What is a condensed income statement?

A condensed income statement is one that summarizes much of the income statement detail into a few captions and amounts.

For example, a retailer’s condensed income statement will summarize hundreds of categories of sales into one amount with the description Net Sales. Its detailed purchases and changes in inventory will be presented as one amount with the description Cost of Goods Sold. Perhaps thousands of operating expenses will be presented as one amount with the description Selling, General and Administrative, or SG&A.

The readers of a condensed income statement will be able to easily and quickly focus on the company’s net income and its key components.

Learn more about the Income Statement.

About the Author: Harold Averkamp (CPA) has worked as an accountant, consultant, and university accounting instructor for more than 25 years.

He is the author of the 2010 Master Accounting Download Package which has been praised for it's ability to simplify accounting in a way that anybody can understand.

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What is a comparative income statement?

A comparative income statement will consist of two or three columns of amounts appearing to the right of the account titles or descriptions. For example, the income statement for the year 2010 will report to the right of the word Revenues the amounts for each of the years 2010, 2009, and 2008. As a courtesy to the reader, the amounts from the most recent period are in the column closest to the titles. The older amounts are deemed to be less significant and thus appear furthest from the titles.

A comparative income statement gives the reader a frame of reference for comparing the current year amounts.

Learn more about the Income Statement.

About the Author: Harold Averkamp (CPA) has worked as an accountant, consultant, and university accounting instructor for more than 25 years.

He is the author of the 2010 Master Accounting Download Package which has been praised for it's ability to simplify accounting in a way that anybody can understand.

View the original article here

Parts of an Income Statement, part 1

The first and most important part of an income statement is the line reporting sales revenue. Businesses need to be consistent from year to year regarding when they record sales. For some business, the timing of recording sales revenue is a major problem, especially when the final acceptance by the customer depends on performance tests or other conditions that have to be satisfied. For example, when does an ad agency report the sales revenue for a campaign it's prepared for its client? When the work is completed and sent to the client for approval? When the client approves it? When the ads appear in the media? Or when the billing is complete? These are issues a company must decide on for reporting sales revenue, and they must be consistent each year, and the timing of reporting should be noted on the financial statement.

The next line in an income statement is the cost of goods sold expense. There are three methods of reporting cost of goods sold expense. One is called "first in-first out" (FIFO); another is the "last in-last out" (LIFO) method and the last is the average cost method. Cost of goods sold expense is a huge item in an income statement and how it's reported can make a substantial impact on the reported bottom line.

Other items in an income statement include inventory write-downs. A business should regularly inspect its inventory carefully to determine any losses due to theft, damage and deterioration, and to apply the lower of cost or market (LCM) method. Bad debts are also an important component of the income statement. Bad debts are those owed to a business by customers who bought on credit (accounts receivable) but are not going to be paid. Again the timing of when bad debts are reported is crucial. Do you report it before or after any collection efforts are exhausted?