Specific identification

Specific identification follows an actual unit and its documented cost. It can fit a separately tracked vehicle, artwork, custom machine, or project item. A serial number helps only when records connect that identifier to a supported cost, the sale or other removal, and the unit that remains. A label attached after the outcome is known does not establish the method.

Build the schedule from stable evidence: identifier, source document, acquisition or production date, qualifying cost, location or status, removal event, and ending disposition. Reconcile every available identifier to one place. A unit cannot be both sold and on hand, and an unexplained unit cannot disappear from the schedule. If the trace fails, stop and investigate rather than preserve false precision.

The official IAS 2 overview distinguishes specific identification for inventory that is not ordinarily interchangeable from FIFO or weighted average for ordinarily interchangeable items. It also warns against selecting interchangeable items to obtain a chosen profit result. For US GAAP, ASC 330-10-30-9 states that inventory cost may use several cost-flow assumptions. That paragraph does not turn an unsupported identifier into an actual unit trace.

Use the Cedar serial-unit and FIFO example to see the evidence distinction. Then complete the Northstar practice with a different unit stream. The inventory-layer article explains the schedule controls that both methods need.