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Card class: Card
On-hand inventory at landed cost, the working-capital line on the balance sheet.

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At a glance

Total on-hand inventory valued at NetSuite’s costing method (Avg, FIFO, LIFO, Standard, or Lot Numbered). The working-capital line on the Balance Sheet.
What it countsSUM(Item.QuantityOnHand × Item.AverageCost) for inventory items at every Location, all subsidiaries the role can read.
Costing methodNetSuite supports Average, FIFO, LIFO, Standard, Lot Numbered, Serial. Card uses whatever the Item record’s costing method dictates.
Tax treatmentn/a (inventory is at cost, no tax).
ShippingInbound landed cost included if the Item record’s costing includes Landed Cost allocation.
In-transitConfigurable. Inventory in transit (received from supplier, not yet received at warehouse) appears in Transit Locations only if NetSuite’s transfer-order workflow is in use.
Drop-shipExcluded (drop-ship inventory is owned by supplier).
CurrencyOneWorld: each subsidiary’s inventory is valued in its base currency, summed in reporting currency at current FX.
Subsidiary scopeRespects dashboard filter.
Time windowRT
Alert triggerNone at headline; the Dead Stock and Aging cards carry alerts
Rolesowner, finance, operations

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Calculation

Calculated automatically from your NetSuite data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading.

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Worked example

A US wholesale apparel distributor on NetSuite. Snapshot 14 Apr 26.
LocationItems countTotal value (USD)
US East Warehouse8,420$14,260,000
US West Warehouse6,180$9,810,000
Canada DC2,840$3,140,000
In-transit980$1,420,000
Total Inventory Value18,420$28,630,000
Five things to notice:
  1. **28.6Mininventory∗∗istheworking−capitalsnapshot.Asapercentageofannualrevenue(assume28.6M in inventory** is the working-capital snapshot. As a percentage of annual revenue (assume 80M COGS), that’s ~4.3 months of stock. Industry average for wholesale apparel is 3-4 months; slightly above.
  2. In-transit $1.42M is goods received from overseas suppliers, in containers en-route to warehouses. This sits on the Balance Sheet but isn’t sellable yet.
  3. East vs West split (60/40) matches the company’s geographic sales mix. Imbalance signals fulfilment lag.
  4. Canada DC is small ($3.14M) but operates as a fulfilment node for Canadian customers. Often understocked; check Low Stock Alerts per location.
  5. Pair with Inventory Turnover. 28.6Mofinventoryturning4timesperyear=28.6M of inventory turning 4 times per year = 114M COGS implied. If actual COGS is $80M, turnover is 2.8x and inventory is bloated.

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Sibling cards merchants should reference together

CardWhy pair it with Total Inventory Value
Inventory AgingAge buckets. Old stock is bad stock.
Dead Stock ValueThe hard-cut bad stock.
Inventory Carrying CostThe real expense of holding stock.
Inventory TurnoverHealth metric.
Top SKUs ValueConcentration.
Low Stock AlertsForward fulfilment risk.
Landed Cost AvgCost trend.

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Reconciling against the vendor’s own dashboard

Where to look in NetSuite:
Reports → Inventory → Inventory Valuation Summary Reports → Financial → Balance Sheet (Inventory line) Lists → Accounting → Items with “Quantity Available” + “Average Cost” columns
The Inventory Valuation Summary is the gold standard. The Balance Sheet line should match this card to within rounding. Why our number may legitimately differ:
ReasonDirectionWhy
In-transit inclusionEitherSome accounts exclude in-transit from the Inventory Valuation report. Card includes by default.
WIP / partial-buildEitherIf you use NetSuite Manufacturing, WIP value can be excluded from valuation reports but included in BS.
FX cadenceSmallCurrent spot vs report-saved rate.
Subsidiary scopeEitherCard defaults to all subs.
Costing method update lagSmallAverage cost recalculations happen on transaction; card respects current value.
Cross-connector reconciliation:
CardRelationshipWhy
shopify.inventory_valueDifferent definitionShopify’s inventory value is at “cost” set on each Variant; not always landed cost. Use NetSuite as truth.
bigcommerce.inventory_valueSame caveatBC inventory cost field is per-variant; landed cost rarely reflected.

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Known limitations / merchant FAQs

What’s a healthy inventory ratio? Wholesale apparel: 3-4 months of COGS. Electronics: 2-3 months. Food/beverage: <1 month. Compare to industry benchmarks; the absolute number isn’t the metric, the ratio to COGS is. Average vs FIFO vs Standard, which is “right”? Whatever your accounting policy says. NetSuite supports all. The card uses whatever your Item records dictate. Average is most common for mid-market commerce; FIFO for lot-tracked goods; Standard for manufactured items. In-transit, included or excluded? Default included. The Item record’s location-level breakdown shows the split. Exclude via field map if your treasury policy treats in-transit as supplier liability. Multi-currency inventory, how is it valued? Each subsidiary holds inventory in its base currency. Consolidated total in reporting currency at current FX. Inventory FX revaluation runs at month-end. WIP (Work-in-Progress) for manufacturing? Included if NetSuite Manufacturing is enabled. WIP carries the partially-built items at cost. OneWorld vs single-subsidiary? Identical. OneWorld just consolidates across subsidiaries. Why is Total Inventory rising while sales are flat? Three usual reasons: (1) over-ordering from suppliers; (2) demand drop on previously-fast SKUs; (3) longer lead times causing safety stock to balloon. Drill into Inventory Aging and Dead Stock. Stock revaluation impact? NetSuite’s standard cost recalculation can adjust inventory value. The card respects current state; a revaluation run will move the headline. Lot / serial-numbered items? Valued at lot-specific cost. Card shows cumulative.

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Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre

Total Inventory Value is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across NetSuite and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English. Start for free or book a demo to see this metric running on your own data.