Also known as a profit and loss statement (or P&L statement) or a statement of operations, the income statement is a financial statement that shows how much a company earned and spent over the course of a fiscal period, typically a fiscal year or quarter, and where those earnings came from and what the expenses went toward. The income statement is often referred to as the P&L or profit and loss statement because it shows:

For more information on financial statements and financial reporting, see Financial Statements, Financial Reporting, and Auditing Toolkit.