The following information relates to the supplies account of ABC Company:

January 1, 2005 December 31, 2005

Supplies ? 38,000

ABC Company reported supplies expense of $23,000 in its 2005 income statement and purchased $17,000
Of supplies during 2005.

Calculate ABC Company's supplies balance at January 1, 2005. Do not use decimals in your answer.

Since you know your ending amount you need to work backward to get your beginning amount.

Since you had a purchase to get your ending amount you need to back out the purchase amount, then add back in your expense amount and you will have your beginning amount. So:
Ending amount - purchases + expenses = beginning balance.