NOTE 8. INVENTORIES

Approximately 60% and 62% of our total inventory in 2024 and 2023, respectively, were valued on a Last-in, first-out (“LIFO”) basis.

The distinction between the use of different methods of inventory valuation is primarily based on type of inventory, legal entities and/or geographical locations. The following table summarizes the amount of inventory that is not accounted for under the LIFO method.

Our U.S. locations generally use the weighted average cost method of inventory valuation and primarily represent certain finished goods sourced from third party suppliers and certain entities within our Architectural Specialties segment, most notably recent acquisitions, that also use the weighted average cost method given the nature of the inventory.

Our Canadian locations use the FIFO method of inventory valuation, or other methods which closely approximate the FIFO method, primarily because the LIFO method is not permitted for local tax reporting purposes. In these situations, a conversion to LIFO would be highly complex and involve excessive cost and effort to achieve under local tax reporting requirements.