Richardson Company cans a variety of vegetable-type soups. Recently, the company decided to value its inventories using dollar-value LIFO pools. The clerk who accounts for inventories does not understand how to value the inventory pools using this new method, so, as a private consultant, you have been asked to teach how this new method works. He has provided you with the following information about purchases made over a 6-year period.

Date Ending Inventory(End-Of-Year-Prices) Price Index

Dec. 31 2010 $80,000 100

Dec. 31 2011 111,300 105

Dec. 31 2012 108,000 120

Dec. 31 2013 128,700 130

Dec. 31 2014 147,000 140

Dec. 31 2015 174,000 145

(a) Compute the ending inventory for Richardson Company for 2010 through 2015 using dollar-value LIFO.

(b) Using your computation schedules as your illustration, write a step-by-step set of instructions explaining how the calculations are done. Begin your explanation by briefly explaining the theory behind the inventory method, including the purpose of putting all amounts into base-year price levels.