Trading and Profit and Loss Account

A business needs to prepare a trading and profit and loss account first before moving on to the balance sheet. Trading and profit and loss accounts are useful in identifying the gross profit and net profits that a business earns.

The motive of preparing trading and profit and loss account is to determine the revenue earned or the losses incurred during the accounting period.

The trading and profit and loss account are two different accounts that are formed within the general ledger. The two parts of the account are:

1. Trading Account

2. Profit and Loss Account

Trading account is the first part of this account, and it is used to determine the gross profit that is earned by the business while the profit and loss account is the second part of the account, which is used to determine the net profit of the business.

Also see: Balance Sheet vs Profit & Loss Account

Let us know more about these accounts in detail

1. Trading Account

Trading account is used to determine the gross profit or gross loss of a business which results from trading activities. Trading activities are mostly related to the buying and selling activities involved in a business. Trading account is useful for businesses that are dealing in the trading business. This account helps them to easily determine the overall gross profit or gross loss of the business. The amount thus determined is an indicator of the efficiency of the business in buying and selling.

The formulae for calculating gross profit is as follows:

Gross profit = Net sales – Cost of goods sold

Where

Net sales = Gross sales of the business minus sales returns, discounts and allowances.

The trading account considers only the direct expenses and direct revenues while calculating gross profit. This account is mainly prepared to understand the profit earned by the business on the purchase of goods.

Items that are seen in the debit side include purchases, opening stock and direct expenses while credit side includes closing stock and sales.

Closing entries for Gross Loss or Gross Profit

The following entries are passed

In case of Gross Loss

Profit and Loss A/c      Dr.

To Trading A/c

In case of Gross Profit

Trading A/c     Dr.

To Profit and Loss A/c

Preparing Trading Account

Trading account is prepared by closing all the temporary purchases and revenue accounts and making adjustments in the inventory accounts by the use of a closing journal entry

For the following question, prepare a trading account

The format of trading account after passing the closing entry is as follows:

In this example, all accounts are closed and transferred to the trading account. The credit entry of 1,45,000 is the gross profit for the period.

2. Profit and Loss Account

Profit and loss account shows the net profit and net loss of the business for the accounting period. This account is prepared in order to determine the net profit or net loss that occurs during an accounting period for a business concern.

Profit and loss account get initiated by entering the gross loss on the debit side or gross profit on the credit side. This value is obtained from the balance which is carried down from the Trading account.

A business will incur many other expenses in addition to the direct expenses. These expenses are deducted from the profit or are added to gross loss and the resulting value thus obtained will be net profit or net loss.

The examples of expenses that can be included in a Profit and Loss Account are:

1. Sales Tax

2. Maintenance

3. Depreciation

4. Administrative Expense

5. Selling and Distribution Expense

6. Provisions

7. Freight and carriage on sales

8. Wages and Salaries

These appear in the debit side of Profit and Loss Account while Commission received, Discount received, profit obtained on sale of assets appear on the credit side.

Net profit can be determined by deducting business expenses from the gross profit and adding other incomes obtained

Net profit = Gross profit – Expenses + Other income

Closing Entries for Net Loss or Net Profit:

i. In case of Net Loss

Capital A/c – Dr.

To Profit and Loss A/c

ii. In case of Net Profit

Profit and Loss A/c -Dr.

To Capital A/c

Trading and Profit and Loss Account Format

Trading and Profit and Loss Account format is represented separately as follows:

Format for Trading Account

Format for Profit and Loss Account

Other Important Topics in Accountancy

• Difference between Source Document and Voucher
• Purchase Book
• Features of Cash Book
• Ledger Account

Difference between Trading and Profit and Loss Account

The following points of difference exist between the Trading and Profit and Loss Account

This article covers all the aspects of the Trading and Profit and Loss Account. It will help the students form a clear idea about the Trading and Profit and Loss Account and its use in accounting. For more such interesting concepts of Commerce, stay tuned to BYJU’S.