Do product costs appear on both the income statement and the balance sheet at the same time?

Product costs do not appear on both the income statement and the balance sheet simultaneously. Product costs, which include direct materials, direct labor, and manufacturing overhead, are considered assets when they are part of inventory on the balance sheet. These costs are capitalized as inventory until the products are sold. Once the products are sold, these costs are then recognized as expenses on the income statement, specifically as cost of goods sold.

This process highlights the matching principle in accounting, where costs are matched with the revenues they help generate in the correct accounting period. Therefore, at any given time, product costs reside in inventory on the balance sheet until they are incurred as expenses on the income statement upon sale. This clarifies the reasoning behind the correct answer being that product costs do not appear on both statements at the same time.