INVENTORIES

Inventories primarily consist of merchandise purchased for resale. Inventories would have been $382 million and $388 million higher than reported at December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively, if the FIFO method of inventory accounting had been used for all Company inventories. Net earnings would have decreased by $3 million and $1 million, and increased by $1 million for the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively, using the FIFO method of accounting. Inventory values using the FIFO method of accounting approximate replacement cost. The Company provides reserves for excess and obsolete inventory.

The following table shows the activity in the reserves for excess and obsolete inventory (in thousands of dollars):



	For the Years Ended December 31,
	2016			2015
Balance at beginning of period	$	(168,105	)	$	(136,748	)
Provision for excess and obsolete inventory	(58,485		)	(35,165		)
Disposal of unsaleable inventory	30,161			24,046
Business acquisitions, foreign currency and other	4,915			(20,238		)
Balance at end of period	$	(191,514	)	$	(168,105	)