Answer: Debit: Cost of goods sold $1400
Credit: Inventory $1400
Explanation: The lower of cost or LCM rule indicates that a company needs to value it's inventory at the end of the year at whatever cost is lower, between the actual cost of the inventory or its market price currently. This is in accordance with US GAAP.
In Mariah Company the historical cost, which is the actual cost of the inventory and thus what it is valued at in the books, is $74000. Replacement cost, which is how much it would cost to replace an asset based on market rates, is only $72600. The replacement cost is thus lower. Since the inventory is still valued at historical cost in the books, it will have to been written down to the replacement cost value. To do this the difference between both costs will need to be deduced. Difference is thus: $74000 - $72600 =$1400.
When write down occurs, this is expensed to cost of goods sold. This is because there is a decrease in closing inventories. If there is a decrease in this figure then it will lead to a subsequent increase in cost of goods sold, leading to it being debited to show this increase (remember the formula to calculate cost of goods sold). Inventory is credited as the value of this inventory has decreased, and inventories decrease on the credit side.
