Profit and loss refers to one of the financial statements otherwise known as the income statement. Profit and loss is the net result of operations with your small business.
In the simple lever and fulcrum machine the force is magnified onto a load. The machine creates a mechanical advantage, a form of force amplification. In business the principle is exactly the same. Except here we are not moving a physical object but the objective is to amplify the profitability or financial gain by using some form of a lever and applying this lever to a fulcrum and generating financial advantage.
Accounting refers to the business function of recording economic activity. Accounting includes the processing of information and a reporting role. The accounting term encompasses a broad range of functions for every business. It starts out with a system of gathering economic information, categorizing the material, inputting the data into an accounting program, and generating outputs for decision making.
The goal of accounting is to record the economic activity of the business. This is achieved by entering each economic transaction into a set of books. The books are formatted to reflect the balance sheet and income statement items. The chart of accounts is designed to present the information in the prescribed format.
A fair profit for a small business is between 9% and 37%.
Each industry is different in determining costs of goods sold or cost of services rendered. Retail uses two distinct methods to calculate costs of goods sold. The first is called ‘Specific Identification’ whereby each item sold is specifically identified to its recorded cost. The second method is referred to as ‘Inventory Adjustment’ format. In this method, a beginning and ending balance is recorded along with the purchases throughout the year.
The completed contract method of accounting recognizes revenue and the associated costs once the project is complete. This is one of the two popular accounting methods used in the construction industry. For residential contractors, the completed contract method may have a slight tax advantage by deferring revenue recognition but is generally not considered the best method of accounting in the construction industry.
Non-physical assets are expensed to the income statement or profit and loss statement via a method called amortization. It is most commonly used in the mortgage industry to refer to the monthly payment made to pay interest and the principal (the amortizable portion) on a debt instrument.
Simply stated, accounting is the measurement of economic activity. Its primary principle is to report information to the user so that (s)he can make informed decisions. The primary reporting format is in the form of dollars. There are two important reports used by pretty much 99% of all business operations to determine the status of the business operation. These are the income statement and the balance sheet.
