Opening Stock

Opening stock is the inventory balance at the start of an accounting period.

In normal accounting flow, it is the prior period’s ending inventory brought forward into the new period.

Why It Matters

Opening stock is part of the basic cost-of-sales structure because it helps determine how much inventory was available for sale or use during the period.

It therefore sits alongside:

• purchases or production costs
• closing stock
• cost of goods sold

Opening stock is the starting inventory position against which the new period’s inventory movements are measured.