The decrease in SG&A dollars was primarily driven by the wind-down of the Rebecca Taylor business, resulting in a $6.6 million net expense favorability in the second quarter of fiscal 2023. In addition, we also had lower consulting and other third-party costs as well as lower expenses related to comp and benefits and product development. These lower costs were partially offset by $2 million in transaction expenses related to the Authentic transaction. Operating income for the second quarter was $32.9 million compared to an operating loss of $5.2 million in the same period last year. Adjusted operating income which excludes the gain on sale of the Vince IP as well as the transaction expenses was $2.8 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2023.
Net interest expense increased to $4.1 million compared to $1.9 million in the prior year. The increase was entirely driven by expenses related to the refinancing transactions in the quarter including the terminations of the term loan credit facility and the prior revolving credit facility. Going forward, we expect net interest expense to be lower given the reduction in debt. Income tax expense — I’m sorry, income tax benefit for the second quarter was $0.6 million as a result of applying our estimated effective tax rate for the fiscal year to the three-month loss before income taxes and equity in net income of equity method investment, excluding discrete items. Discrete items for the second quarter included the $32 million Vince IP sale gain and $2 million in transaction expenses.
There was no tax expense associated with these discrete items as the company has substantial net operating losses, both at the federal and state levels, which are currently held in reserve with a valuation allowance. The tax benefit in the second quarter of fiscal 2023 compares to an income tax expense of $7.9 million in the same period last year. For the full year, we expect to report an income tax benefit of approximately $5.9 million. Net income for the second quarter was $29.5 million or $2.36 per diluted share compared to a net loss of $15 million or a $1.23 loss per share in the second quarter last year. Adjusted net loss for the second quarter of fiscal 2023, excluding the impact from the Vince IP sale gain as well as the transaction expenses was $0.5 million or $0.04 per share.
Moving to the balance sheet. Net inventory was $85.1 million at the end of the second quarter as compared to $129.5 million at the end of the second quarter last year. The year-over-year decrease in inventory was driven by the wind-down of the Rebecca Taylor business as well as the normalization of inventory within Vince as we sold through higher levels of inventory from the prior year and rebalanced our inventory purchases for the current season. We continue to expect inventory levels to remain below the prior year as we move into the second half of fiscal 2023 reflecting the comparisons to last year as well as the actions we have taken to move through units and our more conservative buys for current season inventory. As was discussed on the last earnings call, in May, we successfully closed our transaction with Authentic.
With the proceeds from this transaction, we strengthened our overall liquidity position and increased our working capital. We repaid in full $27.7 million that was outstanding under the term loan credit facility and repaid a portion of the outstanding borrowings under our revolving credit facility. Following these actions, in June, we successfully refinanced our ABL facility and entered into a new five-year agreement with Bank of America. The new ABL facility replaced our prior credit facility and provides expanded capacity of $85 million expected to mature in June 2028. Turning to our expectations for the balance of the fiscal year 2023. While we are not providing formal earnings guidance at this time, given the momentum we are seeing in the business, macro headwinds notwithstanding, we expect to deliver sequential improvement in our top-line performance in the third quarter compared to the second quarter.
