Consignment stock
Consignment stock is inventory you have placed with a customer or agent but still own. It stays on your balance sheet, and revenue is only recognised when they actually sell it.
Also searched as: stock on consignment, goods on consignment
Updated July 2026
It is common in distribution and retail supply because it lowers the barrier for the customer to stock you. It also creates two problems: the stock is somewhere you cannot see, and it is easy to recognise revenue too early by mistake.
Treating a consignment delivery as a sale overstates revenue and understates inventory in the same move. It usually surfaces at audit, and restating it is unpleasant.
Tracked properly, consigned stock is simply another location you hold inventory in. The goods appear in your stock position, at a site you do not own, and convert to a sale on report of use.
