be substantially affected by inventory record inaccuracy if the magnitude of error is less than ten percent. / Lieutenant Commander, United States Navy