Prepare a multiple step income statement

Multi-Step Income Statement is the company’s income statement which segregates the company’s total operating revenue from non-operating revenue and total operating expenses of the company from non-operating expenses thereby separating the total revenue and expense of a particular period into two different sub-categories i.e., operating and the non-operating.

What is a Multi-Step Income Statement?

A Multi-Step Income Statement is a statement that differentiates among the incomes, expenditures, profits, and losses into two important sub-categories that are known as operating items and non-operating items.

The multi-step income statement lists down all these items in different sections or categories, which makes it convenient for the users to gain an understanding of core business operations in a better way. On the other hand, in the format of the single-step income statementSingle-step Income StatementThe Single Step Income Statement is a format for Income Statement that records all expenses in one column, i.e., it lists the cost of goods sold with the operating, non-operating, and other business expenses.read more all the revenues are combined under one main head, i.e., income listing and all the expenditures are put together under Expenses head.

Table of contents

• What is Multi-Step Income Statement?
  • Format of a Multi-Step Income Statement
    • # 1 – Operating Head – Gross Profit
    • #2 – Operating Head – Selling and Admin Expenses
    • #3 – Non-Operating Head
  • Multi-Step Income Statement Example
  • Benefits of Multi-Step Income Statement
  • Conclusion
  • Recommended Articles

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Format of a Multi-Step Income Statement

Below is the Format of Multi-Step Income Statement. It is divided into two main headings – Operating Head and Non-Operating Head.

The Operating head is further divided into two important headings, which list primary business incomes and the expenditures. It is usually known as a Trading Account, where Direct Incomes and Expenses are mentioned.

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For eg:
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# 1 – Operating Head – Gross Profit

The format of the multi-step income statement contains Gross Profit as the first section. The calculation of the first section shows the gross profit of businessGross Profit Of BusinessGross Profit shows the earnings of the business entity from its core business activity i.e. the profit of the company that is arrived after deducting all the direct expenses like raw material cost, labor cost, etc. from the direct income generated from the sale of its goods and services.read more by deducting the cost of goods sold (COGS) from the total sales. It is an important figure for the creditors, investors, and internal management as it depicts how profitable a company is at selling the goods or making the products.

For example, the Multi-step income statement of the retailer will have the figure of total sales that includes all the merchandise sales that are made during that period, and the cost of goods sold includes all the expenditures incurred while purchasing, shipping, or conveyance, and getting the merchandise ready for sale. Gross margin is the amount the company earned from selling their merchandise. The thing to be noted is that no other expenditures are included yet. It is simply Cash Inflow from Merchandise sales and Cash Outflow from purchasing the merchandise. This section helps measure the health of business and the profitability of core business activities.

#2 – Operating Head – Selling and Admin Expenses

The format of the multi-step income statement contains Selling and Admin Expenses as the second section. It notes all company operating expensesCompany Operating ExpensesOperating expense (OPEX) is the cost incurred in the normal course of business and does not include expenses directly related to product manufacturing or service delivery. Therefore, they are readily available in the income statement and help to determine the net profit.read more in two categories that are Selling and Administrative.

• Selling Expenses – Expenditures incurred to sell the products. Expenditures like advertising, the salary of a salesman, freight, and commissions are included in selling expenses.
• Administrative Expenses- Expenditures which are indirectly related to the selling of the product like the salary of the office staff, rent, and supplies are treated as

Both selling and administrative expenses are added together for computing total operating expenses. And the Company’s Operating income is calculated by deducting these total operating expenses from the gross profit in the first section.

#3 – Non-Operating Head

The format of the multi-step income statement contains Non-Operating Head as the third section. The non-operating and the other head list all kinds of business incomes and expenses unrelated to a business’s principal activities. For instance, a retailer is not into the insurance business, and a car hits their store. The insurance company paid an amount out of the settlement so that proceeds received from the insurance company will not be considered in total sales; rather, it will be a non-operating income. Hence, it will come in the non-operating and other heads.

• Other returns and expenses like lawsuit settlements, interest, losses, and gains from investments and any extraordinary itemsAny Extraordinary ItemsExtraordinary Items refer to those events which are considered to be unusual by the company as they are infrequent in nature. The gains or losses arising out of these items are disclosed separately in the financial statement of the company.read more come under this head. There are no sub-categories in the non-operating head as they were under the operating head. It just lists down all kinds of activities and totals them in the end.
• Once all the items of Non-operating head are totaled, the net income for the period is computed by deducting or adding the total of the non-operating head from or to the income from operations.

Multi-Step Income Statement Example

Let us prepare a multi-step income statement with the help of an example

Below are the steps for preparation of multi-step income statement –

1. Prepare Gross Profit Section

   
   The following table shows the calculation of Gross Profit
   
   Gross Profit = Total Sales Cost Of Goods Sold
   
   

   
   
   
   Since,Gross Profit = $50,000,000 u2013 40,000,000
   
   Gross Profit = $10,000,000

2. Operating Head – Prepare Second Section Showing Operating Income/ Profit

   
   The below table shows the calculation of Operating Income
   
   Operating Income = Gross Profit Total Operating Expenses
   
   

   
   
   
   Since,Operating Income = $10,000,000 u2013 5,200,000
   
   Operating Income = $4,800,000

3. Prepare all the non operating heads

   
   The below table shows the calculation of Net Income
   
   Net Income = Income from Operations+ Total of Non-Operating and Other Head
   
   

   
   
   
   Since,Net Income = $4,800,000 + $500,000
   
   Net Income = $5,300,000

Benefits of Multi-Step Income Statement

• A Multi-Step Income Statement helps analyze the overall performance of a business. Creditors and investors can evaluate how efficiently an organization is working and performing.
• One can easily judge how a company performs its important functions indifferent from the other activities done by the company.
• Like for a multi-step income statement exampleIncome Statement ExampleThe income statement is one of the company's financial reports that summarizes all of the company's revenues and expenses over time in order to determine the company's profit or loss and measure its business activity over time based on user requirements.read more,  the main function of a retailer is to sell his merchandise, and the creditors and the Investors are keen to know how well and conveniently that retailer can sell his merchandise without any dilution in the numbers together with the other profits and the losses from the non-merchandise related sales. Now to check them, all expenditures and incomes cannot be clubbed together but are to be listed separately into some proper heads, which are meaningful and easy to understand. For this purpose, a Multi-Step Income Statement is a solution.

Conclusion

Multi-step income statement format is any day better than a single-step statement as it provides proper detailing. But, if it is not prepared correctly, it can be misleading. The company’s management might shift the expenses from the cost of goods sold to the operations to improve their margins artificially. It is very significant to view the comparative financial statements over time so that one can see and judge the trends and then possibly catch the misleading placement of the expenditures.

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