Chapter 22
Getting the Good and Bad News
In This Chapter
• Knowing your numbers
• Judging results
• Picking out problems
• Making a statement
We already know how much profit our make-believe company made when we finished the trial balance. We confirmed its accuracy when all the numbers balanced on the balance sheet.
Now it’s time to take a closer look at how we got to that profit. The profit and loss (P&L) statement takes you behind the scenes of the balance sheet to give you a more detailed view of your daily business operations. By developing and analyzing your company’s P&L statement, you will have a snapshot that can help you assess how well your company is doing and quickly find areas that need attention to improve your company’s profitability. ...