Inventory
Inventory value at cost
What the stock on your shelf cost you, not what you hope to sell it for.
Formula
Σ units on hand × effective unit cost
Inventory value at cost is units on hand multiplied by the unit cost effective today: the money currently tied up in stock. It is the number a bank or an investor means when they ask about inventory, and valuing it at retail price answers a question nobody asked.
Valuing it at retail price flatters the number and answers a question nobody asked. Cost is what you paid and what is at risk; retail is a hope with a discount rate attached.
Stock with no unit cost should be shown as unknown rather than as zero, otherwise the total quietly shrinks in a way that looks like good news. The product cost list is where those gaps get closed, one variant at a time, with the date each cost started applying.
Read it beside stock coverage: a healthy total can hide one expensive line asleep on the shelf, and the pair of numbers together is what tells you where the working capital actually went.
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