accounting profit
(noun)
The total revenue minus costs, properly chargeable against goods sold.
Examples of accounting profit in the following topics:
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Difference Between Economic and Accounting Profit
- The accounting profit would be $40,000 ($100,000 in revenue - $60,000 in explicit costs).
- In general, profit is the difference between costs and revenue, but there is a difference between accounting profit and economic profit.
- The biggest difference between accounting and economic profit is that economic profit reflects explicit and implicit costs, while accounting profit considers only explicit costs.
- Accounting profit is also limited in its time scope; generally, accounting profit only considers the costs and revenue of a single period of time, such as a fiscal quarter or year.
- Economic profit also accounts for a longer span of time than accounting profit.
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Sources and Determinants of Profit
- Consequently, the firm earns $25,000 in economic profit.
- In contrast, accounting profit is the difference between total revenue and explicit costs- it does not take opportunity costs into consideration, and is generally higher than economic profit.
- Economic profits may be positive, zero, or negative.
- An economic profit of zero is also known as a normal profit.
- Despite earning an economic profit of zero, the firm may still be earning a positive accounting profit.
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Expense Recognition
- Expense recognition is an essential element in accounting because it helps define how profitable a business is in an accounting period.
- In terms of the accounting equation, expenses reduce owners' equity.
- The expenditure offsets the income the business earned and is used to calculate the business's profit.
- By shifting the timing of when expenses are recognized, a company can artificially make its business appear more profitable.
- Generally, cash basis accounting is reserved for tax accounting, not for financial reports.
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Cost of Goods Sold and Gross Profit
- Gross profit or sales profit is the difference between revenue and the cost of making a product or providing a service.
- In accounting, gross profit or sales profit is the difference between revenue and the cost of making a product or providing a service before deducting overhead, payroll, taxation, and interest payments.
- Note that this is different from operating profit (earnings before interest and taxes).
- Net income (or Net profit) = Operating profit – taxes – interest
- Explain the difference between cost of goods sold and gross profit
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Net Income
- Net income in accounting is an entity's income minus expenses for an accounting period.
- Net income in accounting is an entity's income minus expenses for an accounting period.
- Net income is a distinct accounting concept from profit.
- Profit is a term that means different things to different people, and different line items in a financial statement may carry the term "profit," such as gross profit and profit before tax.
- In contrast, net income is a precisely defined term in accounting.
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Fundamental Concepts in Accounting
- In order to prepare the financial statements, it is important to adhere to certain fundamental accounting concepts.
- The objectives of financial reporting, as discussed in the Financial Accounting standards Board (FASB) Statement of Financial Accounting Concepts No. 1, are to provide information that
- Prudence, if there are two acceptable accounting procedures choose the one gives the less optimistic view of profitability and asset values.
- Money Measurement, accounts only deal with items to which monetary values can be attributed.
- This is a diagram of details for principles, concepts, and constraints within the field of Financial Accounting.
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Tax Accounting
- Tax accounting couples legal obligations with financial accounting to ensure adherence to current tax laws.
- As a result, the primary role of a tax accountant is to understand the business' current operating status, distill profitability before tax, and report earnings.
- Some exceptions exist, of course, such as non-profit organizations.
- Non-profits have unique tax preparation requirements due to their no-tax status.
- This image demonstrates the various responsibilities and perspectives of different forms of accounting (those being tax accounting, managerial accounting and financial accounting).
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Importance of Cash Flow Accounting
- It is usually measured during a specified, finite period of time, or accounting period.
- Being profitable does not necessarily mean being liquid.
- A company can fail because of a shortage of cash even when it is profitable.
- Cash flow is often used as an alternative measure of a company's profitability when it is believed that accrual accounting concepts do not represent economic realities.
- For example, a company may be profitable but generate little operational cash (as may be the case for a company that barters its products rather than selling for cash or when its accounts receivable turnover is long).
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Gross Profit Method
- The gross profit method uses the previous year's average gross profit margin to calculate the value of the inventory.
- A company will chose an inventory accounting system, either perpetual or periodic.
- In perpetual inventory the accounting records must show the amount of inventory on hand at all times.
- Determine the gross profit ratio.
- Gross profit ratio equals gross profit divided by sales.
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Profitability Ratios
- Profitability ratios show how much profit the company takes in for every dollar of sales or revenues.
- Profit Margin: The profit margin is one of the most used profitability ratios.
- The profit margin refers to the amount of profit that a company earns through sales.
- The higher the profit margin, the more profit a company earns on each sale.
- Gross Profit Ratio: This indicates what portion of each sales dollar is available to meet expenses and generate profit after taking into account the cost of goods sold.