What is Gross Profit?
Gross Profit shows the earnings of the business entity from its core business activity i.e. the profit of the company that is arrived after deducting all the direct expenses like raw material cost, labor cost, etc. from the direct income generated from the sale of its goods and services.
Formula
It is calculated as below:
This formula only considers variable costs. Variable costs are the cost to the Company that varies with the output of the Company. It should be noted that the fixed costs are not considered when deducting the cost of goods sold from the revenue to calculate it.
Variable Costs include the following items:
- Raw Materials
- Labour
- Packaging costs
- Freight costs
- Sales commissions
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For eg:
Source: Gross Profit (wallstreetmojo.com)
Examples of Gross Profit
Example #1
A Company has a revenue of $ 50000, and its cost of goods sold was $ 30000. What is the gross income of the CompanyGross Income Of The CompanyThe difference between revenue and cost of goods sold is gross income, which is a profit margin made by a corporation from its operating activities. It is the amount of money an entity makes before paying non-operating expenses like interest, rent, and electricity.read more?
Solution:
GP =$50,000 – $30,000
The GP will be –
- GP = $ 20000
Example #2
A Company in Auto manufacturing has the following items on its profit and loss statement. Calculate Gross Profit using the following data.
| Particulars | Amount |
|---|---|
| Revenue from Sales | $100,000 |
| Other Income | $20,000 |
| Total Revenue | $120,000 |
| Cost of Goods | $45,000 |
| Selling, Administrative Expenses | $20,000 |
| Interest and Financial Expense | $5,000 |
| Total Costs | $70,000 |
Selling and administrative expenses will not be added to the cost of goods since they are mostly fixed costs. Also, interest and financial expenses will not be added to the metric as they represent interest paid to the financers.
Gross Profit
- $ 75000
GP Ratio will be –
Therefore, Gross Profit Ratio = 62.5%
Colgate Example
Let us calculate Colgate’s GP
- The cost of Operations includes the Depreciation related to manufacturing operations (Colgate 10K 2015, pg 63).
- Shipping and handling costs may be reported in the Cost of Sales or Selling General and Admin Expenses. Colgate reported these as a part of Selling General and Admin ExpensesSelling General And Admin ExpensesSelling, general and administrative (SG&A) expense includes all the expenses incurred in the selling of the products of the company whether direct or indirect along with the entire general and the administrative expenses during an accounting period under consideration such as advertisement expenses, sales promotion expenses, marketing salaries, etc.read more.
- If such expenses are included in Cost of Sales, then the Gross Ratio of Colgate would have decreased by 770 bps from 58.6% to 50.9% and decreased by 770bps and 750 bps in 2014 and 2013 respectively.source: – Colgate 10K 2015, pg 46
Methods to Increase the Gross Profit
Two methods can increase it:
#1 – Increase the price of products
The increasing price of products may decrease the number of products sold and thus, decrease the revenue as the customers will prefer buying a competitor product at a lower price. The price increase should be done by taking into account the inflation, competition, demand, and supply of the product, quality of the product, and USP (unique selling point) of the product.
#2 – Decrease the cost of products
Variable costs can decrease by a decrease in the inputs of the goods, i.e., raw material or by the production of goods efficiently. By purchasing raw material in bulk from the supplier, the Company can get discounts. Raw material costs can be decreased by purchasing material from a supplier that provides products at a cheaper rate. However, it may hamper the quality of the product. The Company can maintain or reduce costs by producing the goods efficiently.
Conclusion
Gross profit is the amount of profit made by the Company after deducting the costs of goods soldDeducting The Costs Of Goods SoldThe Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) is the cumulative total of direct costs incurred for the goods or services sold, including direct expenses like raw material, direct labour cost and other direct costs. However, it excludes all the indirect expenses incurred by the company. read more or the costs associated with the services the Company has provided. It is available on an income statement before deducting selling, general and administrative expenses (SG&A) and non-operating revenues, non-operating expenses, other gains, and other losses.
Gross profit and its ratio are two key indicators that the investors look in the Companies income statementCompanies Income StatementThe income statement is one of the company's financial reports that summarizes all of the company's revenues and expenses over time in order to determine the company's profit or loss and measure its business activity over time based on user requirements.read more. These provide a view on the financial performance of the Company. I.e., how well it manages the demand and supply of the goods and manages the variable costs associated with the production and sales of the goods.
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