MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL OF INVENTORY IN GOVERNMENT HEALTH INSTITUTION. A RESEARCH PROJECT MATERIAL ON PHARMACY
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Inventories occupy the most strategic position in structure of working capital of most business enterprises. It constitutes the largest component of current asset in most business enterprises. In the sphere of working capital, the efficient control and management of inventory has paired the most serious problem to the health institutions. The turnover of working capital is largely governed by the turnover of inventory, that is the rate of working capital is largely governed by the amount of inventory which is largely provided by the government. It is therefore quite natural that inventory which helps to maximize profit occupies the most significant place among current and profit assets. The American usage of the word ‘inventory’ is synonymous with the British use of the word ‘stock’, this synonym is evident in the definitions of inventory and stock by the Oxford Dictionary. The Oxford English Dictionary defined inventory as follows: 1. A list, catalogue, detailed account 2. A lot or stock of goods, etc which are or may be made the subject of an inventory. 3. The aggregate of goods and some specified kind of goods which a trader has on hand as provision for the possible future requirement of customers. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) defined inventory thus, the term inventory in used to designate the aggregate of those terms tangible personal property which are held for sale in the ordinary course of business, in the process of production for such sale or currently consumed in the production of goods and services to be available for sale. According to the Nigerian Accounting Standard Boards (NASB) stock includes those finished goods and livestock waiting sale, work-in-program, raw materials and supplies to be consumed in the production of goods and rendering of services. Many understand the word inventory as a stock of goods, but the generally accepted meaning of the word ‘goods’ in the accounting language is the stock of finished goods only. In a manufacturing organization, however, in addition to the stock of finished goods, there will be stock of partly finished goods; there will be stock of partly finished goods, raw materials and stores. The collective name of these entire items is ‘inventory’. Inventory management is aimed at maintaining a minimum investment in operations to maximize profitable operations. To maintain a large stock of investment to ensure a smooth and efficient operation of the firm. The effect of inventory management on government health institutions like UNTH Enugu cannot be over emphasized; this is because asset of many institutions represents considerable percentage of the total invested capital. The control, accounting and management of an efficient inventory management system is of a special interest to both management, suppliers and other users of accounting information.
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