
The statement usually compares periods of time either month on month (MoM), or year on year (YoY). This net income calculation can be transferred to Paul’s statement of owner’s equity for preparation. For service businesses, COGS might not be payroll such a large factor, so that is why the SingleStep worksheet doesn’t have a separate COGS section. The previous section provided a comprehensive guide to constructing your Multi-Step Income Statement, offering a practical blueprint for its creation. With your Income Before Tax now clearly defined, the next crucial step is to account for the final, yet significant, deduction. To illustrate this, let’s consider “The Cozy Cafe,” a small business that sells coffee and pastries.
Select Your Reporting Period
The customer may be given a 30-day payment window due to their excellent credit and reputation, allowing until October 28 to make the payment, which is when the receipts are accounted for. Interest expenses are the costs that a company bears for receiving financing. Typically firms receive bank loans and pay interest expenses for the amounts they owe.
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The multi-step income statement provides a structured approach to calculating net income, starting with sales revenue and subtracting the cost of goods sold (COGS) to determine gross profit. Operating expenses, such as payroll Travel Agency Accounting and rent, are then deducted to find income from operations. The operating section contains information about revenues and expenses of the principle business activities.

The Income Statement: A Core Financial Report
- The multi-step income statement lists down all these items in different sections or categories, which makes it convenient for the users to gain an understanding of core business operations in a better way.
- Receipts are the cash received and are accounted for when the money is received.
- It’s not just about figuring out the profit from the income and expenses, but it’s crucial to break down the cost of goods sold and other non-operating expenses in detail.
- Cost of goods sold expenses are reported in the gross profit reporting section while the operating expenses are reported in the operations section.
With insights from all three of these financial reports, you can make informed decisions about how best to grow your business. A multi-step statement splits the business activities into operating and non-operating categories. The operating section includes sales, cost of goods sold, and all selling and admin expenses. The non-operating section includes other income or expenses like interest or insurance proceeds. Income before taxes is calculated by adding the operating income and the net non-operating income/expenses.

The income statement is one of the core financial statements used in business and finance to assess the profitability of a company over a specific period. Typically, multi-step income statements are used by larger businesses with more complex finances. However, multi-step income statements can benefit small businesses that have a variety of revenue streams. There are several ways multi-step income statements can benefit your small business. The income statement serves as a tool to understand the profitability of your business.
- Analysts love it because gross margins (gross profit/revenue) reveal production efficiency, while operating margins spotlight cost control.
- Often referred to as “the bottom line,” Net Income represents the total profit a business has earned after all revenues, expenses (both operating and non-operating), and taxes have been accounted for.
- It measures how efficiently a company uses its materials and labor to produce and sell products.
- He has worked as an accountant and consultant for more than 25 years and has built financial models for all types of industries.

Lenders multi step income statement use it to know if a borrower can consistently make money to pay back debts. Sections like gross profit, operating income, and net income show the company’s financial health. It shows the profitability derived specifically from a company’s core operations. XYZ Retailers is a hypothetical business that operates in the fashion retail industry. For the fiscal year, they generated $800,000 in total revenue from clothing sales.
What Are Income Statement Examples?
This could be considered a form of financial statement fraud, and can only be perpetrated when the multi-step format is used, since readers are focusing on the content of the presented subtotals. This accounting multi-step income statement example from a tech giant shows massive scale, but the same principles. Analysts love it because gross margins (gross profit/revenue) reveal production efficiency, while operating margins spotlight cost control. A multi-step (or single-step) income statement is one of three core financial statements.
What is a multiple-step income statement?
A balance report details your end balance for each account that will be listed on the income statement and provides all of the end balances required to create your income statement. You can also look at QuickBooks Online subscription levels and see a comparison of QuickBooks vs. Xero accounting software. Creditors, on the other hand, aren’t as concerned about profitability as investors are. Creditors are more concerned with a company’s cash flow and if they are generating enough income to pay back their loans. Net profit margin indicates the percentage of revenue that remains as profit after all expenses, including taxes, have been deducted. To illustrate a typical real life example of a multi step income statement is shown below.
