Office supplies used journal entry

Overview

In accounting, the company usually records the office supplies bought in as the asset as they are not being used yet. Only later, did the company record them as expenses when they are used. Likewise, the office supplies used journal entry is usually made at the period end adjusting entry.

At the period end adjusting entry, the company usually counts the remaining office supplies in order to determine the supplies used during the period. Likewise, the formula for calculation office supplies used is below:

Office supplies used journal entry

After the company counts the remaining office supplies at the end of the period, it can record the supplies that have been used up during the period as supplies expense.

In this case, the company can make the journal entry for the office supplies used by debiting the supplies expense account and crediting the office supplies account.

Account	Debit	Credit
Supplies expense	$$$
Office supplies		$$$

The office supplies account is an asset account, in which its normal balance is on the debit side. Likewise, the credit of office supplies in this journal entry represents the office supplies used during the period. So, in this journal entry, total assets on the balance sheet decrease while the total expenses on the income statement increase.

Office supplies used example

For example, the company ABC has office supplies of $1,000 at the beginning of the period. During the period, it bought in the $800 of office supplies. However, at the end of the period, the company ABC has only $500 remaining office supplies.

In this case, we can determine that the office supplies used up during the period with the formula as below:

Office supplies used =  Beginning office supplies + Bought-in office supplies – Ending office supplies

Office supplies used  = 1,000 + 800 – 500 = 1,300

Likewise, the company ABC can make the journal entry for $1,300 of the office supplies used during the period as below:

Account	Debit	Credit
Supplies expense	1,300
Office supplies		1,300

It is important to note that when the amount of office supplies is insignificant for some reason (e.g. due to the nature of the business requiring little office supplies), the company usually records the supplies expense directly when it buys the office supplies by debiting supplies expense and crediting cash. In this case, there is no need to determine office supplies used during the period and there is no need for the journal entry of the office supplies used either.