System of inventory control in which no continuous record of changes (receipts and issues of inventory items) is kept. At the end of an accounting period, the ending-inventory is determined by an actual (physical) count of every item and its cost is computed by using a suitable method such as FIFO, LIFO, weighted averages, etc. This amount is subtracted from the sum of purchases (or cost of goods manufactured) and the beginning-inventory of the new accounting period to arrive at the cost of goods sold. See also perpetual inventory method.