The income statement may have minor variations between different companies, as expenses and income will be dependent on the type of operations or business conducted. However, there are several generic line items that are commonly seen in any income statement.

The most common income statement items include:

Revenue/Sales

Sales Revenue is the company’s revenue from sales or services, displayed at the very top of the statement. This value will be the gross of the costs associated with creating the goods sold or in providing services. Some companies have multiple revenue streams that add to a total revenue line.

Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)

Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) is a line-item that aggregates the direct costs associated with selling products to generate revenue.  This line item can also be called Cost of Sales if the company is a service business. Direct costs can include labor, parts, materials, and an allocation of other expenses such as depreciation (see an explanation of depreciation below).

Gross Profit

Gross Profit Gross profit is calculated by subtracting Cost of Goods Sold (or Cost of Sales) from Sales Revenue.

Marketing, Advertising, and Promotion Expenses

Most businesses have some expenses related to selling goods and/or services. Marketing, advertising, and promotion expenses are often grouped together as they are similar expenses, all related to selling.

General and Administrative (G&A) Expenses

SG&A Expenses include the selling, general, and the administrative section that contains all other indirect costs associated with running the business. This includes salaries and wages, rent and office expenses, insurance, travel expenses, and sometimes depreciation and amortization, along with other operational expenses. Entities may, however, elect to separate out depreciation and amortization in its own section.

EBITDA

EBITDA, while not present in all income statements, stands for Earnings before Interest, Tax, Depreciation, and Amortization. It is calculated by subtracting SG&A expenses (excluding amortization and depreciation) from gross profit.

Depreciation & Amortization Expense

Depreciation and amortization are non-cash expenses that are created by accountants to spread out the cost of capital assets such as Property, Plant, and Equipment (PP&E).

Operating Income (or EBIT)

Operating Income represents what’s earned from regular business operations. In other words, it’s the profit before any non-operating income, non-operating expenses, interest, or taxes are subtracted from revenues. EBIT is a term commonly used in finance and stands for Earnings Before Interest and Taxes.

Interest

Interest Expense. It is common for companies to split out interest expense and interest income as a separate line item in the income statement. This is done in order to reconcile the difference between EBIT and EBT. Interest expense is determined by the debt schedule.

Other Expenses

Businesses often have other expenses that are unique to their industry. Other expenses may include things such as fulfillment, technology, research and development (R&D), stock-based compensation (SBC), impairment charges, gains/losses on the sale of investments, foreign exchange impacts, and many other expenses that are industry or company-specific.

EBT (Pre-Tax Income)

EBT stands for Earnings Before Tax, also known as pre-tax income, and is found by subtracting interest expense from Operating Income. This is the final subtotal before arriving at net income.

Income Taxes

Income Taxes refer to the relevant taxes charged on pre-tax income.  The total tax expense can consist of both current taxes and future taxes.

Net Income

Net Income is calculated by deducting income taxes from pre-tax income. This is the amount that flows into retained earnings on the balance sheet, after deductions for any dividends.