Jason Tierro, an inventory clerk at Lexmar Company, is responsible for taking a physical count of the goods on hand at the end of the year. He has been performing this duty for several years. This year, Jason was very busy due to a shortage of personnel at the company, so he decided to just estimate the amount of ending inventory instead of doing an accurate count. He reasoned that he could come very close to the true amount because of his past experience working with inventory. Besides, he was sure that the sophisticated computer program that Lexmar had just invested in kept an accurate record of inventory on hand.

1. What is your opinion of Jason’s reasoning?

2. If Jason underestimates the dollar amount of ending inventory, what effect will it have on net income for the current accounting period?

3. Write a short paragraph explaining why a physical inventory should be taken at least once a year.

4. In groups of three or four, make a list of possible reasons that the actual ending inventory might not agree with the ending inventory according to a computer system.