{"id":38298,"date":"2023-07-25T02:33:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-25T02:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businessyield.com\/?p=38298"},"modified":"2023-10-21T19:54:47","modified_gmt":"2023-10-21T19:54:47","slug":"simple-profit-and-loss-statement-what-its-about","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businessyield.com\/accounting\/simple-profit-and-loss-statement-what-its-about\/","title":{"rendered":"SIMPLE PROFIT AND LOSS STATEMENT: What It’s About?","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"
What is a simple P&L statement and is it necessary for every business? The simple profit and loss statement is an accounting record that helps businesses keep track of their revenue and expenses, and yes, you technically need one for that small business if you are self-employed. Every effort put into a business will fall through if you do not assert it often. What am I trying to point out? You need to measure what you are doing, such as the time invested, the money invested, and so on. One of the tools used to measure a business’s growth is the simple profit and loss statement. We will get on with elaborating what this is about with a sample excel template. <\/p>
A simple profit and loss statement is a financial report of a business that provides specific information about the business’s income and expenses. Every business needs a simple profit and loss statement, even if you are self-employed. So understanding how to make the simple profit and loss statement as well as how to interpret it helps you manage your company’s revenue and expenses. <\/p>
There are three basic financial records every business needs to have. These are the cash flow, balance sheet, and our focus topic, the simple profit, and loss statement. Businesses need these documents on a quarterly or yearly basis. Well, there are some who believed this statement can be prepared on monthly basis. However, there is little you can do with a P&L monthly statement unless you will be assessing a number of months. These three (Cash flow, balance sheet, and P&L statement) reveal a business’s financial stand and give investors clues on whether or not to pump money into a business. <\/p>
The simple profit and loss statement is a financial record that will be prepared using the various accounting transactions that have taken place within a firm. Generally, it begins with records of a business’s income, followed by its revenue. Next, it subtracts its revenue from the business expenses. Business expenses are all costs incurred in the course of running the business. These include the cost of manufacturing, fixed costs, and operational and non-operational expenses. Then the final part of the simple profit and loss statement reveals the business’s net income or net loss.<\/p>
The following are the other names for the simple P&L statement;<\/p>
If you are self-employed and managing your business, a simple profit and loss statement will help you create a budget with ease. What’s more? You will also get to calculate your working capital and crosscheck these with your annual revenue. With a simple profit and loss statement, a self-employed business owner will be able to summarize his revenue and operational and non-operational expenses for a specific. This can be done on a quarterly, bi, annually, or annually basis. <\/p>
Whether you are self-employed or working for another person, learning how to make a simple profit and loss statement is a basic management skill. And just in case you consider this too boring or not cut out for you, or you just simply want to avoid the errors that come with human work, you can use online accounting tools. There are several of them and we will highlight some of them. <\/p>
Generally in preparing the P&L statement, you need two key pieces of information, your income and your expenditures for the period.<\/p>
The following guides line will help you prepare a simple P&L statement.<\/p>
As we said earlier on, the P&L statement is prepared during an accounting period. This is usually monthly, quarterly, or annually. Most often, the statement of income is prepared annually and rarely at monthly intervals. Why is this so? This is basically because a monthly statement of income will likely prove useful. A monthly statement will not give you the exact information necessary to make a decision. Therefore it is much better to do this quarterly, bi-annually, or annually.<\/p>
After indicating the period you will like to account for, get the records of all debit and credit transactions. This includes all revenue and expenses. Add this to the record with the revenues at the left and the expenses at the right.<\/p>
Add the totals on both sides<\/p>
Subtract your direct costs from your revenue to arrive at your gross profit. Although you heard profit, this is not the exact profit you realize from your business. <\/p>
Using the result of your calculations, determine whether or not you are profitable. Subtract your entire expenses from your gross profit to arrive at your net profit. A positive result means you are making a profit, a negative result means you are making a loss.
There is a catch however, there is a point called break-even. This is the point where you neither make a profit nor a loss. Most businesses pass through this phase. <\/p>
If you want to make a simple profit and loss statement for your self-employed business, you can choose a template from the numerous excel template available online. We will upload some simple profit and loss statement excel templates, and you can pick a sample template and prepare your income statement. <\/p>