The Trading Account and Key Calculations
The trading account forms the first part of your profit and loss account, focusing purely on sales income and the direct costs of making those sales. It's where you'll see how much profit the business made before considering any operating expenses.
You'll need to master several key equations for your exams. Revenue = Price × Quantity Sold gives you total sales income. The cost of goods sold calculation is more complex: start with opening inventory, add purchases (minus any goods taken for personal use and purchase returns, plus carriage inwards), then subtract closing inventory.
Gross profit is simply revenue minus cost of goods sold. This figure tells you how profitable the core business activity is before accounting for operating costs like rent, wages, or advertising.
Various income sources can boost your gross profit, including commission received, rental income, profit on disposal of assets, bad debts recovered, and discounts received from suppliers.
Exam Focus: These equations appear frequently in exam questions, so practise calculating cost of goods sold until it becomes automatic.