Inventoriable Costs
As slated earlier, product costs are often call inventoriable costs. These reason is that these costs go directly into inventory accounts as they are incurred (first into Work in Process and then into Finished Goods), rather than going into expense accounts Thus, they are termed inventoriable costs . This is a key concept because such costs can end up on the balance sheet as assets if goods are only partially completed or are unsold at the end of a period. To illustrate this point, refer again to Exhibit 2-7. At the end of the period, the materials, labor, and overhead costs that are associated with the units in the Work in Process and Finished Goods inventory accounts will appear on the balance sheet as assets. As explained earlier, these costs will not become expense until the goods are completed and sold. Selling and administrative expense are not involved in making a product. For this reason, they are not treated as product costs hut rather as period costs that are expensed as they are incurred, as shown in Exhibit 2-7.