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Module 2 Pro8 min read

The Profit & Loss statement, line by line

Revenue, cost of sales, gross profit, operating profit, net profit — what each line really means.

Remember the pizza shop from Module 1? It survived its cash crisis, and a full year has now passed. In this module we read its actual financial statements — the same three documents every company on earth publishes, from a corner shop to Apple. Same rows, different number of zeros.

We start with the statement people quote most: the Profit & Loss.

The shape: a staircase going down

Every P&L is a staircase. You start at the top with all the money earned, and each step down subtracts a different kind of cost. What survives to the bottom is profit. Here is the pizza shop's year:

Rosa's Pizza — P&L for the year$
Revenue600,000
Cost of goods sold(240,000)
Gross profit360,000
Salaries(180,000)
Rent(60,000)
Marketing(24,000)
Depreciation(12,000)
Operating profit84,000
Interest on loan(4,000)
Profit before tax80,000
Tax(20,000)
Net profit60,000

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