Why does the accounting profession allow for multiple methods in accounting for inventory sold and on hand (LIFO, FIFO, weighted average, specific identification)? Can they all be right (i.e., accurately assign cost to goods sold and unsold)? Also include in your post the answer to the Walmart question found in the Announcement for Chapter 5 concerning how much you think Walmart spent to acquire merchandise that was available to sell in fiscal year 2017. (Note: Walmart's fiscal year ends on January 31. So use the FY 2018 financials for Walmart to answer this question).

****Below is a link to Wal-Mart's financial statements for fiscal year 2018. Take a look and see if you can figure out how much Wal-Mart spent in fiscal 2018 to buy their merchandise which can be found on pages 55 and 57 of their annual report (Note: the search feature is off by 6 pages from the actual pages in the annual report. So, if you search for page 63, you'll be taken to page 57 of the report). Note also pp. 61 where Inventories are discussed. You'll read there something about how they estimate their inventories and COGS that ties to our chapter 5.

LINK: http://stock.walmart.com/investors/financial-information/annual-reports-and-proxies/default.aspx