Just to make sure you entered it correctly, the value of your inventory would be the amount remaining at the end of the year. Then enter cost of purchases and other items related to the inventory.
I am going to assume you did not enter any revenue or didn't have revenue. Had you entered revenue or sales in the first part of the self-employment section, then (after the cost of purchase screen) there would have been a calculation giving you the gross profit, meaning that it is taking into account the ending inventory. However, if there is no revenue, then these purchases of inventory are not expensed. You will have to wait for sales to see them recorded as expenses.
On a side note, inventory will not appear anywhere on a personal return because there is no balance sheet.
Yes. I entered my inventory at the end of the year.
I did have a small revenue last year. I made $644 in revenue, but had over $5,000 in expenses including inventory. It is calculating my other expenses just not my inventory. I enter in my numbers under inventory and click continue and it shows on the main page as not started. So I click get started and it has all my numbers saved like I already entered it (which I did), but continues to show as not started.