Variable costing and absorption costing are the two methods used for cost accounting, and both are used in different scenarios. Inventories are a significant factor in cost accounting, and variable costing has a different method of handling inventories than absorption costing. In variable costing, only variable costs are inventoried, whereas in absorption costing, all costs, whether variable or fixed, are inventoried. Therefore, fixed manufacturing overhead is the item that is not inventoried under variable costing. The answer is D.Fixed manufacturing overhead is the only item that is not inventoried under variable costing. Direct materials, direct labor, and variable manufacturing overhead are all included in variable costing inventory. The rationale behind this is that variable costs are considered to be costs that fluctuate in direct proportion to changes in production levels. Therefore, it makes sense to allocate these costs to inventory since they can be traced to specific units of production. Fixed manufacturing overhead, on the other hand, is considered to be a period cost that cannot be directly traced to a unit of production. Therefore, it is not included in variable costing inventory.