Is COGS an asset account?
Andrew Campbell
Updated on January 05, 2026
Cost of goods sold is not an asset (what a business owns), nor is it a liability (what a business owes). It is an expense. Expenses is one of the five main accounts in accounting: assets, liabilities, expenses, equity and revenue.
How do you record COGS inventory?
When adding a COGS journal entry, you will debit your COGS Expense account and credit your Purchases and Inventory accounts. Purchases are decreased by credits and inventory is increased by credits. You will credit your Purchases account to record the amount spent on the materials.
Is cost of goods sold an asset on the balance sheet?
The cost of goods sold is considered to be linked to sales under the matching principle. Instead, the costs associated with goods and services are recorded in the inventory asset account, which appears in the balance sheet as a current asset.
What is the difference between inventory asset and cost of goods sold?
Product cost is entered in the inventory asset account and is held there until the products are sold. When a product is sold, but not before, the product cost is deducted from inventory and is then added to the cost of goods sold expense account.
Does COGS increase with a debit or credit?
Cost of Goods Sold is an EXPENSE item with a normal debit balance (debit to increase and credit to decrease).
How does inventory affect cost of goods sold?
If your business buys goods and offers them for resale, your inventory will factor into your balance sheet as part of cost of goods sold (COGS). If you buy less inventory, your income statement figure for COGS will be lower than if you bought more, assuming you’ve sold what you bought.
Where is COGS on the balance sheet?
Cost of goods sold figure is not shown on the statement of financial position or balance sheet, but it’s constituent inventory indirectly affects profit or loss figure shown on the statement of financial position that is calculated in the statement of comprehensive income under the head cost of goods sold.
Does debiting COGS increase it?
Cost of goods sold is an expense account. Debiting increases all of these accounts.
What does a debit to COGS do?
A debit to Cost of Goods Sold means that that account balance has increased. It also means that more goods have just been sold, and thus must be increased since the cost (expense) can now be taken against income. The other side of the journal entry would be a credit to Inventory for the same amount.
Can you have COGS without inventory?
COGS is not addressed in any detail in generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), but COGS is defined as only the cost of inventory items sold during a given period. Not only do service companies have no goods to sell, but purely service companies also do not have inventories.