To calculate the financial value of inventory held, two primary data points are essential: the quantity of the items and the cost per item. The fundamental formula for inventory valuation is:

Inventory Value = Quantity of Items Held × Unit Cost (Purchase Price)

The 'Number of items held in storage' provides the quantity, and the 'Purchase price' provides the unit cost. Multiplying these two figures gives the total value of the stock on hand. This calculation is the cornerstone of inventory accounting and is essential for financial statements like the balance sheet.

A. Number of items sold: This figure relates to the Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) and revenue, not the value of inventory currently held.

D. Expiry date: While important for managing obsolescence and potential write-downs, the expiry date is a qualitative factor, not a primary input for the initial value calculation.

1. Garrison, R. H., Noreen, E. W., & Brewer, P. C. (2021). Managerial Accounting (17th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education. In Chapter 2, "Managerial Accounting and Cost Concepts," the text defines inventory costs for manufacturing companies as being based on the cost to acquire or produce the units, which are then multiplied by the quantity on hand to determine the value on the balance sheet (pp. 38-40).

2. Heizer, J., Render, B., & Munson, C. (2020). Operations Management: Sustainability and Supply Chain Management (13th ed.). Pearson. Chapter 12, "Inventory Management," explains that holding costs, a key component of inventory analysis, are calculated based on the value of the inventory. This value is explicitly derived from the number of units and the cost per unit (p. 461).

3. Bozarth, C. C., & Handfield, R. B. (2016). Introduction to Operations and Supply Chain Management (4th ed.). Pearson. Chapter 10, "Managing Inventory," discusses inventory valuation, stating, "The firm must assign a value to the inventory. This is typically done on a cost basis," which requires knowing the quantity of units and their original purchase cost (pp. 320-321).