Reference for valuing and booking inventory in a Swedish company. Two questions decide almost every case: what the stock is worth on the balance date, and how the movement reaches the ledger.
Account numbers follow BAS 2026, which split class 4 into handelsvaror (groups 40–42) and råvaror och förnödenheter (43–48). Books still on BAS 2025 use the old 44xx/45xx numbers, so check which year the ledger follows before proposing an account.
How to use this skill
| File | When to read |
|---|---|
references/valuation.md | Arriving at the closing stock value: LVP post-för-post, what enters anskaffningsvärdet, FIFU vs weighted average, the 97 %-regel and when it is blocked, inkurans and the evidence it needs, K1/K2/K3 differences, egentillverkade varor, the half-PBB shortcut |
references/stock-bookkeeping.md | Booking it: periodisk vs löpande lagerredovisning, BAS 14xx and class 4 accounts, lagerförändring, inventering under lagen 1955:257, svinn, kassation and uttag, e-commerce stock, cut-off, reconciliation |
The four decisions
- Is there inventory at all? Goods bought for resale or production, held on the balance date. Services in progress are pågående arbeten (
swedish-project-accounting), not lager. A sole trader with a simplified year-end may skip stock at or below half a prisbasbelopp (29 600 kr for 2026); that rule does not apply to an AB. - What is it worth? Anskaffningsvärde per post, compared against nettoförsäljningsvärde, taking the lower (LVP, ÅRL 4:9). The 97 %-regel is an alternative applied to the collective value, and it goes into the books rather than only into the declaration.
- Which account? The stock account by type (1410 råvaror, 1440 produkter i arbete, 1450 färdiga varor, 1460 handelsvaror), with the change booked to its matching förändringskonto (4910, 4920, 4950, 4960).
- Is the count documented? A signed inventory list is a legal requirement, and the 97 %-regel needs anskaffningsvärde per post in that list. Without it the value can be set aside.
Never guess these
| Situation | Why | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| No inventory list | Lagen 1955:257 requires one, and the tax value can be rejected without it | Ask for the count and its date before booking a year-end value |
| Stock that "looks obsolete" | Inkurans needs evidence, and a flat percentage is not always accepted | Ask what the goods are, how old, and what they can still be sold for |
| Goods in transit at year-end | The Incoterm decides who owns them | Ask for the delivery terms |
| Goods at a fulfilment provider abroad | Ownership stays with the seller, and stock in another EU country can trigger a registration duty there | Flag it and refer the VAT question onward |
| A large unexplained lagerförändring | Often a cut-off or count error, not a real change | Reconcile against the list before booking |
Related skills
| Question | Skill |
|---|---|
| Pågående arbeten and contract revenue | swedish-project-accounting |
| Import VAT, customs and foreign suppliers | swedish-daily-bookkeeping (references/foreign-purchases.md) |
| Uttagsbeskattning and VAT mechanics | swedish-vat |
| Year-end sequence and closing entries | swedish-year-end-closing |
| INK2R and SRU field codes | swedish-sru-filing |
| Assets rather than stock (the half-PBB limit for inventarier) | swedish-asset-accounting |