How to Understand a Profit
and Loss Statement
JOURNEY
1 of 5
YOUR BUSINESS FINANCIAL STRATEGY
What is a Profit and Loss Statement?
Here are some key terms for you to review as you explore Profit and Loss Statements.
Profit and Loss Statement (P&L): also known as an Income Statement; measures net income or
loss over a defined period of time.
Depreciation: a calculation to show how your tangible assets lose value over time. While there
are several ways to account for depreciation, the most basic is for an asset’s salvage value
subtracted from its cost to determine the amount to be depreciated.
Balance Sheet: a statement that shows your company’s assets, liabilities and owners’ equity to
indicate financial health at a specific point in time. The goal of a Balance Sheet is to make sure
that your company’s assets are equal to the combination of your liabilities and owners’ equity,
i.e., Assets = Liabilities + Equity (Net Worth). As such, it shows your collection of total assets
plus how they were paid for.
Gross Profit: calculated by taking your income less cost of goods sold, providing a measure of
profit before deducting your other expenses.
Cost of Goods Sold (COGS): captures the direct cost of producing or purchasing your product or
service. COGS is the general term, while some industries, such as retail, use the term cost of sales.
Revenue: the total amount of money received from the sales of your products and/or services.
Net Income: how much money your company is making or losing aer all expenses (rent, outside
services, utilities, etc.) and taxes are deducted, i.e., Your Net Income = Revenue – Expenses.
DOWNLOAD and SAVE to your device to save your work.
2 of 5
In this example, Jayne’s Locksmith Company (JLC), we’ll review:
• Revenue from a yearly view to first get the total revenue and then the gross profit
• Expenses from a yearly view to get net profit before taxes and net income
How to Use a Profit and Loss Statement
Revenue (Sales)
Your revenue is calculated from your itemized list of sales from products and services.
Y1 Sales
• JLC completed 800 installations, and each installation cost $250.
• JLC’s customers purchased their own locks; therefore, they did not need to factor in COGS.
• Their gross profit from sales is $200,000.
Expenses and Net Income
To arrive at your net income, follow these steps:
1. Total your itemized list of expenses for all operational costs.
2. Take your gross profit and subtract your subtotal of expenses, which will give you net
pre-tax profit.
Y1 Expenses
• JLC had a gross profit of $200,000, and their pre-tax expenses were $152,640.
• Before taxes: JLC’s net profit before taxes is $47,360.
• Aer taxes: They will pay $11,838 in federal and state taxes, which means their net income aer
taxes is $35,520.
How Your Financial Statements Work Together
• Transfer your net income from your P&L to your asset list in your Balance Sheet.
• Transfer your expenses categories from your P&L to your Cash Flow Statement.
3 of 5
Revenue (Sales) Y1 Y1 Notes
Installation $200,000
Total Revenue (Sales)
Total Cost of
Goods Sold
$200,000
$0
$200,000
Average of $250 basic for
install per lock × 800 locks.
Locks bought directly by
customer and installed on-site.
Gross Profit
Expenses Y1 Y1 Notes
Salary expenses $100,000 Owner salary
Payroll expenses $0
Payroll taxes and benefits
Outside services $0
$15,000
15% of (salary + payroll) FICA, workers’
comp., etc.
Supplies (oice and
operating)
Repairs and maintenance $0
$12,000
Oice cleaning, postage,
printing, copier, etc.
PROFIT AND LOSS PROJECTION/INCOME STATEMENT EXAMPLE
Company Name: Jayne’s Locksmith Company – JLC
Fiscal Year Begins: Jan 20XX
4 of 5
Expenses Y1 Y1 Notes
Advertising $5,000
Email list management,
local advertising
Car, delivery and travel $5,200
Travel allowance—$100 per week to owner
for use of vehicle
Accounting and legal $0
Rent & related costs $6,000
Home oice—business pays $500 per
month for use of home oice, utilities
included
Telephone $1,440 Cell Phone
Utilities $0 Utilities are included in rent.
Insurance $8,000
Liability and individual
health insurance
Taxes (personal property
tax, real estate, etc.)
$0
Interest $0
Depreciation $0
Other expenses (specify)
Misc. (unspecified)
Sub-total expenses $152,640
Reserve for contingencies
5 of 5
Total Expenses Y1 Y1 Notes
Net Profit before Taxes $47,360
Federal Income Taxes $9,470 20%
State Income Taxes $2,368 5%
Local Income Taxes $0
Net Income $35,520
Note: The example shown has been created using a modified SCORE Excel template.
Develop Your Own Profit and Loss Statement
Now that you’ve seen how a Profit and Loss Statement works for a small business, you have a better
understanding of how your costs and expenses are used to get your net income, which you will use in
your Balance Statement next.
Use the tool you downloaded to practice creating a Profit and Loss Statement for your business.
Disclaimer: All numbers are used for example purposes only and may not resemble cost and revenue
structures in your region or for your company. The business appearing in this work is fictitious. Any
resemblance to an actual business is purely coincidental.
DOWNLOAD and SAVE to your device to save your work.
