Detail information of how cost of goods sold is calculated is provided in multi step income statement while it is not provided in single step statement.
Gross profit and Income from operations
Prior year adjustments
1. Single step income statement 2 – Multi-step income statement
Following are two catagories of income statement: 1- Single Step Income statement 2- Multy-step income statement
Consolidated income statement is that statement in which expenses and incomes of subsidiary as well as parents companies shown as a joint in one single income statement.
The multi-step income statement is classified by function, and the single-step income statement is classified by behavior.
Gross profit is usually the third item on a multi-step income statement:Net SalesLess: Cost of Goods SoldEquals Gross ProfitGross profit does not appear on a single step income staement.
Retained earnings is not part of income statement rather it is part of statement of owners equity so no question for including in single or multi step income statement.
When there is a parent child relation available then consolidated income statement is prepared in which expenses and income of parent and subsidiary are shown in one single financial statement due to which net profit or loss for whole organization is shown.
single step income statement is one of two formats in which only one subtraction is done to arrive at net profit or loss as follows:Net profit or loss = revenues - expenses
income statement includes expenses and incomes related to that specific single fiscal year for which that income statement is prepared. It is to clarify that only income and expenses related to that specific period is included and not for any other fiscal year.
The difference is the layout of the statement. Examples are as follows: Single Step Revenues XXX Gains XXX Total Revenue XXX Expenses XXX Losses XXX Total Expenses XXX Net Income XXX Multistep Revenue XXX Cost of Goods Sold XXX Gross Profit XXX Gains XXX Losses XXX Other Expenses XXX Net Income XXX As you can tell the multistep contains a lot more subtotals however both will result in the same net income figure.
It's easier to use than a single step.