Notes to the Financial Statements

Note 7. Inventories and Related Property, Net

Inventories and Related Property as of September 30, 2011, and 2010

	Defense	All Others	Total	Defense	All Others	Total
(In billions of dollars)	2011			2010
Inventory purchased for resale	65.1	0.6	65.7	81.2	0.7	81.9
Inventory and operating material and supplies held for repair	48.3	0.6	48.9	46.5	0.6	47.1
Inventory—excess, obsolete, and unserviceable	7.8	-	7.8	8.4	0.1	8.5
Operating materials and supplies held for use	131.4	2.7	134.1	131.6	2.3	133.9
Operating materials and supplies held in reserve for future use	-	0.2	0.2	-	0.4	0.4
Operating materials and supplies — excess, obsolete, and unserviceable	2.2	0.1	2.3	2.6	0.1	2.7
Stockpile materials	-	48.6	48.6	-	49.0	49.0
Stockpile materials held for sale	0.5	0.2	0.7	0.6	0.2	0.8
Other related property	1.7	0.9	2.6	1.0	0.9	1.9
Allowance for loss	(14.5)	(0.3)	(14.8)	(39.7)	(0.3)	(40.0)
Total inventories and related property, net	242.5	53.6	296.1	232.2	54.0	286.2

Inventory purchased for resale is the cost or value of tangible personal property purchased by an agency for resale. As of September 30, 2011, DOD values approximately 87 percent of its resale inventory using the moving average cost (MAC) method. An additional 9 percent (fuel inventory) is reported using the first-in-first-out method. DOD reports the remaining 4 percent of resale inventories at an approximation of historical cost using LAC adjusted for holding gains and losses. The LAC method is used because DOD's legacy inventory systems do not maintain historical cost data.

Please refer to the individual financial statements of DOD for significant detailed information regarding its inventories.

Inventory and operating materials and supplies held for repair are damaged inventory that require repair to make them suitable for sale (inventory) or is more economical to repair than to dispose of (operating materials and supplies).

Inventory—excess, obsolete, and unserviceable consists of:

• Excess inventory that exceeds the demand expected in the normal course of operations and which does not meet management's criteria to be held in reserve for future sale.
• Obsolete inventory that is no longer needed due to changes in technology, laws, customs, or operations.
• Unserviceable inventory that is damaged beyond economic repair.

Excess, obsolete, and unserviceable inventory is reported at net realizable value.

Operating materials and supplies held for use are tangible personal property to be consumed in normal operations.

Operating materials and supplies held in reserve for future use are materials retained because they are not readily available in the market or because they will not be used in the normal course of operations, but there is more than a remote chance they will eventually be needed. DOD, which accounts for most of the reported operating materials and supplies held for use, uses LAC, MAC, and Standard Price and expenses a significant amount when purchased instead of when consumed.

Operating materials and supplies—excess, obsolete, and unserviceable consists of:

• Excess operating materials and supplies are materials that exceed the demand expected in the normal course of operations, and do not meet management's criteria to be held in reserve for future use.
• Obsolete operating materials and supplies are materials no longer needed due to changes in technology, laws, customs, or operations.
• Unserviceable operating materials and supplies are materials damaged beyond economic repair.

DOD, which accounts for most of the reported excess, obsolete, and unserviceable operating materials and supplies, revalues it to a net realizable value of zero through the allowance account.

Please refer to the individual financial statements of DOD for significant detailed information regarding operating materials and supplies.

Stockpile materials include strategic and critical materials held in reserve for use in national defense, conservation, or national emergencies due to statutory requirements; for example, nuclear materials and oil, and stockpile materials that are authorized to be sold. The majority of the amount reported by DOD is stockpile materials held for sale, and the amount reported by others is stockpile materials held in reserve, with the majority of it being reported by the Department of Energy (DOE). Please refer to their individual financial statements for more information on stockpile materials.

Other related property consists of the following:

• Commodities include items of commerce or trade that have an exchange value used to stabilize or support market prices. Please refer to the financial statements of the USDA for detailed information regarding commodities.
• Seized monetary instruments are comprised only of monetary instruments that are awaiting judgment to determine ownership. The related liability is included in other liabilities. Other property seized by the Government, such as real property and tangible personal property, is not considered a Government asset. It is accounted for in agency property-management records until the property is forfeited, returned, or otherwise liquidated. Please refer to the individual financial statements of the Department of Justice (DOJ), Treasury, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for significant detailed information regarding seized property.
• Forfeited property is comprised of monetary instruments, intangible property, real property, and tangible personal property acquired through forfeiture proceedings; property acquired by the Government to satisfy a tax liability; and unclaimed and abandoned merchandise. Please refer to the individual financial statements of DOJ, Treasury, and DHS for significant detailed information regarding forfeited property.
• Foreclosed property is comprised of assets received in satisfaction of a loan receivable or as a result of payment of a claim under a guaranteed or insured loan (excluding commodities acquired under price support programs). All properties included in foreclosed property are assumed to be held for sale. Please refer to the individual financial statements of USDA and HUD for significant detailed information regarding foreclosed property.