Income Statement
Dr Jennifer Mao While a balance sheet is a stock-based static statement that presents a company's financial position at a point in time， an income statement is a flow-based dynamic statement that describes a company's operating performance over a period of time. The period covered by an income statement must be clearly specified. The phrase "Income Statement(1) of 30 June 1997" is meaningless unless it is intended to show the revenues and expenses for the single day 30 June 1997. Historically， the income statement used to be a supporting statement to the balance sheet. Without the income statement， we would record revenue as an increase， and expense as a decrease， of the equity account Retained Earnings. Such transactions are numerous. To simplify the bookkeeping， as well as to provide more useful information， the income statement was born. Depending on how revenues and expenses are presented， there are roughly two formats of the income statement， the traditional multi-step format and the relatively new two-step format. The former has a few steps: Sales - Cos of Goods Sold = Gross Profit; Gross Profit - Operating Expenses = Operating Income; Operating Income ± Non-Operating Items = EBT (Earnings Before Tax); EBT - Income Tax = Net Income. Of course whether an item is operating or not depends on the nature of the business. For instance， while Interest Expense may be a non-operating expense for many companies， it is the most important operating expense for banks. When a company has losses rather than earnings， it doesnot have to pay income tax. It may also be allowed to carry the loss backward and/or forward， depending on the tax environment the company is in. Different users of financial statements often have different needs. The multi-step format of the income statement is unlikely to suit all needs. Some American companies took the lead to use the two-step format. In this format， the income statement contains basically two parts. The first part lists all sources of revenues while the second lists all kinds of expenses. A reader can prepare the income statement in any form to suit his purpose. It must be pointed out that the net income shown in the income statement is an accounting profit， not cash flow. In the computation of accounting profit， cash receipts from selling farecards are not recognised as revenue. Rather， they are "Unearned Revenue" classified under Current Liabilities. Revenue is considered realised only after the bus service is provided and consumed. Similarly， insurance premium paid for any part of the next financial year will not go to the expense in the income statement. Rather， it will appear as Prepaid Expense， an item under Current Assets. In accounting terminology， the income sta
tement is prepared using the "accrual basis"， not the outdated "cash basis". When China in 1994 proclaimed the adoption of the Western accounting system， the switch from the cash basis to the accrual basis was the heart of the change.
損益表
資產(chǎn)負債表是個(gè)“靜態(tài)”的報表，描述公司在特定時(shí)刻的財務(wù)狀 況。相對地，損益表是一個(gè)“動(dòng)態(tài)”的報表，它陳述了某公司在“特 定時(shí)段”的經(jīng)營(yíng)成果，即各項收入與成本及其所產(chǎn)生的利潤。因此“ 某年底損益表”或“某月底損益表”是沒(méi)有意義的，應該說(shuō)是“某年 度損益表”或“某月份損益表”。
就會(huì )計的發(fā)展歷史而言，損益表可以說(shuō)是資產(chǎn)負債表的一個(gè)附表 ，如果沒(méi)有損益表的話(huà)，我們就得把收入記為股東權益中“保留盈余 ”的增加，把成本或費用記為保留盈余的減少。由于涉及收入與費用 的交易數目甚多，這種做法會(huì )造成簿記的煩亂混雜。為了簡(jiǎn)化簿記工 作，也為了將各種收支分類(lèi)，以提供更有用的管理資訊，損益表就應 運而生了。
損益表根據它表列各項收入與費用的順序，也有不同的格式。傳 統的格式可稱(chēng)為“逐步式”，大致包括以下幾步：第一步是從銷(xiāo)貨收 入減去銷(xiāo)貨成本(即賣(mài)出去的貨品的進(jìn)貨成本)，得到銷(xiāo)貨毛利。第 二步是從銷(xiāo)貨毛利扣除各項營(yíng)業(yè)費用(如運費、廣告費等銷(xiāo)售費用、 薪金、水電等管理費用)，得到營(yíng)業(yè)損益。第三步是非營(yíng)業(yè)項目;營(yíng) 業(yè)與非營(yíng)業(yè)項目的區分因公司業(yè)務(wù)性質(zhì)而異，例如利息收入是許多企 業(yè)的非營(yíng)業(yè)收入，但絕對是銀行業(yè)的營(yíng)業(yè)收入。營(yíng)業(yè)損益加(減)非 營(yíng)業(yè)利潤(損失)后得到的是稅前盈利或損失。稅前盈利減去所得稅 后就是稅后凈利。公司如有稅前損失，則無(wú)需繳付所得稅，在合乎稅 法規定的條件下。公司的損失可以往未來(lái)的年度“前帶”，也就是說(shuō) 來(lái)年的稅前盈利可以先抵了過(guò)去的損失后，才計算所得稅。
不同的報表讀者可能有不同的目的，以上的逐步式損益表格式不 見(jiàn)得合其目的�；诖它c(diǎn)，美國公司便率先提供“兩步式”損益表， 第一步明列各項收入，第二步明列各項成本及費用，前者之和減去后 者之和，就是稅前凈利，再扣除所得稅，得到稅后凈利。
這里要特別指出的是，損益表呈現的是公司的“會(huì )計損益”，而 不是“現金收支”，例如巴士公司售出車(chē)資卡收進(jìn)的現金并非營(yíng)業(yè)收 入，而是“預收收入”，屬于流動(dòng)負債，因此表現于資產(chǎn)負債表中的 負債，而非損益表中的收入。要等持卡人搭車(chē)后，此部分的預收收入 才變成車(chē)資收入。同樣的，非屬本會(huì )計年度的預付租金或預付保險費 應以流動(dòng)資產(chǎn)表現，不會(huì )出現于損益表中的費用項目。以會(huì )計術(shù)語(yǔ)來(lái) 說(shuō)，損益表是根據“權責基礎”編制的，以現金收入及支出為準的“ 現金基礎”早就被淘汰了。1994年中國的會(huì )計制度“向世界并軌”指 的主要就是棄現金基礎、采權責基礎。