Multi-Step Income Statement: Multi-Step Analysis for Decision-Making

A multi-step income statement provides additional details lacking in single-step income statements, categorizing expenses as direct or indirect costs. A very small business like a sole proprietorship is more likely to prepare a single step income statement. Another measurement available from the multi-step income statement is operating income. Like gross profit, operating income provides business the multi step income statement is also known as owners with more detailed information on company profitability rather than focusing solely on net income. One of the biggest differences between a single-step income statement and a multi-step income statement is the ability to calculate gross profit. This metric is important for business owners that need more detailed information on both business profitability and financial performance.

For instance, management might shift expenses out of cost of goods sold and into operations to artificially improve their margins. It’s always important to view comparative financial statements over time, so you can see trends and possibly catch misleading placement of expenses. The multi-step income statement categorizes operating and non-operating incomes and expenses. The users will know the profit earned from the primary activities of buying and selling goods and how it differs from the non-operating activities. This more specific breakdown allows for a more in-depth analysis of a business’s earnings, with a detailed comparative breakdown of gross, operating, and net profit margins.

COMPANY

Creditors will use the gross profit to judge the general health of the company and whether it is able to pay back its obligations on time and as agreed upon. Being able to break the income statement up into segments provides more insight into what is going on with the company and is a core attribute of the multi-step income statement. It helps understand a company’s revenue efficiency after accounting for direct production costs of goods and services.

It can be hard to keep up with the details, which is why it is important to closely track the financial performance of your business’s many moving parts. To do this, you will need to know how much income tax you have to pay — as calculated in the step above. The articles and research support materials available on this site are educational and are not intended to be investment or tax advice. All such information is provided solely for convenience purposes only and all users thereof should be guided accordingly. While the single-step income statement is suitable for smaller businesses, other businesses will appreciate the level of detail offered in a multi-step income statement. Contrary to operating costs, non-operating costs are not part of the core, recurring operating activities of a company.

Multi-step income statement structure

The multi-step income statement holds immense value in the financial world due to its ability to provide a more detailed and nuanced perspective on a company’s financial performance compared to a single-step income statement. This is the amount of money the company made from selling its products after all operating expenses have been paid. If a company’s operations are strong, it will almost always show a profit at the bottom line, but not all companies with a profitable bottom line have strong operations. It might have lost money from its operations but had a huge insurance settlement that pushed a profit to the bottom line.

• All such information is provided solely for convenience purposes only and all users thereof should be guided accordingly.
• Another application for a multiple-step income statement is dividing costs into direct and indirect costs for cost accounting by management accountants.
• Investors and creditors want to know how efficiently the retailer sells its merchandise without diluting the numbers with other gains and losses from non-merchandise related sales.
• On the multi-step income statement, the non-operating sections sits below the operating section.
• The separation of operating items and non-operating items make it easy to see the performance of the core business activities (operating) and what effect non-core activities had of net income (non-operating).
• Investors also use the gross profit to determine the profitability of primary business activities and the general health of the company.
• Single step vs multi step income statements means the difference between simple and detailed income statements.

Mary Girsch-Bock is the expert on accounting software and payroll software for The Ascent. If you purchase products for resale, your cost of goods sold is the cost of purchasing those products. Fundamentally, the basic premise of either presentation format is conceptually the same, granted the outcome of either method is to arrive at net income. Access and download collection of free Templates to help power your productivity and performance.

Net income

You should add the interest income and non-operating gain and subtract the interest expense and income tax expense from operating profit. A multi-step income statement is ideal for large, complex businesses that use a long list of incomes and expenses. To prepare a multi-step income statement, you must first calculate the gross profit by subtracting the cost of goods sold from the revenue. You must then calculate the operating income by subtracting all the expenses from the gross profit.

If your operating income was a loss of $50 and your non-operating was a positive$100, your net income would still have been a positive $50. However, operating income can show the health of the business and when that item is decreasing or goes negative, it may raise red flags to stakeholders. It is a more detailed version of the single-step income statement and can lead to additional insight. On the multi-step income statement, the non-operating sections sits below the operating section. At the top section of this income statement, to compute the gross margin, subtract the cost of good from the net sales.

The bank has requested that Bob must present the income statement in a multi-step format to get a better picture of his business. Often smaller companies will choose to use a single-step income statement due to its ease and simplicity. However, for larger public organizations a multi-step format is the most desirable due to it being more comprehensive and the fact that they are under greater scrutiny from regulators and auditors to do so as well. Investors will use the gross profit margins to determine how profitable is the business model of the company.

• When calculating operating expenses, don’t include any expenses already included in the cost of goods sold, such as direct labor and materials purchased.
• The single-step income statement is the simplest income statement format, calculating revenue totals and subtracting expenses to arrive at net income.
• If a multi step income statement correctly shows the components of Gross profit and separates Operating expenses from Non-operating expenses, accountants can use it to comply with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).
• Overall, the multi-step income statement remains valuable for those seeking a nuanced understanding of financial performance and a basis for strategic planning.
• However, for larger public organizations a multi-step format is the most desirable due to it being more comprehensive and the fact that they are under greater scrutiny from regulators and auditors to do so as well.
• A multi-step statement is an income statement prepared to report a company’s sales and revenue, expenses and overall profit or loss for any given period.
• Among them are such popular names as QuickBooks or Xero and many other options available for businesses of various kinds and sizes.