Respondents were asked to report their beginning of year and end of year inventories at cost or market. Effective with the 1982 Economic Census, this change to a uniform instruction for reporting inventories was introduced for all sector reports. Prior to 1982, respondents were permitted to value inventories using any generally accepted accounting method (FIFO, LIFO, or market, to name a few). Beginning in 1982, LIFO users were asked to first report inventory values prior to the LIFO adjustment and then to report the LIFO reserve and the LIFO value after adjustment for the reserve.
Total inventories and three detailed components were collected:
Materials inventories refer to goods that are raw inputs to the manufacturing process that will be substantially altered to produce an establishment's output. Work-in-process inventories refer to goods that have been substantially transformed in the manufacturing process, but that are not yet the final output of the establishment. Finished goods are goods that represent the final output of the establishment, but that are still within ownership of the establishment.
When using inventory data by stage of fabrication for "all industries" and at the three-digit subsector level, it should be noted that an item treated as a finished product by an establishment in one industry may be reported as a raw material by an establishment in a different industry. For example, the finished product inventories of a steel mill would be reported as raw materials by a stamping plant. Such differences are present in the inventory figures by stage of fabrication shown for all publication levels.