A Profit and Loss (P&L) statement is a financial statement that records a summary of all expenses and incomes of a business during a period of time. It helps in determining the financial performance of the business. After recording all transactions in an account, if the debit side is greater thaRead more
A Profit and Loss (P&L) statement is a financial statement that records a summary of all expenses and incomes of a business during a period of time. It helps in determining the financial performance of the business.
After recording all transactions in an account, if the debit side is greater than the credit side, then the account is said to have a debit balance. Similarly, if the credit side is greater than the debit side, then the account has a credit balance.
In a P&L account, when the expenses (debit) are greater than the incomes (credit), the business is said to be in a net loss. This loss is what we call the debit balance of a Profit and Loss account. A P&L account with a debit balance can be subtracted from Capital or be shown on the asset side of the Balance Sheet.
As you can see above, the net loss is shown on the right side of the P&L account. This represents the debit balance of P&L. Once it is transferred to the balance sheet, it is either subtracted from capital or shown on the asset side as shown in the second image. However, they cannot be shown on both sides of the balance sheet at the same time.
However, if the credit side is greater, that is if income is greater than expenses, then the P&L account shows a credit balance which is also known as net profit. This profit is added with Capital to show the final balance in the Balance Sheet.
Debit balance of Profit & Loss account is not preferable for a business. Hence they should put in efforts to either reduce costs or increase their income to gain profits.
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A profit and loss account is a financial statement which shows the net profit or net loss of an enterprise for an accounting period. It reports all the indirect expenses and indirect income including gross profit or loss derived from trading accounts for an accounting period. When the total revenueRead more
A profit and loss account is a financial statement which shows the net profit or net loss of an enterprise for an accounting period. It reports all the indirect expenses and indirect income including gross profit or loss derived from trading accounts for an accounting period.
When the total revenue i.e. credit side of profit and loss a/c is more than the total of expenses i.e. the debit side of profit and loss a/c, it results in net profit whereas when the total revenue is less than the total of expenses, it results in a net loss.
The debit balance of the profit and loss account is the net loss incurred during the accounting period by an enterprise. It is transferred to a capital account thereby reducing the capital or can be shown as a debit balance on the asset side.
Accounting entry for loss transferred is as follows :
Capital A/c …Dr.
To Profit & Loss A/c
(being net loss transferred to capital account)
Example
A Business has a total income of $50,000 in an accounting year and has expenses amounting to $60,000 in that particular year. The profit and loss account will show a net loss of $10,000 ($60,000-50,000). Net loss will be transferred to capital A/c. Capital of the business will be reduced by $10,000. This loss can also be shown on the asset side of the balance sheet.
Extract of a Profit and loss a/c showing net loss is as under:
Profit and loss A/c for the year ended …..
The debit balance for a non-corporate entity is shown as a reduction from the capital account
Extract of the Balance sheet showing the debit balance of Profit & Loss A/c is as under :
Balance Sheet as on…
Less: Profit & Loss A/c
While the Debit balance of profit and Loss A/c of a corporate entity is shown as a reduction in Reserves and surplus. If the business doesn’t have reserves then the debit balance is shown on the asset side.
Extract of the Balance sheet showing the debit balance of Profit & Loss A/c is as under :
Balance Sheet as on..
Less: Profit & Loss A/c
Conclusion: Debit balance of profit and loss a/c represents that expenses are more than the income of a business in an accounting period. Debit balance of profit and loss a/c indicates that company need to increase its income or cut down on unnecessary expenses.
The business needs to find out the reason of excessive expenses because accumulated losses are not good for the health of the company.
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